The 1958 campaign, off weeks ago to a slow-paced start, picked up speed and tore into its final week with drums thumping and speakers sprouting from every stump. Against gloomy predictions of voter apathy, U.S. registration reached an alltime nonpresidential-year high of an estimated 76,145,600 (v. 74,879,146 in 1954). Against Republican complaints about his above-it-all political leadership, President Eisenhower threw himself into the campaign with the toughest partisan speeches of his life. And against national and international trends that had threatened to turn the elections into a Democratic cakewalk to sweeping...
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