1956 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Stevenson campaigned hard against Eisenhower, with television ads for the first time being the dominant medium for both sides. Eisenhower's 1952 election victory had been due in large part to winning the female vote; hence, during this campaign there was a plethora of "housewife"-focused ads. Some commentators at the time also argued that television's new prominence was a major factor in Eisenhower's decision to run for a second term at the age of 66, considering his weak health after the heart attack in 1955. Television allowed Eisenhower to reach people across the country without enduring the strain of repeated coast-to-coast travel, making a national campaign more feasible.


1956 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Stevenson proposed significant increases in government spending for social programs and treaties with the Soviet Union to lower military spending and end nuclear testing on both sides. He also proposed to end the military draft and switch to an "all-volunteer" military. Eisenhower publicly opposed these ideas, even though in private he was working on a proposal to ban atmospheric nuclear testing. Eisenhower had retained the enormous personal and political popularity he had earned during World War II, and he maintained a comfortable lead in the polls throughout the campaign.


1956 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Eisenhower was also helped by his handling of two developing foreign-policy crises that occurred in the weeks before the election. In the Soviet-occupied People's Republic of Hungary, many citizens had risen in revolt in the Revolution of 1956 against Soviet domination, but the Soviets responded by invading the country on October 26. Three days later, a combined force of Israeli, British, and French troops invaded Egypt to topple Gamal Abdel Nasser and seize the recently nationalized Suez Canal. The resolution of the latter crisis rapidly moved to the United Nations, and the Hungarian revolt was brutally crushed within a few days by re-deployed Soviet troops. Eisenhower condemned both actions, but was unable to help Hungary; he did, however, forcefully pressure the western forces to withdraw from Egypt.


1956 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
While these two events led many Americans to rally in support of the president and swelled his expected margin of victory, the campaign was seen differently by some foreign governments. The Eisenhower administration had also supported the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954; this ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court ended legal segregation in public schools. Meanwhile, Stevenson voiced disapproval about federal court intervention in segregation, saying about Brown that "we don't need reforms or groping experiments." This was an about-face from the national Democratic party platform's endorsement of civil rights in the 1948 campaign. Although Eisenhower "avoid[ed] a clear stand on the Brown decision" during the campaign, in the contest with Stevenson, he won the support of nearly 40% of black voters; he was the last Republican presidential candidate to receive such a level of support from black voters.


1956 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Eisenhower led all opinion polls by large margins throughout the campaign. On Election Day Eisenhower took over 57% of the popular vote and won 41 of the 48 states. Stevenson won only six Southern states and the border state of Missouri, becoming the first losing candidate since William Jennings Bryan in 1900 to carry Missouri. Eisenhower carried Louisiana, making him the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the state, or any state in the Deep South for that matter, since Rutherford Hayes had done so in 1876 during Reconstruction.


1956 United States presidential election, General election, Results
This election was the last in which Massachusetts voted Republican until 1980 and the last in which Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and West Virginia did so until 1972. Conversely this was the last election in which Mississippi voted Democratic until 1976, and is also the last election until 1976 when Alabama gave a majority of its electoral votes to the Democratic candidate.


1956 United States presidential election, General election, Results
Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote


1956 United States presidential election, General election, Close states
Margin of victory over 5%, but under 10% (46 electoral votes)


1956 United States presidential election, General election, Close states
(a) Alabama faithless elector W. F. Turner, who was pledged to Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver, instead cast his votes for Walter Burgwyn Jones, who was a circuit court judge in Turner's home town, and Herman Talmadge, governor of the neighboring state of Georgia.


1956 United States presidential election, General election, Close states
Because of the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states in 1959, the 1956 presidential election was the last in which there were 531 electoral votes.


1956 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 1956 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose eleven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Alabama
Alabama was won by Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 56.52 percent of the popular vote against incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 39.39% of the popular vote. Stevenson received ten of Alabama's eleven electoral votes; the eleventh was cast by a faithless elector for Walter B. Jones.


1956 United States presidential election in Alabama
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Macon County voted for a Republican nominee, and one of just three presidential elections when Macon County was won by a Republican, the others being the Reconstruction Era elections of 1868 and 1872. It is also the last time that Houston County voted for a Democratic nominee.


1956 United States presidential election in Arizona
The 1956 United States presidential election in Arizona took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. States voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Arizona
Arizona was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 60.99% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 39.90% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Arizona
Eisenhower was the first Republican presidential candidate to ever carry Graham County, which was to become a Republican stronghold after 1964.


1956 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 1956 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Arkansas was won by Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 52.46% of the popular vote against incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 45.82% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Arkansas
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which the Democratic nominee carried Arkansas without winning the presidency.


1956 United States presidential election in California
The 1956 United States presidential election in California took place on November 1956 as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose 32 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in California
California voted for the Republican incumbent, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a landslide over the Democratic challenger, former Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. However, Stevenson did improve his performance in California from four years previous.


1956 United States presidential election in California
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last presidential election in California where the Republican candidate won the counties of Alameda and San Francisco, both of which have become strongholds of the Democratic Party.


1956 United States presidential election in Colorado
The 1956 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Colorado
Colorado was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 59.49% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 39.81% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 1956 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Connecticut voted for the Republican nominee, incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower of Pennsylvania, over the Democratic nominee, former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. Eisenhower ran with incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon of California, while Stevenson's running mate was Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.


1956 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Eisenhower won Connecticut by a margin of 27.46%. As of 2020, this was the most recent presidential election in which the Republican nominee carried the town of Bloomfield and the cities of Middletown, New Britain, and New Haven.


1956 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 1956 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Delaware
Delaware was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 55.09% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 44.62% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Florida
The 1956 United States presidential election in Florida was held on November 6, 1956, as part of the concurrent United States presidential election. Florida voters chose ten electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
Except for the 1928 election when fierce anti-Catholicism and Prohibitionism caused Herbert Hoover to defeat the wet Catholic Al Smith, Florida since the end of Reconstruction had been a classic Southern one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. Disfranchisement of African-Americans and many poor whites had virtually eliminated the Republican Party – only nine Republicans were ever elected to the state legislature between 1890 and 1950 – while Democratic primaries were the sole competitive elections.


1956 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
Under the influence of Senator Claude Pepper, Florida abolished the poll tax in 1937, leading to steady increases in voter turnout during the following several elections; however, there was no marked increase in African-American voting and Democratic hegemony remained unchallenged: FDR did not lose a single county in the state during his four elections.


1956 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
However, the following two elections would see a rapid trend away from Democratic hegemony towards Republican dominance in newer, more liberal South Florida. The regions shifting rapidly towards the GOP in these two elections lacked a history of slave-based plantation farming, and saw Eisenhower as more favourable to business than the Democratic Party. They also had seen a very large inflow of elderly migrants from the Northern states who were attracted by Florida's hot climate. Consequently, Eisenhower was able to carry the Sunshine State by a double-digit margin in 1952, in spite of losing badly in the "Hoovercrat" pineywoods and Black Belt of the Panhandle.


1956 United States presidential election in Florida, Vote
The 1956 election saw, in general, little change from trends established during the previous two elections, with the most significant exception being a marked (though temporary) trend towards Eisenhower amongst the small but increasing number of Negro voters in the state. Eisenhower, aided further by increased Northerner migration, won against his rematch opponent Adlai Stevenson II by 163,474 votes or 14.54%.


