Then and Now: Eisenhower in Spokane

Mon., Feb. 10, 2025

1952: The crowd was estimated at around 12,000 when Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his campaign stump speech at Monroe Street and Riverside Avenue during a Spokane visit in October 1952. The former commander of Allied Forces during World War II and president of Columbia University had once been invited to run on the Democrat ticket in 1948 by President Harry S. Truman but the war hero had turned to the Republicans after being unaffiliated with any party throughout his career. (SPOKESMAN-REVIEW PHOTO ARCHIVES)

By Jesse Tinsley jesset@spokesman.com (509) 459-5378

On Monday, Oct. 6, 1952, the private train “Eisenhower Express,” carrying Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife Mamie, rolled into the Great Northern Railway depot in downtown Spokane. Just a month before Election Day, the general got out for a quick speech, striding past rows of Boy Scouts standing at attention at the station.

Writer Myrtle Gaylord of the Spokane Chronicle praised Mamie’s dark gray wool suit and gray Norwegian fox-fur trim, as well as her gracious and friendly manner.

A few minutes later, the general climbed to a platform to speak to a crowd of 12,000 people at the intersection of Monroe Street and Riverside Avenue.

Before 1952, Eisenhower had turned down every invitation to run for office.

President Harry Truman, a Democrat, offered Eisenhower the top of the 1948 Democrat ticket if he wanted it. Eisenhower declined.

In the postwar period both the Democrats and the Republicans tried to “draft Eisenhower” to be their party’s candidate. The general avoided announcing any political affiliation.

Ike graduated from West Point in 1915 and trained tank crews during World War I. After many postings around the world, he was promoted through the ranks and was a brigadier general when the U.S. entered World War II in 1941.

President Franklin Roosevelt named him the supreme commander of all the Allied forces in Europe in 1943. Eisenhower was integral to almost all of the war planning in Europe, culminating in the amphibious D-Day invasion in 1944. After the war, Eisenhower served as a governor in occupied Germany and later as Army chief of staff.

Ike became president of Columbia University in 1948, wrote his memoir and took up golf.

But at the start of the 1952 presidential campaign, Eisenhower announced he was a Republican and hit the campaign trail.

He defeated Sen. Robert A. Taft for the Republican nomination and ran against Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson in the general election. He won a large electoral college victory, 442-89. He beat Stevenson again in 1956 for a second term.

During the Spokane campaign stop, Washington Gov. Arthur B. Langlie introduced Eisenhower as “the greatest leader America has had in many, many years.” After about 40 minutes on stage, the future president boarded his train and continued to Seattle.