Senator Robert A. Taft was running against Dwight Eisenhower for the 1952 Presidential election when he made a stop in Marion, Illinois and appeared on the Public Square to drum up support.

He is shown at the left in this picture which was made on the Public Square where he addressed a large crowd. Standing next to him was Vernon L. Nickell, state superintendent of public instruction, and at the extreme right was Oldham Paisley, editor of the Daily Republican. At the left behind Taft was Attorney Ralph W. Harris and behind the senator at the right was Mayor William Shannon.

This was Taft’s third attempt at the Presidential nomination, having failed in his attempts in 1940 and 1948 to conjure up enough support for a nomination.

Taft was a three term Republican, U.S. Senator and Chair of the Senate Labor Committee that passed the 1947 Taft-Hartley Labor Act.

Following Eisenhower’s election and the GOP takeover of Congress, Taft served as Senate Majority Leader in 1953, and he strongly supported Eisenhower’s domestic proposals. He worked hard to assist the inexperienced new officials of the administration. He even tried—with little success—to curb the excesses of red-baiting U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy.

By April the President and Taft were friends and golfing companions, and Taft was praising his former adversary. Defeat in 1952, it seemed, had softened Taft. No longer burdened by presidential ambitions, he had become less partisan, less abrasive, and more conciliatory; during this time he was widely regarded as the most powerful man in Congress.

He died on July 31, 1953 after suffering a final brain hemorrhage.

(Data extracted from Wikipedia)