1956 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1956 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Georgia voters chose 12 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Georgia
Georgia was won by Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 66.48% of the popular vote against incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 32.65% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Idaho
The 1956 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Idaho
Idaho was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 61.17% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 38.78% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 1956 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose 27 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Illinois
Illinois was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 59.52% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 40.29% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information
The primaries and general elections coincided with those for other federal offices (Senate and House), as well as those for state offices.


1956 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout in the state-run primary elections (Democratic and Republican) was 31.69% with a total of 1,577,163 votes cast.


1956 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout during the general election was 84.47%, with 4,407,407 votes cast.


1956 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries
Both major parties held non-binding state-run preferential primaries on April 10.


1956 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
The 1956 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on April 10, 1956, in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Democratic Party's state primaries ahead of the 1956 presidential election.


1956 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
The popular vote was a non-binding "beauty contest". Delegates were instead elected by direct votes by congressional district on delegate candidates.


1956 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
All candidates besides Adlai Stevenson II, who won a landslide victory, were write-ins.


1956 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
The 1956 Illinois Republican presidential primary was held on April 10, 1956, in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Republican Party's state primaries ahead of the 1956 presidential election.


1956 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
The preference vote was a "beauty contest". Delegates were instead selected by direct-vote in each congressional districts on delegate candidates.


1956 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 1956 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Indiana
Indiana was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 59.90% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 39.70% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Indiana
This is the last time a Republican won Lake County while not being able to win all of the counties(Nixon won Lake County while winning every county in Indiana in 1972)


1956 United States presidential election in Iowa
The 1956 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Iowa voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Iowa
Iowa was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 59.06% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 40.65% of the popular vote. Eisenhower carried every county except for Wapello County; this would be the last time a Republican presidential candidate won Dubuque County until Donald Trump in 2016.


1956 United States presidential election in Kansas
The 1956 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Kansas
Kansas was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 65.44% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 34.21% of the popular vote. Eisenhower, as expected, had no trouble carrying his boyhood home state, having spent his formative years in Abilene.


1956 United States presidential election in Kansas
With 65.44% of the popular vote, Kansas proved to be Eisenhower's fifth strongest state after Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and Nebraska.


1956 United States presidential election in Kentucky
The 1956 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Kentucky voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Kentucky was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 54.30 percent of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 45.21 percent of the popular vote. Along with Louisiana and West Virginia, Kentucky was one of the 3 states Eisenhower lost in 1952, but managed to flip in 1956.


1956 United States presidential election in Louisiana
The 1956 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Louisiana was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 53.28% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 39.51% of the popular vote. This was the first time a Republican presidential candidate won Louisiana since Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876. Along with Kentucky and West Virginia, Louisiana was one of 3 states that Dwight Eisenhower lost in 1952, but managed to flip in 1956.


1956 United States presidential election in Maine
The 1956 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Maine
Maine overwhelmingly voted for the Republican nominee, incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower of Pennsylvania, over the Democratic nominee, former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. Eisenhower ran with incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon of California, while Stevenson's running mate was Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.


1956 United States presidential election in Maine
Eisenhower won Maine by a landslide margin of 41.74%. Although the Pine Tree State was almost completely dominated by the Republican Party between 1856 and 1960 (apart from 1912 where the Republican vote was split), Eisenhower's performance is nonetheless the second-best by any presidential candidate in Maine, behind only Yankee Calvin Coolidge in 1924, who won a 1.16% higher share of the popular vote. He carried every county in Maine, and won thirteen of sixteen with over seventy percent of the vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Maine
This election would prove the last of a century of GOP dominance in the Yankee Northeast: over the following two elections, the Republican share would decline 39% in Maine as the party moved its target support base from the declining Northeast to the "Sun Belt" of the lower-tax South and Desert Southwest.


1956 United States presidential election in Maine
With 70.87% of the popular vote, Maine would prove to be Eisenhower's second strongest state after nearby Vermont.


1956 United States presidential election in Maine, Notes
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1956 United States presidential election in Maryland
The 1956 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Maryland
Maryland was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 60.00% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 39.94% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Maryland
By winning all 24 county-equivalents, Eisenhower became and remains the solitary presidential candidate to sweep all Maryland's counties and Baltimore City. As of 2021, this is the last election in which the City of Baltimore voted for a Republican presidential candidate, and by extension, the last election in which a presidential candidate won all of the state's counties.


1956 United States presidential election in Maryland
George Washington in 1792 is the only other candidate who swept all of Maryland's existing counties, though at the time several did not yet exist. In 1789 and 1820, the other two elections in which a candidate ran virtually unopposed, unpledged slates of electors ran as opposition in both elections: Anti- Federalist electors in 1789, and Federalist electors in 1820. These electors supported Washington and James Monroe, but supported different Vice Presidential candidates. Thus, it is a debatable topic whether these count as total sweeps or not (In 1789, the Anti- Federalist electors won Baltimore and Anne Arundel county, and in 1820 St. Mary's and Charles counties). Nevertheless, Eisenhower remains the only candidate in the modern party system to win all of Maryland's counties, and the only to win all of the presently existing ones.


1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose 16 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts voted decisively for the Republican nominee, incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower of Pennsylvania, over the Democratic nominee, former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. Eisenhower ran with incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon of California, while Stevenson's running mate was Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.


1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Eisenhower carried the state with 59.32% of the vote to Stevenson's 40.37%, a Republican victory margin of 18.95%.


1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
As Eisenhower won a decisive re-election victory nationwide, Massachusetts weighed in for this election as about 4% more Republican than the national average. This remains the last presidential election in which Massachusetts voted more Republican than the nation, as the state would trend dramatically toward the Democratic Party beginning in 1960.


1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Once a typical Yankee Republican bastion in the wake of the Civil War, Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, when a coalition of Irish Catholic and other ethnic immigrant voters primarily based in urban areas turned Massachusetts and neighboring Rhode Island into New England's only reliably Democratic states. Massachusetts voted for Al Smith in 1928, for Franklin Roosevelt 4 times in the 1930s and 1940s, and for Harry S. Truman in 1948. However General Dwight Eisenhower, a war hero and moderate Republican who pledged to support and continue popular New Deal Democratic policies, was finally able to appeal to a broad enough coalition both to win back the White House and to flip Massachusetts back into the Republican column.


1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
In his initial 1952 campaign, Eisenhower won back Massachusetts by a closer 54–45 margin, but the popular incumbent, who governed in a very moderate way that appealed to New England voters, was able to more than double his margin of victory in the state in the 1956 election.


1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Eisenhower carried 13 of the state's 14 counties, Stevenson's only victory coming from urban Suffolk County, home to the state's capital and largest city, Boston.


1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
No Republican would carry Massachusetts in a presidential election again until Ronald Reagan won the state in 1980. Since this election, no Republican has ever carried the counties of Bristol, Hampshire and Middlesex. No Republican candidate has matched Eisenhower's 1.39 million votes in any presidential election in Massachusetts since.


1956 United States presidential election in Michigan
The 1956 United States presidential election in Michigan was held on November 6, 1956 as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose 20 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Michigan
Michigan was won by the Republican Party candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower with 56% of the popular vote, winning the state's twenty electoral votes. However, this result made Michigan 2% more Democratic than the nation-at-large.


