harold stassen, and earl warren. harold stassen of minnesota, before he began to run for the presidency over and over and over again, harold stassen was the youngest governor in the united states in minnesota. they called him the boy wonder. and earl warren, while he had not yet certainly become what he would become as chief justice, had already run for vice president of the united states. these were two fairly major players, but they were never, ever major enough to deal in the same circles in 1952 with either eisenhower or bob taft. it was always between the two of them. as eisenhower's mind suddenly started changing, as his correspondence showed that he was becoming more and more troubled by the stance that bob taft was taking, what was happening at -- concurrently, running parallel with his change of mind, were the politicos were starting to organize a campaign without a candidate. tom dewey, as early as 1949, knew that he couldn't run again. he wanted to desperately, but he knew he couldn't. he would be humiliat

harold e. stassen, former governor of minnesota, now i punchline in american political history because he ran and lost so many times and ran and lost so many times with absolutely no chance of success. robert a. taft, senator from ohio, leader of the congressional republicans, mr. republican, mr. conservative but not charismatic and the 4th is not even in the country. the general of the army, jug, douglas mccarthy and tokyo running the former, i guess still present empire of japan and a popular guy but can he pull it off from faraway? he doesn't. he has entered into the wisconsin primary. he should when that. he doesn't. he stumbles and is out fairly quickly. there are not a lot of primaries that year. there's the new hampshire primary. there is always the new hampshire primary. there is the wisconsin primary which macarthur should win and doesn't. he loses a tooth harold stassen which elevates stassen. stassen as an outsider. he is a boy wonder. in 1938 he had been elected governor of minnesota and he

harold e. stassen, former governor of minnesota, now a punch line in american political history because he ran and lost so many times and ran and lost so many times with absolutely no chance of success. robert a. taft, senator from ohio, leader of the congressional republicans de facto. mr. republican, mr. conservative, but as they say, dull as paint, not charismatic. and the fourth is not even in the country. general of the army, douglas macarthur, in tokyo running the former -- or i guess still present -- empire of japan and a popular guy. but can he pull it off from far away? he doesn't. he's entered in the wisconsin primary. he should win that. he doesn't. he stumbled. he's out pretty quickly. there aren't a lot of primaries that year. there's a new hampshire primary. there's always the new hampshire primary. there is the wisconsin primary which macarthur should win and doesn't. he loses it to harold stacin, which elevates stacin. he is an outsider, he's a boy wonder. in 1938, he had been elected g

harold stassen, the great liberal, in the affirmative! in the affirmative. tom dewey -- tom dewey in the negative. now, we haven't talked much about thomas dewey. dewey was the governor of new york, pretty popular guy. he had been the nominee of the republican party in 1944. he had led on the first three ballots in 1940 before losing to wendell willkie. quite remarkable, because this year, 1948, he's only 46 years old. now, that's about the age that obama was. that's only three years older than jack kennedy was. he's a young man. and he's been on the verge of power and national notoriety even before that 1940. what is he in 1940? he's an ex-district attorney. he's not even governor. he was the district attorney of manhattan. he was mr. district attorney, crime-buster, the guy who went after the mob, put them in jail, went after the wall street guys, put them in jail. he did it all. he was spectacular as a district attorney. but as governor, he begins to trim his sails. he's looking at the polls, and as a candidate, it's the same way. so, people, even though

harold stassen who before he became something of a comical figure who ran every four years to various levels of disdain was, in fact, a very formidable candidate. then you had arthur van derberg from massachusetts who reminded people of senator foghorn. he was the quintessential pot bellied and rather pompous but he'd become a statesman. arthur vandenberg had undergone this conversion from isolationist internationalist that tom dewey was to emulate and so you had a -- it was a pretty distinguished field. and it was by no means a sure one who wanted to run but never announced his candidacy was douglas macarthur who was in the jungles of asia but his name was on the ballot. and one other candidate who went to wisconsin and saw his campaign end there was the 1940 nominee of the party, wendell will willke. >> let's talk about the impact of the oregon primary and the debate you touched on earlier. why is it important? >> it's on youtube, i'm sure it's easy to get. anyone who is watching what passes for debates at the moment among the republican candidates or, quite frankly, who has watched

you also had, you know, people like harold stassen. >> nelson rockefeller also. >> rockefeller and romney is in the mix. guess who? ronald reagan is in that mix. reagan is the strong, strong conservative as opposed to nixon at the miami convention. ultimately it comes down to rockefeller and reagan kind of knocking each other out and allowing nixon then to have a clear path for the nomination in miami. >> fred from michigan. >> caller: i wanted to mention one of my favorite stories about humphrey when he was the mayor of minneapolis. they were going to go out on strike, and the mayor office's story goes over looked the bell telephone company across the street. and he saw them taking in mattresses and food to be brought into the building to prepare for a long strike. so he ordered the inspectors to go over there and have the hotel to have permits so he emptied the building of all that staff and the strike was over. hubert horatio humphrey was always a great friend of the working people, and that's my comment. >> thanks for telling that story. let's move right on to another call from nancy

harold stassen, who, before he became something of a comical figure, who ran every four years to various levels of disdain was, in fact, a very formidable candidate. and then vandenburg from michigan. he was a quintessential sort of pot-belly rather pompous but became a statesman. and so you had -- it was a pretty distinguished field. and it was by no means a sure thing. one of the persons who wanted to run, although he never formally announced his candidacy, was douglas macarthur, who was on the battlefield, but his people made sure his name was on the ballot. and one other candidate who went to wisconsin and saw his campaign end there was the 1940 nominee of the party, wendell wilkie. >> let's talk about the impact of the oregon primary and the debate you touched on earlier. why is it important? >> a number of reasons. i'm sure it's on youtube, i'm sure it's easy to get. anyone who is watching what passes for debates at the moment among the republican candidates or who watched the fall debates in recent years between the opposing parties. i would just urge you to go and listen to the d

. >> yeah, young nelson rockefeller, harold stassen before he was a joke, when he was taken seriouslyt to be fired. >> what was adlai stevenson's role in the founding of the u.n.? >> do you want to take that? >> it had to do with a preparatory conference, as i understand it. >> well, he was also a delegate to the conference in san francisco. and then he was -- at which the united nations was adopted or approved. but by late 1945, we were living in london where he was the u.s. delegate to the preparatory commission, as newt was about to suggest, which laid the foundation. i mean, actually it started putting the building blocks together including the location in new york. he represented the united states at that commission where great men from all over europe and canada. they used to assemble at our home at night because we had access to the commissary, an extraordinary group of people. he was in on the birth of the united nations. and incidentally, he died 20 years later just a couple of blocks from our home in london in 1945. that was '65. still serving the united nations and this cou