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This chapter focuses on Taft's death and how it made the Old Guard lose both its guiding force and its most visible public presence. Without its figurehead and legislative leader, the conservative faction lost much of its cohesiveness just as the White House and the RNC planned a concerted effort to remove its members from the Republican organization. No other partisan had enough stature to challenge Eisenhower and the moderate agenda of the Dewey wing effectively. The two who would do so later in the decade, Senators William F. Knowland and Barry Goldwater, openly expressed their displeasure with certain policies, but in the mid-1950s neither had the reputation or following of Taft. As the conservatives searched for a new leader, the Dewey wing escalated its purge of the Old Guard and sought to use Eisenhower's popularity to rebuild the GOP as a liberal organization.

This chapter discusses the Old Guard and how it continued to undermine Thomas Dewey's control of the Republican Party. The congressional statement of policy had checked Dewey's plans to reshape the GOP as a moderate alternative to the New Deal and forced RNC chairman Herbert Brownell to change his tone or risk appearing out of step with the party he led. With the congressional elections of 1946 looming, the national chairmanship became even more critical for the presidential nomination. Midterm elections were essentially trial runs. Mounting a strong off-year campaign would demonstrate to party elites that a candidate's organization could manage a successful national election drive and make a strong case for their continued control. In April 1946 the Taftites capitalized on a bit of good timing and increased discontent with the Dewey faction to seize the chairmanship of the RNC.

Young Stassen had many of the qualifications that aspiring politicians find so valuable in America’s presidential tradition. Prominent among them was a “log cabin” origin, which William Henry Harrison had used successfully in the 1840 presidential campaign. At the University of Minnesota Law School, the gregarious Stassen made friends who became loyal supporters in his campaigns for the presidency. But first, Stassen would pursue the governorship of his home state. Success came quickly, enhanced by the political environment of 1938. Republican victories at the polls reflected the seeming failures of the New Deal and, in particular, the negative public reaction to President Roosevelt’s attack against the Supreme Court. In this context, the ambitious young Minnesota governor was hailed as the face of a rejuvenated Republican Party, and he made the most of the acclaim.