1956 United States presidential election in Minnesota
The 1956 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Minnesota was won by the Republican Party candidate, incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower won the state over former Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson by a margin of 101,777 votes, or 7.6%, which made Minnesota 8% more Democratic than the nation-at-large. Eisenhower went on to win the election nationally, with 457 electoral votes and a landslide 15.4% lead over Stevenson in the popular vote. The 1956 presidential election was a rematch of the 1952 election, in which Eisenhower also defeated Stevenson, both nationally and in Minnesota. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time Minnesota was carried twice by the Republican nominee.


1956 United States presidential election in Minnesota
The Democratic nomination campaign leading into 1956 presidential election may have had a major role in the end of the political career of Coya Knutson, the first woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota. The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, in a ploy to win a possible vice presidential nomination for its rising star, U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey, desperately attempted to ensure that Stevenson would win in the DFL Presidential Primary in Minnesota that year.


1956 United States presidential election in Minnesota
However, Congresswoman Knutson, believing that the agricultural policy positions of U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee would have been more beneficial to her constituents, instead endorsed and campaigned on behalf of Kefauver. In part due to Knutson's efforts, Kefauver won the March 20th Minnesota Presidential Primary; as a result, when Stevenson was ultimately nominated, Kefauver was chosen as his running mate.


1956 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Two years later, shortly before the 1958 DFL state convention, a letter signed but not written by Knutson's husband was circulated to reporters. The contents of the letter played on anxieties over deviations from the rigid gender roles of the time, and its publication by newspapers essentially ensured Knutson's defeat in her bid for re-election that year.


1956 United States presidential election in Minnesota
It has been alleged by several individuals, including Concordia College political science professor Harding Noblitt, Knutson biographer Gretchen Beito, and numerous people who were close to Knutson, that either DFL state leadership or local operatives wrote the letter and bribed Knutson's husband to sign it, as a means to exact retribution against the Congresswoman for denying Humphrey a shot at the vice presidential nomination in 1956.


1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The 1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi was held on November 6, 1956. Mississippi voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Background
Ever since the end of Reconstruction, Mississippi had been a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party was virtually nonexistent as a result of disenfranchisement among African Americans and poor whites, including voter intimidation against those who refused to vote Democratic.


1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Background
From the time of Henry A. Wallace's appointment as Vice-President and the 1943 Detroit race riots, however, the northern left wing of the Democratic Party became committed to restoring black political rights, a policy vehemently opposed by all Southern Democrats as an infringement upon "states' rights". Consequently, the four states with the highest proportions of (disenfranchised) African-Americans in the populations listed South Carolina Governor James Strom Thurmond instead of national Democratic nominee Harry S. Truman as the "Democratic" nominee in the 1948 Presidential election. Although Thurmond easily carried South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, Truman won the election.


1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Background
Nevertheless, demands for civil rights legislation continued to intensify during the following eight years, although the pressing issue of the Korean War meant that Southern Democrats did not run a third-party ticket in 1952; however dissatisfaction with Democrat Adlai Stevenson on civil rights meant Dwight Eisenhower (listed as an "Independent" on the 1952 Mississippi ballot) gained considerable support from the exclusively white electorate of black belt counties, despite having a virtually identical position on civil rights.


1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Background
After the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, however, Mississippi's rulers realized they could not rely on either major party to enforce segregation and white supremacy. The Citizens' Councils sought to map a regional caucus to deal with this issue, but it feared a split as had occurred in 1948. Nevertheless, the Citizens' Councils did place a slate of unpledged electors on the ballot alongside Eisenhower and Stevenson electors.


1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Vote
Ultimately Mississippi was to vote for Stevenson by a convincing margin of 33.76%, as the 1952 Eisenhower vote in the black belt was substantially turned over to the unpledged slate, whilst Stevenson held almost all of the vote he received in 1952. Mississippi was Stevenson's second-strongest state behind Georgia, and in terms of popular vote Eisenhower's weakest.


1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Vote
As of the 2020 presidential election, 1956 would nonetheless remain the last election where a Democrat has gained a majority of the vote in Mississippi. The party's increasing embrace of civil rights for blacks would turn the state over to another unpledged slate in 1960, then overwhelmingly to the anti-Civil Rights Act of 1964 Republican nominee Barry Goldwater in 1964. With the enfranchisement of the state's blacks via the Voting Rights Act, the majority white population would overwhelmingly move toward the Republican Party. Since 1965 only Jimmy Carter in 1976 has carried Mississippi for the Democratic Party – and even Southern evangelical Carter's performance was his third-weakest in the extended South behind his narrow losses in Virginia and Oklahoma.


1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi, Vote
No Democratic presidential nominee has carried the following counties since Stevenson did so in this election: Lamar, Lauderdale, Lincoln, Lowndes, Newton, Rankin, Scott and Simpson. Stevenson is also the last Democrat to carry Clarke County outright, but Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan tied there with 3,303 votes apiece in 1980. Oktibbeha County would not vote Democratic again until Barack Obama carried it in 2008. This is also the last election in which the Democratic nominee carried Mississippi without winning the presidency.


1956 United States presidential election in Missouri
The 1956 United States presidential election in Missouri took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Missouri
Democrat Adlai Stevenson II narrowly won the state of Missouri over the Republican incumbent, Dwight D. Eisenhower, thanks in large part to a 72,000-vote margin in St. Louis. This election saw the state deviate from its traditional status as a national bellwether; with this exception, Missouri chose the eventual winner of each U.S. presidential contest between the 1904 election and the 2004 election. Missouri was the only state Eisenhower won in 1952 that Stevenson managed to flip. As of 2020, this is also the last election in which the Republican nominee won the presidency without carrying Missouri.


1956 United States presidential election in Montana
The 1956 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 6, 1956 as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Montana
Montana strongly voted for the Republican nominee, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, over the Democratic nominee, former Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. Eisenhower won Montana by 14.26%; however, owing to a five-year drought in the High Plains that resulted in a considerable protest vote for Stevenson, he did not do as well as had four years earlier.


1956 United States presidential election in Montana
However, his strong Catholic appeal meant that Eisenhower gained substantially in the heavily Irish mining counties of the west. His 48.61% in Deer Lodge County is the best by a Republican there since Warren G. Harding in 1920, and as of the 2020 presidential election, this is the only election since 1920 in which Silver Bow County voted for a Republican Presidential candidate. In addition to that, this is the only election since 1924, as of 2020, in which neighbouring Deer Lodge and Silver Bow counties voted for different candidates, the two normally being Democratic strongholds.


1956 United States presidential election in Nebraska
The 1956 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Nebraska
Nebraska was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 65.51% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 34.49% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Nebraska
With 65.51% of the popular vote, Nebraska would prove to be Eisenhower's fourth strongest state after Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire.


1956 United States presidential election in Nevada
The 1956 United States presidential election in Nevada took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Nevada
Nevada was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 57.97% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 42.03% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The 1956 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
New Hampshire was won by the Republican nominees, incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower of Pennsylvania and his running mate incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon of California. Eisenhower and Nixon defeated the Democratic nominees, former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois and his running mate Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.


1956 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Eisenhower took 66.11% of the vote to Stevenson's 33.84%, a margin of 32.27%.


