(2 of 3)
Mrs. Stearns1 Walk. The stories of what had happened at the precinct and county level fell into a definite pattern. Harris County (Houston) was typical. Among the pro-Taft rump sessions was one in the home precinct of the Zweifel National Committeewoman, Mrs. Carl C. Stearns. After a big majority of the 175 voters at the regular caucus went for Ike, Mrs. Stearns, her husband and 25 other Taft supporters walked out and held their own clambake. This and other rump sessions in the precincts brought about contests for 69 delegate seats at the Harris County convention. But 146 pro-Eisenhower and 19 pro-Taft delegates were not contested. Even if all contests were settled in favor of Taft, Eisenhower could still have a margin of 146 to 88. Republican County Chairman Joe Ingraham, a fair-minded Taftman, conceded defeat, joined in electing a pro-Eisenhower delegation to the state convention.
But Mrs. Stearns was still walking. She had run a newspaper advertisement inviting her friends to attend the county convention. When the Ike delegation was named, she, her husband and her ad-answering friends strolled out, held their own county convention, named their own pro-Taft delegation. Now Mrs. Stearns & friends were demanding seats in the state convention.
Barrelhousing. After sitting from 10:30 a.m. one day until 6:45 a.m. the next hearing Harris County's case and 30 others much like it, the state committee was ready to act. By that time Chairman Bullington, who had said he would conduct "right & just" hearings, expressed a different view to a reporter. Said he: "They'll barrelhouse 'em through. Whoever controls the committee can always barrelhouse 'em through. You'll see, it'll be the same at Chicago."
They barrelhoused 'em through. Of the 519 contested delegates, the committee seated only 30 Ikemen, gave the rest to Taft. That afternoon, the pro-Taft Credentials Committee went further, giving 21 more seats to Taft. Then the convention voted 762-222 to confirm the Credentials Committee's seating. Mrs. Stearns and the other 509 contested Taft delegates were permitted to vote to seat themselves; an equal number of contested Ike delegates were not allowed to vote.
With that, most of the Ikemen rose and marched out of the Municipal Auditorium. His steamroller-now racing along in high, Boss Zweifel seized the microphone and gloated: "It's wonderful to see you real, wonderful, outstanding, 100% American Republicans out there before me." The convention named an "uninstructed" delegation to the National Convention, but 30 members were for Taft, four for Eisenhower, four leaning toward General Douglas MacArthur.