The Draft Eisenhower movement of 1952. (Draft Gore background info)

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The Draft Eisenhower movement was the first successful political draft of the 20th century to take a private citizen to the Oval Office. It was a widespread American grassroots political movement that eventually persuaded Dwight D. Eisenhower to run for President.


In December 1951, there was so much buzz about the Draft Eisenhower movement that Eisenhower had his friend Clifford Roberts secretly organize a political advisory group of close, trusted persons so that he could keep an eye on the movement.

On January 6, 1952, Sen. Lodge entered Eisenhower's name into the New Hampshire primary ballot without Eisenhower's permission. Afterward, Eisenhower finally stated that if offered the Republican nomination for the presidency, he would accept it. However, for several weeks, Eisenhower was a non-participant and would not speak out on his views or declare himself a candidate.

On February 8, 1952, the movement began to show just how large it was. A Draft Eisenhower rally was scheduled to be held in Madison Square Garden on that day. The event planners expected no more than 16,000 supporters (and such was the capacity), yet over 25,000 showed up, and the New York police and fire marshalls could get very few people to leave. T

On March 11, 1952, the results of the New Hampshire primary came in. Eisenhower had won the contest against Sen. Taft by 50% to 38% and had captured all of the Republican delegates. Eisenhower announced that he was "astounded" and "moved" by the results and told a reporter, "Any American who would have that many other Americans pay him that compliment would be proud or he would not be an American". After being convinced by this evidence, he announced his candidacy the next day.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_Eisenhower (bolding mine)