1956 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Eisenhower, a war hero and moderate Republican who had pledged to maintain popular New Deal Democratic policies, had wide appeal beyond the boundaries of the traditional Republican coalition. New Hampshire had been narrowly carried by Democrat Franklin Roosevelt 3 out of 4 times, although the state narrowly reverted to the GOP in 1948. However Eisenhower's unique personal appeal brought the state decisively back into the Republican column in both 1952 and 1956,


1956 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Eisenhower in 1956 swept every county in New Hampshire, the first Republican to do so since Calvin Coolidge in 1924.


1956 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Since Franklin Roosevelt won them in 1932, the counties of Hillsborough County, Strafford County, and Coos County had become reliable New Deal Democratic base counties, voting for Roosevelt all four times as well as for Harry S. Truman. Eisenhower had won back Strafford County and Coos County for the GOP in 1952, however he had lost Hillsborough County, home to Manchester and Nashua, which had been a reliable Democratic bastion since voting for Democrat Al Smith in 1928. However, in 1956, Eisenhower won a majority even in Hillsborough County.


1956 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Carroll County had long been the most Republican county in New Hampshire, voting 60% against FDR all four times and over 70% for Thomas E. Dewey in 1948. Eisenhower would receive over 80% of vote in the county in both 1952 and 1956.


1956 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
As Eisenhower won a decisive re-election victory nationally, New Hampshire's results would make the state almost 17% more Republican than the national average, the third most Republican state in the nation behind its Upper New England neighbors Vermont and Maine, a substantial jump from being only the twelfth most Republican state in 1952. The popular incumbent had governed in a very moderate way that appealed to New England voters, and was able to gain dramatically among voters in states like New Hampshire compared to 1952.


1956 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The 1956 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 6, 1956. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose 16 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey was won overwhelmingly by the Republican nominees, incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower of Pennsylvania and his running mate incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon of California. Eisenhower and Nixon defeated the Democratic nominees, former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois and his running mate Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.


1956 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Eisenhower carried New Jersey in a landslide with 64.68% of the vote to Stevenson’s 34.23%, a margin of 30.46%.


1956 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Eisenhower’s decisive 1956 landslide represented a dramatic swing in the state in his favor. In his initial 1952 match against Stevenson, Eisenhower had also comfortably won New Jersey, but by a smaller margin, taking 56.81% of the vote to Stevenson’s 41.99%, a margin of 14.83%. Eisenhower’s 30.46% margin of victory in 1956 was thus more than double the margin by which he had won the state in 1952, marking a swing of over 15 points in Eisenhower's favor.


1956 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Eisenhower's landslide gains in the state were also evident on the county map. Whereas in 1952, Eisenhower had lost 3 counties to Stevenson, in 1956 Eisenhower decisively swept all 21 counties in the state of New Jersey, breaking 60% of the vote in all but 3, breaking 70% in 7, and even breaking 80% in rural Sussex County. In urban, Democratic-leaning Hudson County, which Stevenson had narrowly won with a plurality in 1952, Eisenhower won decisively with over 60% of the vote in 1956. Eisenhower also picked up victories in Mercer County and Camden County, both of which had given majorities to Stevenson in 1952. He was only the second presidential nominee to sweep all New Jersey’s counties after Warren G. Harding in 1920.


1956 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Eisenhower had first won election to the White House in 1952 as a war hero, a political outsider, and a moderate Republican who pledged to protect and support popular New Deal Democratic policies, finally ending 20 years of Democratic control of the White House. Once in office, Eisenhower governed as a moderate progressive, approving infrastructure spending projects like the Interstate Highway System and supporting high tax rates on the rich, as well as taking a progressive stand on issues related to the Civil Rights Movement. Thus Eisenhower was able to win over many more normally Democratic-leaning liberal and moderate voters in the Northeast than he already had in 1952, and thus every Northeastern state swung in his favor in 1956, including New Jersey.


1956 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey in this era was usually a swing state with a slight Republican lean. However, Eisenhower’s overwhelming personal popularity in the Northeast in 1956 led him to perform unusually strongly in New Jersey. The state usually voted very similarly to the nation as a whole, with a slight Republican tilt, as in 1952 when its results had been just 4% more Republican than the national average. Nevertheless, in 1956 the state swung especially hard in Eisenhower’s favor.


1956 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Even as Eisenhower won a slightly more convincing victory nationwide than he had in 1952, New Jersey swung much more than the nation, and its result in the 1956 election made the state more than 15% more Republican than the national average, making it the sixth most Republican state in the union.


1956 United States presidential election in New Mexico
The 1956 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 6, 1956. All 48 states were part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which voted for President and Vice President.


1956 United States presidential election in New Mexico
New Mexico was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower by a 16-point landslide. Running against Eisenhower was former Governor of Illinois Adlai Stevenson, whom Eisenhower had earlier defeated for the Presidency in 1952. This election reflected one of the last election cycles where the Democratic Party still had their post Civil War political domination of the Deep South. This was also the last United States presidential election when either major party nominee was born in the nineteenth century.


1956 United States presidential election in New Mexico
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Rio Arriba County and San Miguel County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1956 United States presidential election in New York
The 1956 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 6, 1956. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose 45 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in New York
New York was won by incumbent Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was running against former Democratic Governor of Illinois Adlai Stevenson. Eisenhower ran with incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, and Stevenson ran with Tennessee Senator, and principal opponent during the 1956 Democratic Primaries, Estes Kefauver.


1956 United States presidential election in New York
Eisenhower received 61.24% of the vote to Stevenson's 38.73%, a margin of 22.51%. Eisenhower won 4.3 million votes, the most ever received by a Republican presidential candidate in the state's history.


1956 United States presidential election in New York
New York weighed in for this election as eight percentage points more Republican than the national average. This election was very much of a re-match from the previous presidential election 4 years earlier, which featured the same major candidates except for John Sparkman being replaced as Stevenson’s running mate by Kefauver.


1956 United States presidential election in New York
The presidential election of 1956 was a very partisan election for New York, with 99.8% of the electorate voting for either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. The widely popular Eisenhower took every county in the State of New York outside of New York City, dominating upstate by landslide margins and also sweeping suburban areas around NYC. Stevenson narrowly won New York City overall by carrying the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, while Eisenhower won Queens and Staten Island.


1956 United States presidential election in New York
Eisenhower won the election in New York by a 22-point landslide. The presidential election of 1956 is one of the final elections in American politics featuring a Democratic stronghold in the former slave states. This was also one of the first elections in New York (and nationally) where most campaign finance went to television ads. Stevenson campaigned on a platform of expansion of government social programs founded under former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, scaling back the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and ending the U.S. draft, seeking an 'all volunteer armed forces.' While Stevenson's policies were largely popular with many people living in the United States at the time, Eisenhower's post World War II star-power and strong stance against peace-talks with the Soviet Union, won him a landslide victory across the United States, including in New York.


1956 United States presidential election in New York
Eisenhower had first won election to the White House in 1952 as a war hero, a political outsider, and a moderate Republican who pledged to protect and support popular New Deal Democratic policies, finally ending 20 years of Democratic control of the White House. Once in office, Eisenhower governed as a moderate progressive, approving infrastructure spending projects like the Interstate Highway System and supporting high tax rates on the rich, as well as taking a progressive stand on issues related to the Civil Rights Movement. Thus Eisenhower was able to win over many more normally Democratic-leaning liberal and moderate voters in the Northeast than he already had in 1952, and thus every Northeastern state swung in his favor in 1956, including New York.


