# 1956 United States presidential election in Tennessee

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
Elections in Tennessee :
Federal government
U.S. President
1796
1800
1804
1808
1812
1816
1820
1824
1828
1832
1836
1840
1844
1848
1852
1856
1860
1864
1868
1872
1876
1880
1884
1888
1892
1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
Presidential primaries
Democratic
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
Republican
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
U.S. Senate
1796
1798
1803
1809
1823
1826
1829
1833
1835
1841
1844
1847
1851
1853
1858
1866
1867
1875
1877
1883
1887
1889
1893
1895
1899
1901
1905
1907
1911
1913
1916
1918
1922
1924
1928
1930
1934
1936
1940
1942
1946
1948
1952
1954
1958
1960
1964
1966
1970
1972
1976
1978
1982
1984
1988
1990
1994
1996
2000
2002
2006
2008
2012
2014
2018
2020
2024
2026
U.S. House
1796
1797
1799
1801
1803
1805
1807
1809
1811
1813
1815
1817
1819
1821
1823
1825
1827
1829
1831
1833
1835
1837
1839
1841
1842
1843
1845
1847
1849
1851
1853
1855
1857
1859
1861
1865
1867
1868
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
Special elections
Senate
1797
1798
1799
1809
1811
1815
1817
1819
1821
1825
1829
1838
1839
1840
1843
1857
1877
1898
1905
1913
1930
1934
1938
1964
1994
House
At-large
1797
1801
1st
1910
1961
2nd
1815
1891
1939
1964
1988
3rd
1939
4th
1837
1874
1875
5th
1814
1975
1988
6th
1939
7th
1932
1939
8th
1845
1958
1969
9th
1940 :
State government
State elections
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
Gubernatorial elections
1796
1797
1799
1801
1803
1805
1807
1809
1811
1813
1815
1817
1819
1821
1823
1825
1827
1829
1831
1833
1835
1837
1839
1841
1843
1845
1847
1849
1851
1853
1855
1857
1859
1861
1863
1865
1867
1869
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
State Senate elections
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
House of Representatives elections
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024 :
Ballot measures
2006
Amendment 1
2014
Amendment 1
2022
Amendment 1
Amendment 3
Nashville measures
Nashville Charter Amendment 1
Let's Move Nashville :
Local elections
Hamilton County mayoral elections
2018
2022
Chattanooga mayoral elections
2013
2017
2021
2025
Knox County mayoral elections
2010
2014
2018
2022
Knoxville mayoral elections
1983
1987
1991
1995
1999
2003
2007
2011
2015
2019
2023
Shelby County mayoral elections
2010
2014
2018
2022
Memphis mayoral elections
2011
2015
2019
2023
Clarksville Mayoral elections
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
Jackson Mayoral elections
2015
2019
2023
Murfreesboro Mayoral elections
2014
2018
2022
Nashville Mayoral elections
2007
2011
2015
2018 (sp)
2019
2023 :
Government :
vte :
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 eleven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Incumbent Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower narrowly carried the state over Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson, becoming the first Republican nominee ever to carry the state more than once.
For over a century after the Civil War, Tennessee was divided according to political loyalties established in that war. Unionist regions covering almost all of East Tennessee, Kentucky Pennyroyal-allied Macon County, and the five Western Highland Rim counties of Carroll, Henderson, McNairy, Hardin, and Wayne voted Republican — generally by landslide margins — as they saw the Democratic Party as the "war party" who had forced them into a war they did not wish to fight. Contrariwise, the rest of Middle and West Tennessee who had supported and driven the state's secession was equally fiercely Democratic as it associated the Republicans with Reconstruction. After the disfranchisement of the state's African-American population by a poll tax was largely complete in the 1890s, the Democratic Party was certain of winning statewide elections if united, although unlike the Deep South Republicans would almost always gain thirty to forty percent of the statewide vote from mountain and Highland Rim support.
Between 1896 and 1948, the Republicans would win statewide contests three times but only in the second amiss the national anti-Wilson tide of 1920 did they receive down-ballot coattails by winning three congressional seats in addition to the rock-ribbed GOP First and Second Districts. After the beginning of the Great Depression, however, for the next third of a century the Republicans would rarely contest statewide offices seriously despite continuing dominance of East Tennessee and half a dozen Unionist counties in the middle and west of the state. State GOP leader B. Carroll Reece is widely believed to have had agreements with E. H. Crump and later Frank G. Clement and Buford Ellington that Republicans would not contest offices statewide or outside their traditional pro-Union areas. The Crump machine would abruptly fall in 1948 after its leader supported Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond but his own subordinates dissented knowing that a Democratic split would hand the state to the Republicans: even Crump’s long-time ally Senator Kenneth D. McKellar broke with him, and a Middle Tennessee liberal, Estes Kefauver, won Tennessee's other Senate seat in 1948. In 1949, after a failed effort six years before, Tennessee would substantially modify its poll tax and entirely abolish it two years later, largely because the Crump machine had “block bought” voters’ poll taxes. Only eight years later, Kefauver would be on the ballot in Tennessee as the Democrats' candidate for Vice President in this election.

