Milwaukee became a consequential campaign stop in early October 1952, when Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a speech there with Senator Joe McCarthy seated behind him. Eisenhower’s choice to leave out a prepared tribute to George Marshall made the omission, rather than the speech’s other themes, a defining feature of the event—and drew condemnation from Harry S. Truman.

The Wisconsin Campaign Setting

Eisenhower’s visit to Wisconsin took place during his presidential campaign and amid a dispute over whether he would publicly defend Marshall, whom McCarthy had continued to vilify. Eisenhower’s aides expected a tribute to Marshall in Milwaukee and had told reporters to anticipate one. McCarthy, campaigning for reelection in his home state, opposed including it; he had traveled to Peoria and then crossed into Wisconsin aboard Eisenhower’s train.

The Milwaukee Speech

The campaign unfolded in stages. At Green Bay, Eisenhower thanked McCarthy for meeting him in Illinois and said that their differences concerned methods, not objectives. In Milwaukee, with McCarthy seated behind him onstage, Eisenhower condemned what he described as national tolerance of communism and blamed communists in Washington for China’s fall and the surrender of nations in Eastern Europe. He did not mention Marshall. The tribute had been prepared, but was cut before the speech.

The Omission’s Aftermath

Because Eisenhower’s aides had spent the day telling reporters that he would honor Marshall, the tribute’s absence drew more attention than the rest of the Milwaukee address. Even some of Eisenhower’s staunch supporters were appalled. Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, wired Eisenhower’s campaign manager, Sherman Adams, to express that he was sick at heart.

Truman, who was devoted to Marshall, regarded Eisenhower’s decision as an unpardonable betrayal. Speaking in Oakland, California, he called the spectacle sad and pathetic and argued that Eisenhower had tarnished his reputation as a commander. Milwaukee thus entered the campaign narrative not simply as a stop on Eisenhower’s Wisconsin tour, but as the setting for a conspicuous break between political calculation and the public defense of a respected military leader.