1956 United States presidential election in New York
1956 was the last election in which a Republican presidential candidate took more than sixty percent of the vote in New York State and won the state by more than twenty points against his Democratic opponent, as well as the last election in which New York State was more Republican than the national average.


1956 United States presidential election in North Carolina
The 1956 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. North Carolina voters chose 14 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in North Carolina
North Carolina was carried by Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, with 50.66 percent of the popular vote, over incumbent Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower. This would be the last time until 1992 that North Carolina would not vote for the winning candidate in a presidential election, and is also the most recent election in which it supported a losing Democratic candidate.


1956 United States presidential election in North Dakota
The 1956 United States presidential election in North Dakota took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in North Dakota
North Dakota was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 61.72% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, with 38.09% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Ohio
The 1956 United States presidential election in Ohio took place on November 6, 1956 throughout all 48 states, which was part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose 25 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1956 United States presidential election in Ohio
Ohio was won by the Republican Party candidate, incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He won all counties except for Pike County.


1956 United States presidential election in Oklahoma
The 1956 United States presidential election in Oklahoma took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Oklahoma
Oklahoma was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 55.13 percent of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 44.87 percent of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Oregon
The 1956 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Oregon
Oregon was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 55.25% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 44.75% of the popular vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Clatsop County voted for a Republican Presidential candidate.


1956 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
The 1956 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 6, 1956 as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose 32 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania strongly voted for the Republican nominee, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, over the Democratic nominee, former Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. Pennsylvania was the home state of President Eisenhower, as he moved to the Gettysburg area after World War II. Eisenhower won Pennsylvania by a solid 13.19% margin, and carried every county except Philadelphia and four heavily unionized coal counties in the southwestern "Black Country". This result nonetheless made Pennsylvania slightly more Democratic than the nation at large.


1956 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
The 1956 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Rhode Island voted for the Republican nominee, incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower of Pennsylvania, over the Democratic nominee, former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. Eisenhower ran with incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon of California, while Stevenson's running mate was Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.


1956 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Eisenhower won Rhode Island by a margin of  16.53%. This is also the most recent presidential election when Rhode Island would vote more Republican than the nation as a whole. Eisenhower's 225,819 votes is the most received by a Republican presidential candidate in the state's history.


1956 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
As of 2020, this was the last election in which a Republican presidential candidate won the cities of Central Falls and Pawtucket.


1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina
The 1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. South Carolina voters chose 8 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina, Background
For six decades up to 1950 South Carolina had been a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party had been moribund due to the disfranchisement of blacks and the complete absence of other support bases as the Palmetto State completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession. Between 1900 and 1948, no Republican presidential candidate ever obtained more than seven percent of the total presidential vote – a vote which in 1924 reached as low as 6.6 percent of the total voting-age population (or approximately 15 percent of the voting-age white population).


1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina, Background
This absolute loyalty began to break down during World War II when Vice-Presidents Henry A. Wallace and Harry Truman began to realize that a legacy of discrimination against blacks was a threat to the United States' image abroad and its ability to win the Cold War against the radically egalitarian rhetoric of Communism.


1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina, Background
In the 1948 presidential election, Truman was backed by only 24 percent of South Carolina's limited electorate – most of that from the relatively few upcountry poor whites able to meet rigorous voting requirements – and state Governor Strom Thurmond won 71 percent, carrying every county except Anderson and Spartanburg. Despite Truman announcing as early as May 1950 that he would not run again for President in 1952, it had already become clear that South Carolina's rulers remained severely disenchanted with the national Democratic Party.


1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina, Background
Both Thurmond and former Governor James F. Byrnes would endorse national Republican nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower – who ran under an independent label in South Carolina – and Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson II only won narrowly due to two- and three-to-one majorities in the poor white counties that had given substantial opposition to Thurmond in 1948.


1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina, Background
During the first Eisenhower term, South Carolina’s whites who had supported him became extremely critical because Eisenhower was blamed for Brown v. Board of Education, whose requirement of desegregating the state’s schools was intolerable. Consequently, state leaders like Thurmond argued that the GOP could not be a useful tool for opposing civil rights, and most of the state’s Democrats endorsed Stevenson for his rematch with Eisenhower. Byrnes, however, obtained 35,000 petitions for an alternative slate of unpledged Democratic electors, which he naturally endorsed when ballot access was obtained for that slate.


1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina, Vote
In mid-October, the consensus among pollsters was that the state’s vote would be sharply split between the three slates, although polls just before election day suggested that Stevenson was likely to carry the state. Ultimately South Carolina was won by Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver by a more decisive margin than polls predicted.


1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina, Vote
Stevenson gained 45.37 percent of the popular vote thanks to his continued dominance of the upcountry, whilst Eisenhower and the unpledged slate divided the lowcountry vote, with the unpledged slate finishing second with 29.45 percent and Eisenhower – this time running under the “Republican” banner – with 25.18 percent Wealthier whites left Eisenhower for the unpledged slate in large numbers, but unlike in 1952 when the small number of black voters strongly supported Stevenson, Eisenhower gained substantial, even majority, support from blacks able to vote in Charleston and Columbia.


1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina, Vote
The 1956 election in South Carolina marks the second of only three times in the 20th century that an incumbent president has finished third in any state. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which the Republican nominee won the presidential election without carrying South Carolina, and the last time that Greenville County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. It is also the last time that Lexington County was not carried by the Republican candidate.


1956 United States presidential election in South Dakota
The 1956 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in South Dakota
South Dakota was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 58.39 percent of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, with 41.61% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Tennessee
The 1956 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 11 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Tennessee was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 49.21% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 48.60% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Texas
The 1956 United States presidential election in Texas took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Incumbent President Eisenhower won his birth state of Texas with 55% of the vote, giving him 24 electoral votes. Eisenhower would also become the first Republican to carry Texas twice, having won the state in 1952 as well.


1956 United States presidential election in Utah
The 1956 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Utah
Utah was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 64.56 percent of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 35.44 percent of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Vermont
The 1956 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Vermont
Vermont voted overwhelmingly for the Republican nominee, incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower of Pennsylvania, over the Democratic nominee, former Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. Eisenhower ran with incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon of California, while Stevenson's running mate was Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.


1956 United States presidential election in Vermont
Eisenhower took a landslide 72.16% of the vote to Stevenson's 27.81%, a victory margin of 44.35%. This was the most lopsided statewide win of the election.


1956 United States presidential election in Vermont
Vermont historically was a bastion of liberal Northeastern Republicanism, and by 1956 the Green Mountain State had gone Republican in every presidential election since the founding of the Republican Party. From 1856 to 1952, Vermont had had the longest streak of voting Republican of any state, having never voted Democratic before, and this tradition easily continued in 1956 with Eisenhower's landslide win.


1956 United States presidential election in Vermont
Eisenhower, a war hero and moderate Republican who had pledged to reform and maintain popular New Deal Democratic policies, had wide appeal beyond the boundaries of the traditional Republican coalition. While Vermont had been one of the only two states (the other being Maine) in the nation to vote against Franklin Roosevelt all 4 times, the GOP margins in the state had narrowed substantially in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly due to the strong Democratic presence in the northwestern part of the state.


