1956 United States presidential election

1956 United States presidential election
531 members of the Electoral College; 266 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	60.6% 2.7 pp
	Presidential election results map. Red denotes those won by Eisenhower/Nixon, Blue denotes states won by Stevenson/Kefauver. Orange denotes won by Walter Burgwyn Jones by an Alabama faithless elector. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
President before election; Dwight D. Eisenhower; Republican	Elected President ; Dwight D. Eisenhower; Republican

The 1956 United States presidential election happened on November 6, 1956. President Dwight D. Eisenhower won reelection to a second term. He defeated former Governor of Illinois Adlai Stevenson in a rematch of the 1952 presidential election.

Incumbent president Dwight D. Eisenhower won the election by 457 electoral votes. Adlai Stevenson got 73 electoral votes. Walter Burgwyn Jones got one vote by a faithless elector in Alabama.

This was the last election in which Alaska and Hawaii were not states.^[3]

Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in September 1955 while in Colorado for a vacation. His doctors told him not to run for another election. However, Eisenhower announced his candidacy for re-election on television in early 1956.

Candidates

Republican Party

Dwight D. Eisenhower	Richard Nixon
1956 Republican Party Ticket
for President	for Vice President

34th President of the United States (1953–1961)	36th Vice President of the United States (1953–1961)
Campaign

Republican candidates

Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States (1953-1961) from Pennsylvania (Nominee)
John W. Bricker, U.S. Senator (1947-1959) and 1944 vice presidential nominee from Ohio
William F. Knowland, U.S. senator from California (1947-1959)
S. C. Arnold, Secretary of State of Montana (1955-1957) (Favorite son candidate)
Joe Foss, Governor of South Dakota (1955-1959) (Favorite son candidate)

President of the United States
Dwight D. Eisenhower
from Pennsylvania
(1953–1961)
Montana Secretary of State
S. C. Arnold
from Montana
(1955–1957)
Senator
John W. Bricker
from Ohio
(1947–1959)
Senator
William Knowland
from California
(1945–1959)
Governor
Joe Foss
from South Dakota
(1955–1959)

Democratic Party

Adlai Stevenson II	Estes Kefauver
1956 Democratic Party Ticket
for President	for Vice President

31st Governor of Illinois (1949-1953)	U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1949–1963)
Campaign

Former Governor
and 1952 nominee
Adlai Stevenson II
of Illinois
(1949–1953)
Senator
Estes Kefauver
from Tennessee
(1949–1953)
Governor
W. Averell Harriman
of New York
(1955-1958)
Former Governor
John S. Battle
of Virginia
(1950-1954)
(Favorite son)
Governor
Happy Chandler
of Kentucky
(1935-1939, 1955-1959)
(Favorite son)
U.S. Representative
James C. Davis
from Georgia
(1947–1963)
(Favorite son)
Governor
Frank Lausche
of Ohio
(1945-1947, 1949–1957)
(Favorite son)
U.S. Representative
John W. McCormack
from Massachusetts
(1928–1971)
(Favorite son)
Governor
George Bell Timmerman Jr.
of South Carolina
(1955–1959)
(Favorite son)

1956 United States Presidential Election Media

Republican Party (United States)
Formal portrait of Richard M. Nixon, 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953-1961.
Democratic Party (United States)
Results of the 1956 Democratic presidential primaries.
SenatorKefauver(DTN)
John F. Kennedy - NARA - 518134