United States Presidential Election, 1952 (Joe Steele)

The United States presidential election of 1952 saw President Joe Steele elected to an unprecedented sixth term without opposition.

The Candidates
Steele was the only candidate for a third consecutive election. He didn't have to campaign, but stood for election as a mere formality.

The Election
Steele won for what turned out to be the last time. He died just two months into his sixth term. His Vice President, the long-overshadowed John Nance Garner, ascended to the Presidency, and immediately ordered the arrest and execution of two potential rivals: The Hammer, a political ally of the late president's, and; J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the Governmen Bureau of Investigation. The Hammer in turn ordered the deaths of Garner and Hoover. Hoover ordered the deaths of Garner and the Hammer. Hoover prevailed, and ceased the presidency, initiating a reign that was worse than Steele's.

In OTL
The 1952 election saw Republican's nominate war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson, the erudite Governor of Illinois. Eisenhower's campaign focused on the threat of communism abroad and at home. The Korean War became a hot button, as the Republicans accused the Democrats of being unprepared to fight that war. The Democrats in turn attacked GOP conservatives such as Joseph McCarthy, accusing them of "fearmongering".

In the end, Eisenhower won, ending a long Republican political draught that began 20 years prior.

Joseph Stalin was an indirect campaign issue. Like his fictional counter-part, Stalin was on the tail end of a decades long political reign in the Soviet Union; he died in March, 1953.