1956 United States presidential election in Vermont
However Eisenhower's unique personal appeal brought even that region back into the GOP coalition, and allowed him to break 70% in the state in both 1952 and 1956 (where Eisenhower had performed better than he did in 1952), the first Republican to do so since Calvin Coolidge in 1924, and the last Republican to date.


1956 United States presidential election in Vermont
Eisenhower swept every county in Vermont, breaking 70% in 11 of the 14 counties. The three northwestern counties of Vermont had long been Democratic enclaves in an otherwise Republican state through the 1930s and 1940s, but Eisenhower won them back for the GOP in both 1952 and 1956, in the latter case even breaking 60% in Grand Isle County. The region still remained the most Democratic in the state, as Eisenhower received less than 60% of the vote in Chittenden County and Franklin County, while every county outside the northwest broke seventy percent for Eisenhower.


1956 United States presidential election in Vermont
In three counties Eisenhower even broke eighty percent of the vote. No Republican presidential candidate since has surpassed Eisenhower's 72.16% vote share or his 44.35% margin of victory, as by the late 1950s cracks were already beginning to form in the Republican stranglehold on Vermont, and the GOP shifted toward an increasingly Southern and conservative party beginning in the 1960s.


1956 United States presidential election in Vermont
Even as Eisenhower won a decisive re-election landslide nationally, Vermont weighed in as a whopping 29% more Republican than the national average, making Vermont the most Republican state in the union in the 1956 election. While Vermont had been the most Republican state in the nation in many elections prior to 1956, this would prove the last election when the Green Mountain State would hold that title.


1956 United States presidential election in Vermont
This would be the last time Vermont was the strongest state for either party until 64 years later, in 2020, when it was Democratic candidate Joe Biden's strongest state, demonstrating the completion of Vermont's trend towards the Democrats.


1956 United States presidential election in Virginia
The 1956 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 6, 1956. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Virginia
Virginia voted for the Republican nominee, incumbent President Dwight Eisenhower, over the Democratic nominee, former Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson and former Commissioner of Internal Revenue T. Coleman Andrews, who received the nomination of the States' Rights Party. Andrews had his strongest showing in his home state of Virginia. Eisenhower ultimately won the national election with 57.37% of the vote.


1956 United States presidential election in Virginia
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election when majority-black Charles City County has voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1956 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
The 1956 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
Washington was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 53.91% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 45.44% of the popular vote.


1956 United States presidential election in West Virginia
The 1956 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. West Virginia voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in West Virginia
West Virginia was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 54.08% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 45.92% of the popular vote. Along with Kentucky and Louisiana, West Virginia was one of 3 states that Dwight Eisenhower lost in 1952, but managed to flip in 1956.


1956 United States presidential election in West Virginia
This is the only time between the Republican landslides of 1928 and 1972 that a Republican won West Virginia, and only one of three times between 1932 and 1996 that a Republican did so (the others being the aforementioned 1972 as well as 1984)


1956 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
The 1956 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 6, 1956 as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, Background
Politics in Wisconsin since the Populist movement had been dominated by the Republican Party. The Democratic Party became uncompetitive away from the Laue Michigan coast as the upper classes, along with the majority of workers who followed them, fled from William Jennings Bryan's agrarian and free silver sympathies. Although the state did develop a strong Socialist Party to provide opposition to the GOP, Wisconsin developed the direct Republican primary in 1903 and this ultimately created competition between the "League" under Robert M. La Follette, and the conservative "Regular" faction. This ultimately would develop into the Wisconsin Progressive Party in the late 1930s, which was opposed to the conservative German Democrats and to the national Republican Party, and allied with Franklin D. Roosevelt at the federal level.


1956 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, Background
During the two wartime elections, the formerly Democratic German counties in the east of the state – which had been powerfully opposed to the Civil War because they saw it as a "Yankee" war and opposed the military draft instituted during it – viewed Communism as a much greater threat to America than Nazism and consequently opposed President Roosevelt's war effort. Consequently, these historically Democratic counties became virtually the most Republican in the entire state, and became a major support base for populist conservative Senator Joe McCarthy, who became notorious for his investigations into Communists inside the American government. The state's populace's opposition to Communism and the Korean War turned Wisconsin strongly to Republican nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election.


1956 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, Background
For the 1956 rematch, Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson II began by campaigning against Eisenhower's handling of farm problems, at a time when most of the interior United States was suffering from a severe drought. The Democrat would then attack Eisenhower as a "weak" President when the two were touring the Midwest during September.


1956 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, Vote
Early polls showed Eisenhower leading the state despite farm unrest, owing to the unpopularity of Stevenson. No later poll was taken, but evidence was that state's farmers were not trending to Stevenson at all, and that the Suez Crisis would hurt rather than help Stevenson.


1956 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, Vote
As it turned out, Eisenhower slightly improved upon his 1952 margin in Wisconsin: although he did lose some support in the farming areas, he gained upon his 1952 vote in Wisconsin's cities due to increased Catholic support, and carried all but two northern counties. As of 2020, this remains the last time a Republican has carried Wisconsin by double digits, as the state would trend Democratic beginning with the 1958 midterm elections, although Democrats have subsequently won Wisconsin by double digits just three times – Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, Bill Clinton in 1996 and Barack Obama in 2008. This is also the last election as of 2020 in which Portage County, Ashland County, Milwaukee County, and Dane County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.


1956 United States presidential election in Wyoming
The 1956 United States presidential election in Wyoming took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1956 United States presidential election in Wyoming
Wyoming was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 60.08 percent of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 39.92 percent of the popular vote.


1956 Uruguayan Primera División, Overview
It was contested by 10 teams, and Nacional won the championship.


1956 Utah Redskins football team
The 1956 Utah Redskins football team represented the University of Utah during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season.


1956 Utah State Aggies football team
The 1956 Utah State Aggies football team was an American football team that represented Utah State University in the Skyline Conference during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. In their second season under head coach Ev Faunce, the Aggies compiled a 6–4 record (4–3 against Skyline opponents), tied for third place in the Skyline Conference, and outscored opponents by a total of 221 to 199.


1956 Utah gubernatorial election
The 1956 Utah gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1956. Republican nominee George Dewey Clyde defeated Democratic nominee L.C. "Rennie" Romney with 38.20% of the vote.


1956 VFA season
The 1956 Victorian Football Association season was the 75th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, after it defeated Port Melbourne in the Grand Final on 29 September by twenty-four points. It was Williamstown's eighth premiership, its third in a row (all won against Port Melbourne), and the third of five premierships won in six seasons from 1954 until 1959.


1956 VFA season, Premiership
The home-and-home season was played over twenty matches, before the top four clubs contested a finals series under the Page–McIntyre system to determine the premiers for the season.


1956 VFA season, Notable events, Perth Carnival
The Association competed in the 1956 Perth Carnival, and finished in last place with a record of 0–4. Port Melbourne's Frank Johnson captained the Association team, and Northcote's Bill Faul served as coach. Johnson was named as captain of the All-Australian team; no other Association players were named in the team.


1956 VFL Grand Final
The 1956 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Melbourne Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 15 September 1956. It was the 60th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1956 VFL season. The match was won by Melbourne by 73 points, marking that club's eighth premiership victory.


1956 VFL Grand Final
It was the second successive year in which the two teams met in a premiership decider, with Melbourne having won the 1955 VFL Grand Final.