## Polls

| Source | Ranking | As of |
| Chattanooga Daily Times | Likely D (flip) | September 19, 1956 |
| Spokane Chronicle | Tossup | October 16, 1956 |

## Results

1956 United States presidential election in Tennessee :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Dwight D. Eisenhower (inc.) | 462,288 | 49.21% |
| | Democratic | Adlai Stevenson | 456,507 | 48.60% |
| | Dixiecrat | T. Coleman Andrews | 19,820 | 2.11% |
| | Prohibition | Enoch Holtwick | 789 | 0.08% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 939,404 | 100% |

### Results by county

| County | Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican | Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican | Adlai Stevenson Democratic | Adlai Stevenson Democratic | T. Coleman Andrews States’ Rights | T. Coleman Andrews States’ Rights | Enoch Holtwick Prohibition | Enoch Holtwick Prohibition | Margin | Margin | Total votes cast |
| County | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | Total votes cast |
| Anderson | 11,071 | 52.42% | 9,368 | 44.35% | 682 | 3.23% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,703 | 8.07% | 21,121 |
| Bedford | 2,258 | 33.08% | 4,517 | 66.18% | 50 | 0.73% | 0 | 0.00% | -2,259 | -33.10% | 6,825 |
| Benton | 1,279 | 36.22% | 2,231 | 63.18% | 21 | 0.59% | 0 | 0.00% | -952 | -26.96% | 3,531 |
| Bledsoe | 1,429 | 56.57% | 1,079 | 42.72% | 18 | 0.71% | 0 | 0.00% | 350 | 13.85% | 2,526 |
| Blount | 12,667 | 70.90% | 5,076 | 28.41% | 113 | 0.63% | 11 | 0.06% | 7,591 | 42.49% | 17,867 |
| Bradley | 6,247 | 65.00% | 3,225 | 33.56% | 139 | 1.45% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,022 | 31.44% | 9,611 |
| Campbell | 5,065 | 64.78% | 2,628 | 33.61% | 126 | 1.61% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,437 | 31.17% | 7,819 |
| Cannon | 919 | 37.13% | 1,547 | 62.51% | 9 | 0.36% | 0 | 0.00% | -628 | -25.38% | 2,475 |
| Carroll | 4,235 | 55.80% | 3,232 | 42.58% | 123 | 1.62% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,003 | 13.22% | 7,590 |
| Carter | 11,218 | 78.80% | 2,933 | 20.60% | 85 | 0.60% | 0 | 0.00% | 8,285 | 58.20% | 14,236 |
| Cheatham | 498 | 17.72% | 2,297 | 81.71% | 11 | 0.39% | 5 | 0.18% | -1,799 | -63.99% | 2,811 |
| Chester | 1,460 | 48.85% | 1,495 | 50.02% | 32 | 1.07% | 2 | 0.07% | -35 | -1.17% | 2,989 |
| Claiborne | 3,377 | 62.21% | 1,973 | 36.35% | 34 | 0.63% | 44 | 0.81% | 1,404 | 25.86% | 5,428 |
| Clay | 902 | 48.31% | 948 | 50.78% | 17 | 0.91% | 0 | 0.00% | -46 | -2.47% | 1,867 |
| Cocke | 5,526 | 82.29% | 1,121 | 16.69% | 39 | 0.58% | 29 | 0.43% | 4,405 | 65.60% | 6,715 |
| Coffee | 2,389 | 32.42% | 4,930 | 66.90% | 50 | 0.68% | 0 | 0.00% | -2,541 | -34.48% | 7,369 |
| Crockett | 1,026 | 33.02% | 1,964 | 63.21% | 105 | 3.38% | 12 | 0.39% | -938 | -30.19% | 3,107 |
| Cumberland | 3,200 | 62.00% | 1,925 | 37.30% | 36 | 0.70% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,275 | 24.70% | 5,161 |
| Davidson | 37,077 | 39.08% | 56,822 | 59.89% | 975 | 1.03% | 0 | 0.00% | -19,745 | -20.81% | 94,874 |
