THE ELECTION: The Avalanche

The Eisenhower avalanche was awesome in its force and fury. It crushed Democrat Adlai Stevenson in the entire Northeast, swept across Midwestern farmlands with a setback only in Missouri, shattered Democratic presidential hopes on the Pacific Coast and burst through traditional Democratic barriers in the South—where Ike carried Texas, Florida, Virginia, West Virginia. Kentucky. Tennessee and, unbelievably, Louisiana. It tore city after city—from Jersey City to Chicago to Montgomery—from the Democratic grasp. It cut across nearly all racial, religious, ethnic and economic lines. It gave Dwight Eisenhower a victory surging toward the...