1956 VFL Grand Final
The Grand Final was attended by 115,902 spectators, easily setting a new record as the largest crowd to have witnessed a premiership decider in VFL Grand Final history, breaking the record of 96,486 spectators who witnessed the 1938 VFL Grand Final.


1956 VFL Grand Final
The capacity of the ground had recently been expanded with a new grandstand for the upcoming 1956 Summer Olympics, but the ground was still not large enough to comfortably or safely accommodate such a large crowd; stairwells and aisles were full of people, meaning that many people were unable to leave their positions to use restrooms during the game; and many people had restricted views of the game due to the crowding, resulting in some spectators climbing onto the roofs or back walls of the grandstand and other structures for a better view.


1956 VFL Grand Final
The gates were shut for safety reasons when the venue reached capacity, resulting in riots outside the ground in which an estimated 2,500 further spectators broke into the ground. More than 20,000 spectators were turned away at the gate. Pre -sale ticketing for finals was introduced from the following season to prevent a repeat of these events, and the crowd record stood until the 1968 VFL Grand Final – after the opening of the Western Stand.


1956 VFL Grand Final
A scene from the game is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting The Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport: Collingwood's Neil Mann and Melbourne's Ian Ridley fighting amongst the spectators who were sitting on the arena (but behind the boundary line).


1956 VFL season
The 1956 Victorian Football League season was the 60th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.


1956 VFL season, 1956 Summer Olympics
From 22 November to 8 December, the 1956 Summer Olympics were to be held in Melbourne, with a re-configured Melbourne Cricket Ground as its Main Stadium.


1956 VFL season, 1956 Summer Olympics
The need to accommodate this fact brought certain changes to the 1956 VFL season:


1956 VFL season, 1956 Summer Olympics
It was not desirable for Melbourne to play four consecutive away matches to start the season. This was partly because Melbourne would then have four consecutive home matches between Rounds 12 and 15. Additionally, because of the proximity of the Melbourne Cricket Ground to Punt Road Oval, matches were never scheduled at the venues on the same day; so it would have forced Richmond to open the season with four home matches, then play four away matches from Rounds 12 to 15. To overcome this, Melbourne played only its first three matches away, then played its Round 4 home match against Fitzroy at Punt Road Oval.


1956 VFL season, Premiership season
In 1956, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man. A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances.


1956 VFL season, Premiership season
Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.


1956 VFL season, Premiership season
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1956 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.


1956 VFL season, Consolation Night Series Competition
The first VFL night series was held under floodlights at Lake Oval, South Melbourne amongst those teams who had missed the regular final series.


1956 VFL season, Consolation Night Series Competition
The eight teams that had finished in places 5 to 12 on the end-of-season ladder played in a set of seven elimination matches at the end of the home-and-away season.


1956 VFL season, Consolation Night Series Competition
The Final was played on the evening of Monday 17 September 1956 (two days after the VFL Grand Final) in front of 33,120 spectators.


1956 VPI Gobblers football team
The 1956 VPI Gobblers football team represented the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in the 1956 NCAA University Division football season.


1956 VPI Gobblers football team, Players
The following players were members of the 1956 football team according to the roster published in the 1957 edition of The Bugle, the Virginia Tech yearbook.


1956 VPI Gobblers football team, Coaching Staff
The following coaches were members of the 1956 football team according to the roster published in the 1957 edition of The Bugle.


1956 Vanderbilt Commodores football team
The 1956 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season.


1956 Venezuelan Primera División season
The 1956 season of the Venezuelan Primera División, the top category of Venezuelan football, was played by 5 teams. The national champions were Banco Obrero.


1956 Vermont Catamounts football team
The 1956 Vermont Catamounts football team was an American football team that represented  the University of Vermont in the Yankee Conference during the 1956 NCAA College Division football season. In their fifth year under head coach J. Edward Donnelly, the team compiled a 2–5 record.


1956 Vermont gubernatorial election
The 1956 Vermont gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican Joseph B. Johnson ran successfully for re-election to a second term as Governor of Vermont, defeating Democratic candidate E. Frank Branon.


1956 Villanova Wildcats football team
The 1956 Villanova Wildcats football team represented the Villanova University during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. The head coach was Frank Reagan, coaching his third season with the Wildcats. The team played their home games at Villanova Stadium in Villanova, Pennsylvania.


1956 Virginia 500
The 1956 Virginia 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on May 20, 1956, at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. As the inaugural event for the NASCAR Grand National Series in Martinsville, this race would set a precedent for all other 500-lap races to follow on this newly paved short track.


1956 Virginia 500, Background
Martinsville Speedway is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races. The standard track at Martinsville Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is 0.526 miles (0.847 km) long. The track's turns are banked at eleven degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at zero degrees. The back stretch also has a zero degree banking.


1956 Virginia 500, Race report
Five hundred laps took place on a paved oval track spanning 0.500 miles (0.805 km) for a grand total of 250 miles (400 km). The time of the race was four hours and three minutes while there were seven cautions for twenty laps. The average speed was 60.824 miles per hour (97.887 km/h) while the pole position speed was 66.103 miles per hour (106.382 km/h).


1956 Virginia 500, Race report
Compared to the top speed of today's passenger vehicles which is considered to be 99 miles per hour (159 km/h) in most makes and models, these stock cars were considered to be slow. Buck Baker defeated Speedy Thompson by half a lap. Other notable drivers who participated in the race included Arden Mounts, Cotton Owens, Fireball Roberts, Tiny Lund, Paul Goldsmith, and Lee Petty. The winning vehicle was a 1956 Dodge Coronet. Thirty-five American drivers dueled each other with no foreign-born competitors either in qualifying or the race itself. It would be the first time that a driver with the number 502 would win a race. Joe Bill O'Dell took quite a spill in this race; with his lap 37 crash causing his vehicle to have all four wheels off the ground.


1956 Virginia 500, Race report
Most of the stock car owners were independent and had no formal ties to the multi-car teams that would start to form in the 1960s and 1970s. A vehicle made by the Packard Motor Car Company even qualified for the race; eventually finishing in 34th place due to a tire problem. Years later, the Packard Motor Company would be victimized by the "Big Three" automobile manufacturers and would close due to lack of sales.


1956 Virginia 500, Race report
Shorty Johns and Carl Kiekhaefer were the two most notable crew chiefs to attend this race.


1956 Virginia 500, Race report
Twenty thousands fans were on hand to watch the race live. The total winnings of the race was $10,275 ($97,807 when considering inflation). Buck Baker received most of the day's earnings with a grand total of $3,100 ($29,509 when considering inflation).


1956 Virginia 500, Qualifying
According to the official lineup sheet from the official program, the first 20 cars would qualify based on speed. Then, positions 21-30 would be based on their positions on a 10 lap qualifying race. Positions 31-40, those who would DNQ on Saturday, would be decided on who got to the track first, i.e. the first driver would get 31st, the second would get 32nd, etc. Buck Baker would win the pole with a 27.230.


1956 Virginia 500, Finishing order
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased * Driver failed to finish race


1956 Virginia Cavaliers football team
The 1956 Virginia Cavaliers football team represented the University of Virginia during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. The Cavaliers were led by first-year head coach Ben Martin and played their home games at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia. They competed as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, finishing in last. Their win against Wake Forest was Virginia's first ACC victory as members of the conference, coming in their third year of membership.