| Decatur | 1,512 | 48.76% | 1,554 | 50.11% | 35 | 1.13% | 0 | 0.00% | -42 | -1.35% | 3,101 |
| DeKalb | 1,690 | 45.76% | 1,982 | 53.67% | 21 | 0.57% | 0 | 0.00% | -292 | -7.91% | 3,693 |
| Dickson | 1,247 | 24.38% | 3,799 | 74.29% | 68 | 1.33% | 0 | 0.00% | -2,552 | -49.91% | 5,114 |
| Dyer | 2,682 | 36.21% | 4,524 | 61.08% | 201 | 2.71% | 0 | 0.00% | -1,842 | -24.87% | 7,407 |
| Fayette | 358 | 18.19% | 639 | 32.47% | 971 | 49.34% | 0 | 0.00% | -332 | -16.87% | 1,968 |
| Fentress | 2,233 | 69.52% | 934 | 29.08% | 30 | 0.93% | 15 | 0.47% | 1,299 | 40.44% | 3,212 |
| Franklin | 1,727 | 26.19% | 4,791 | 72.65% | 77 | 1.17% | 0 | 0.00% | -3,064 | -46.46% | 6,595 |
| Gibson | 3,481 | 29.72% | 7,884 | 67.31% | 348 | 2.97% | 0 | 0.00% | -4,403 | -37.59% | 11,713 |
| Giles | 1,401 | 22.65% | 4,750 | 76.79% | 35 | 0.57% | 0 | 0.00% | -3,349 | -54.14% | 6,186 |
| Grainger | 2,497 | 72.40% | 913 | 26.47% | 39 | 1.13% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,584 | 45.93% | 3,449 |
| Greene | 7,396 | 64.87% | 3,949 | 34.63% | 57 | 0.50% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,447 | 30.24% | 11,402 |
| Grundy | 918 | 30.36% | 2,076 | 68.65% | 23 | 0.76% | 7 | 0.23% | -1,158 | -38.29% | 3,024 |
| Hamblen | 5,608 | 67.77% | 2,592 | 31.32% | 75 | 0.91% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,016 | 36.45% | 8,275 |
| Hamilton | 34,429 | 53.11% | 28,287 | 43.63% | 2,114 | 3.26% | 0 | 0.00% | 6,142 | 9.48% | 64,830 |
| Hancock | 1,939 | 83.29% | 350 | 15.03% | 26 | 1.12% | 13 | 0.56% | 1,589 | 68.26% | 2,328 |
| Hardeman | 818 | 24.40% | 1,754 | 52.31% | 781 | 23.29% | 0 | 0.00% | -936 | -27.91% | 3,353 |
| Hardin | 2,898 | 61.92% | 1,734 | 37.05% | 48 | 1.03% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,164 | 24.87% | 4,680 |
| Hawkins | 6,916 | 68.04% | 3,180 | 31.29% | 37 | 0.36% | 31 | 0.30% | 3,736 | 36.75% | 10,164 |
| Haywood | 516 | 17.04% | 2,217 | 73.22% | 295 | 9.74% | 0 | 0.00% | -1,701 | -56.18% | 3,028 |
| Henderson | 3,294 | 66.91% | 1,613 | 32.76% | 16 | 0.33% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,681 | 34.15% | 4,923 |
| Henry | 2,337 | 28.97% | 5,625 | 69.72% | 106 | 1.31% | 0 | 0.00% | -3,288 | -40.75% | 8,068 |
| Hickman | 1,040 | 29.75% | 2,439 | 69.77% | 11 | 0.31% | 6 | 0.17% | -1,399 | -40.02% | 3,496 |
| Houston | 340 | 24.55% | 1,033 | 74.58% | 8 | 0.58% | 4 | 0.29% | -693 | -50.03% | 1,385 |
| Humphreys | 713 | 19.99% | 2,841 | 79.67% | 12 | 0.34% | 0 | 0.00% | -2,128 | -59.68% | 3,566 |
| Jackson | 881 | 33.13% | 1,743 | 65.55% | 35 | 1.32% | 0 | 0.00% | -862 | -32.42% | 2,659 |
| Jefferson | 4,870 | 77.63% | 1,338 | 21.33% | 65 | 1.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,532 | 56.30% | 6,273 |
| Johnson | 3,690 | 87.44% | 503 | 11.92% | 27 | 0.64% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,187 | 75.52% | 4,220 |
| Knox | 46,167 | 60.09% | 29,768 | 38.74% | 800 | 1.04% | 96 | 0.12% | 16,399 | 21.35% | 76,831 |
