THE PRESIDENCY: Ready on the Firing Line

Outside the Cumberland Township polling place north of Gettysburg a damp snow fell; in the small frame building a potbelly stove glowed comfortably as a dozen early risers politely stepped back to allow their famed neighbor the first primary vote. Dwight Eisenhower grinned a good morning, accepted his ballot from Clerk Herbert Raab, ducked into the farthest of five bunting-draped booths and took 60 seconds to mark his choices for "President of the United States" and 14 other offices. He reappeared to slip the folded paper into a ballot box, then drove off through the snow to Harrisburg...

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