1956 Volta a Catalunya
The 1956 Volta a Catalunya was the 36th edition of the Volta a Catalunya cycle race and was held from 6 September to 13 September 1956. The race started in Sabadell and finished in Barcelona. The race was won by Aniceto Utset.


1956 Vuelta a España
The 11th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 26 April to 13 May 1956. It consisted of 17 stages covering a total of 3,531 km (2,194 mi), and was won by Angelo Conterno of the Bianchi cycling team. Rik Van Steenbergen won the points classification and Nino Defilippis won the mountains classification.


1956 Vuelta a España
The race was run with national teams of France, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium, and an additional four regional Spanish teams. Each fielded 10 cyclists, for a total of 90.


1956 WANFL season
The 1956 WANFL season was the 72nd season of senior football in Perth, Western Australia.


1956 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team
The 1956 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team was an American football team that represented Wake Forest University during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. In their first season under head coach Paul Amen, the Demon Deacons compiled a 2–5–3 record and finished in seventh place in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 1–5–1 record against conference opponents.


1956 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team
Halfback Billy Ray Barnes rushed for over 1,000 yards and was selected by the Associated Press as a first-team player on the 1956 All-Atlantic Coast Conference football team.


1956 Walthamstow West by-election
The Walthamstow West by-election of 1 March 1956 was held after the elevation to the Peerage of former Prime Minister, Labour MP (MP) Clement Attlee.


1956 Walthamstow West by-election
The seat was safe, having been won by Attlee at the 1955 general election by over 9,000 votes


1956 Washington Huskies football team
The 1956 Washington Huskies football team was an American football team that represented the University of Washington during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. In its only season under head coach Darrell Royal, the team compiled a 5–5 record, finished in fourth place in the Pacific Coast Conference, and was outscored 232 to 206.


1956 Washington Huskies football team
Royal was hired as head coach at the University of Texas following the season, where he stayed for twenty seasons and compiled a 167–47–5 (.774) record, including national championships in 1963, 1969, and 1970. The Huskies' next two head coaches stayed for eighteen years each: Jim Owens (1957–74) and Don James (1975–92).


1956 Washington Huskies football team, NFL Draft selections
Four University of Washington Huskies were selected in the 1957 NFL Draft, which lasted thirty rounds with 360 selections.


1956 Washington Redskins season
The 1956 Washington Redskins season was the franchise's 25th season in the National Football League (NFL) and their 20th in Washington, D.C.. The team failed to improve on their 8–4 record from 1955 and finished 6-6.


1956 Washington Redskins season, Regular season, Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.


1956 Washington Senators season
The 1956 Washington Senators won 59 games, lost 95, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Chuck Dressen and played home games at Griffith Stadium.


1956 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Batting, Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1956 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Batting, Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1956 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Pitching, Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1956 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Pitching, Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1956 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Pitching, Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1956 Washington State Cougars baseball team
The 1956 Washington State Cougars baseball team represented the Washington State College in the 1956 NCAA baseball season. The Cougars played their home games at Bailey Field. The team was coached by Buck Bailey in his 30th year as head coach at Washington State.


1956 Washington State Cougars baseball team
The Cougars won the District VIII to advance to the College World Series, where they were defeated by the New Hampshire Wildcats.


1956 Washington State Cougars football team
The 1956 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State College during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. Led by first-year head coach Jim Sutherland, the team posted a 3–6–1 overall record, and were 2–5–1 in the Pacific Coast Conference.


1956 Washington State Cougars football team
Hired in January, Sutherland was previously an assistant at rival Washington for a season  under head coach John Cherberg, preceded by two years at California under Pappy Waldorf. His initial contract with the Cougars was for three years, estimated at $12,000 per year, and he led the program for eight seasons, through 1963.


1956 Washington State Cougars football team, NFL Draft
One Cougar was selected in the 1957 NFL Draft, which was thirty rounds (360 selections).


1956 Washington gubernatorial election
The 1956 Washington gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1956, between Democratic state senator Albert Rosellini and Republican lieutenant governor Emmett T. Anderson.


1956 Washington gubernatorial election
Rosellini defeated Anderson during the general election, becoming the first Italian American to lead a U.S. state west of the Mississippi River. Incumbent Republican governor Arthur B. Langlie declined to run for a fourth term, instead challenging Warren Magnuson for a U.S. Senate seat.


1956 Washington gubernatorial election, Primary election
Incumbent governor Arthur B. Langlie, a Republican who had served three terms, announced on May 2 that he would not run for a fourth term and instead challenge Warren Magnuson for one of the state's U.S. Senate seats. Langlie made no public endorsement for a Republican candidate, but privately supported congressman Thor C. Tollefson prior to the announcement. Tollefson would later drop out of the gubernatorial race by the end of the month and pursue another congressional term, leaving Lieutenant Governor Emmett T. Anderson and Attorney General Don Eastvold as the remaining Republican frontrunners.


1956 Washington gubernatorial election, Primary election
Albert D. Rosellini, a Democratic state senator from South Seattle, announced his candidacy on May 24, proposing a state department of commerce, industrial regulations, diversification of jobs and industries, a second Lake Washington bridge, and toll-free superhighways. Rosellini, a New Deal liberal Democrat who had been named leader of the state's Democratic Senate Caucus, publicly opposed Langlie during his three terms as governors and often butted heads with the former Seattle mayor. After missteps during his 1952 bid for governor, Rosellini was left to run in the 1956 race using his own funds.


1956 Washington gubernatorial election, Primary election
State Secretary of State Earl Coe, another Democrat, joined the race in early July and became Rosellini's biggest challenger for the Democratic nomination. By the filing deadline in July, the field of candidates grew to nine, with Democratic state senator Roderick A. Lindsay of Spokane joining the race. Prior to the primary, Anderson emerged as a Republican favorite among former Langlie supporters, while Democrats Coe and Rosellini were expected to split a contentious vote.


1956 Washington gubernatorial election, Primary election
During the September 11 blanket primary, Rosellini and Anderson won the right to advance to the general election, with comfortable margins in early returns. Coe formally endorsed Rosellini on September 26, citing a preference to avoid "past stalemates" and encouraging voters to give majority control of the legislature to the Democrats.


1956 Washington gubernatorial election, General election
Henry Killman was nominated by the Socialist Labor Party of America in September and approved by the Secretary of State as the only minor party in the governor's race.


1956 Washington gubernatorial election, General election
Rosellini spent much of his campaigning proposing improvements to the state's institutions, including prisons and schools, while attacking the Langlie administration. Anderson, by contrast, made few promises and touted his qualifications as lieutenant governor.


1956 Washington gubernatorial election, General election
On November 6, Rosellini won the governorship and promised to promote bipartisanship and select state employees on merit rather than political qualifications. Anderson formally conceded to Rosellini the following morning, congratulating him on his victory and thanking his supporters.


1956 Waterford Senior Hurling Championship
The 1956 Waterford Senior Hurling Championship was the 56th staging of the Waterford Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Waterford County Board in 1897.


1956 Waterford Senior Hurling Championship
On 15 September 1956, Mount Sion won the championship after a 7-07 to 2-06 defeat of Cappoquin in the final. This was their 12th championship title overall and their fourth title in succession.


1956 Wellington City mayoral election
The 1956 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1956, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.