| Lake | 512 | 22.80% | 1,673 | 74.49% | 61 | 2.72% | 0 | 0.00% | -1,161 | -51.69% | 2,246 |
| Lauderdale | 1,049 | 18.94% | 4,383 | 79.12% | 108 | 1.95% | 0 | 0.00% | -3,334 | -60.18% | 5,540 |
| Lawrence | 4,588 | 51.67% | 4,227 | 47.60% | 44 | 0.50% | 21 | 0.24% | 361 | 4.07% | 8,880 |
| Lewis | 522 | 28.16% | 1,321 | 71.25% | 11 | 0.59% | 0 | 0.00% | -799 | -43.09% | 1,854 |
| Lincoln | 1,207 | 21.21% | 4,434 | 77.90% | 51 | 0.90% | 0 | 0.00% | -3,227 | -56.69% | 5,692 |
| Loudon | 4,583 | 60.91% | 2,844 | 37.80% | 75 | 1.00% | 22 | 0.29% | 1,739 | 23.11% | 7,524 |
| Macon | 2,207 | 66.96% | 1,069 | 32.43% | 20 | 0.61% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,138 | 34.53% | 3,296 |
| Madison | 6,642 | 41.42% | 8,540 | 53.25% | 810 | 5.05% | 45 | 0.28% | -1,898 | -11.83% | 16,037 |
| Marion | 2,925 | 50.45% | 2,781 | 47.96% | 92 | 1.59% | 0 | 0.00% | 144 | 2.49% | 5,798 |
| Marshall | 1,527 | 26.58% | 4,100 | 71.37% | 94 | 1.64% | 24 | 0.42% | -2,573 | -44.79% | 5,745 |
| Maury | 2,853 | 29.39% | 6,662 | 68.64% | 191 | 1.97% | 0 | 0.00% | -3,809 | -39.25% | 9,706 |
| McMinn | 6,075 | 59.83% | 3,950 | 38.90% | 93 | 0.92% | 35 | 0.34% | 2,125 | 20.93% | 10,153 |
| McNairy | 3,349 | 57.37% | 2,403 | 41.16% | 86 | 1.47% | 0 | 0.00% | 946 | 16.21% | 5,838 |
| Meigs | 847 | 51.93% | 759 | 46.54% | 21 | 1.29% | 4 | 0.25% | 88 | 5.39% | 1,631 |
| Monroe | 4,998 | 58.28% | 3,511 | 40.94% | 55 | 0.64% | 12 | 0.14% | 1,487 | 17.34% | 8,576 |
| Montgomery | 2,778 | 25.41% | 8,034 | 73.48% | 122 | 1.12% | 0 | 0.00% | -5,256 | -48.07% | 10,934 |
| Moore | 270 | 23.14% | 893 | 76.52% | 4 | 0.34% | 0 | 0.00% | -623 | -53.38% | 1,167 |
| Morgan | 2,402 | 62.83% | 1,379 | 36.07% | 42 | 1.10% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,023 | 26.76% | 3,823 |
| Obion | 2,349 | 30.76% | 5,185 | 67.89% | 103 | 1.35% | 0 | 0.00% | -2,836 | -37.13% | 7,637 |
| Overton | 1,508 | 38.44% | 2,385 | 60.80% | 15 | 0.38% | 15 | 0.38% | -877 | -22.36% | 3,923 |
| Perry | 694 | 39.43% | 1,052 | 59.77% | 14 | 0.80% | 0 | 0.00% | -358 | -20.34% | 1,760 |
| Pickett | 985 | 63.30% | 560 | 35.99% | 11 | 0.71% | 0 | 0.00% | 425 | 27.31% | 1,556 |
| Polk | 2,136 | 58.22% | 1,533 | 41.78% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 603 | 16.44% | 3,669 |
| Putnam | 3,492 | 43.63% | 4,481 | 55.98% | 31 | 0.39% | 0 | 0.00% | -989 | -12.35% | 8,004 |
| Rhea | 2,516 | 55.70% | 1,930 | 42.73% | 71 | 1.57% | 0 | 0.00% | 586 | 12.97% | 4,517 |
| Roane | 6,147 | 56.82% | 4,531 | 41.88% | 131 | 1.21% | 9 | 0.08% | 1,616 | 14.94% | 10,818 |
| Robertson | 1,517 | 23.25% | 4,961 | 76.02% | 34 | 0.52% | 14 | 0.21% | -3,444 | -52.77% | 6,526 |
| Rutherford | 2,713 | 29.15% | 6,494 | 69.78% | 99 | 1.06% | 0 | 0.00% | -3,781 | -40.63% | 9,306 |
| Scott | 3,282 | 79.10% | 842 | 20.29% | 25 | 0.60% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,440 | 58.81% | 4,149 |
| Sequatchie | 683 | 43.89% | 859 | 55.21% | 14 | 0.90% | 0 | 0.00% | -176 | -11.32% | 1,556 |
| Sevier | 6,950 | 86.46% | 1,043 | 12.98% | 40 | 0.50% | 5 | 0.06% | 5,907 | 73.48% | 8,038 |
| Shelby | 65,690 | 48.65% | 62,051 | 45.96% | 7,284 | 5.39% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,639 | 2.69% | 135,025 |
| Smith | 1,267 | 29.96% | 2,949 | 69.73% | 8 | 0.19% | 5 | 0.12% | -1,682 | -39.77% | 4,229 |
| Stewart | 560 | 20.77% | 2,120 | 78.64% | 16 | 0.59% | 0 | 0.00% | -1,560 | -57.87% | 2,696 |
| Sullivan | 18,903 | 56.42% | 14,106 | 42.10% | 206 | 0.61% | 291 | 0.87% | 4,797 | 14.32% | 33,506 |
| Sumner | 2,123 | 22.28% | 7,368 | 77.34% | 36 | 0.38% | 0 | 0.00% | -5,245 | -55.06% | 9,527 |
| Tipton | 983 | 16.26% | 4,828 | 79.87% | 234 | 3.87% | 0 | 0.00% | -3,845 | -63.61% | 6,045 |
| Trousdale | 209 | 16.76% | 1,032 | 82.76% | 6 | 0.48% | 0 | 0.00% | -823 | -66.00% | 1,247 |
| Unicoi | 3,978 | 77.71% | 1,111 | 21.70% | 30 | 0.59% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,867 | 56.01% | 5,119 |
| Union | 2,154 | 79.69% | 535 | 19.79% | 14 | 0.52% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,619 | 59.90% | 2,703 |
| Van Buren | 381 | 38.45% | 602 | 60.75% | 8 | 0.81% | 0 | 0.00% | -221 | -22.30% | 991 |
| Warren | 1,954 | 32.58% | 4,014 | 66.92% | 30 | 0.50% | 0 | 0.00% | -2,060 | -34.34% | 5,998 |
| Washington | 13,471 | 71.23% | 5,314 | 28.10% | 127 | 0.67% | 0 | 0.00% | 8,157 | 43.13% | 18,912 |
| Wayne | 2,557 | 70.67% | 1,045 | 28.88% | 16 | 0.44% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,512 | 41.79% | 3,618 |
| Weakley | 2,720 | 36.22% | 4,717 | 62.81% | 61 | 0.81% | 12 | 0.16% | -1,997 | -26.59% | 7,510 |
| White | 1,346 | 35.81% | 2,378 | 63.26% | 35 | 0.93% | 0 | 0.00% | -1,032 | -27.45% | 3,759 |
| Williamson | 1,979 | 31.86% | 4,174 | 67.20% | 58 | 0.93% | 0 | 0.00% | -2,195 | -35.34% | 6,211 |
| Wilson | 2,266 | 30.04% | 5,221 | 69.21% | 57 | 0.76% | 0 | 0.00% | -2,955 | -39.17% | 7,544 |
| Totals | 462,288 | 49.21% | 456,507 | 48.60% | 19,820 | 2.11% | 789 | 0.08% | 5,781 | 0.61% | 939,404 |

#### Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

* Chester
* Marion
* Shelby

#### Counties that flipped from Democratic to Unpledged

* Fayette

## Analysis

In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower, aided by acquisition of 1948 Dixiecrat votes in West Tennessee cotton counties, would carry the state for the Republicans by an 0.28 percent margin. Unlike in 1952, neither Eisenhower nor Stevenson visited the state. For the 1956 presidential election, Senator Kefauver would seek the presidential nomination but was ultimately chosen by second-time Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson II as his running mate. Despite some campaigners writing the state off for the GOP, Tennessee was won by Eisenhower with 49.21 percent of the popular vote, against Stevenson’s 48.60 percent. This was a slight increase upon Eisenhower’s 1952 margin, due entirely to large gains from 1952 amongst the substantial black electorate of Memphis.