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The Age of Comfort
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The Age of Comfort
Fifty years after Dr. Carrier's invention, thousands of people wearing red, white and blue straw hats leapt to their feet inside Chicago's International Amphitheatre. Eager to regain the White House after a 20-year drought, tensions ran high at the 1952 Republican National Convention, which was the backdrop for the showdown between Sen. Robert Taft (R-Ohio), nicknamed "Mr. Republican," and Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, the popular war hero and NATO leader. Post-war policies, the United Nations and economic growth were important issues at the convention. However, perhaps the most dominant topic was the "Texas steal," the nickname Eisenhower gave to allegations that Taft had stolen delegates. Eisenhower did, in fact, carry the vote, and was selected as the Republican nominee for President and went on to defeat the Democratic candidate, Gov. Adlai Stevenson (D-Ill.), in November.
Eisenhower certainly emerged as the star of the convention, but he wasn't the only reason the crowd had to cheer. For the first time, the delegates and news media present at the convention were able to enjoy custom cooled temperatures inside the amphitheater during the hot and humid month of July.
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The "age of comfort" was declared as Carrier air conditioned the 1952 GOP convention. This marked the first time that the convention was held in the International Amphitheatre, just across the street from its former venue, Chicago Stadium. Another important element of this convention was that it marked the arrival of nationwide television coverage. National conventions were broadcast for the first time, with an estimated 70 million Americans watching both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions that year.
The addition of television coverage made a cooled environment especially important. Each television network was designated an area of the amphitheater and essentially set up mini-studios for broadcasting purposes. In these early days of television, network correspondents were filmed under the glare of hot, bright lights. Imagine doing that in 90-degree heat!
"As a company, we have embraced Dr. Carrier's lifelong appreciation and commitment to education," said Geraud Darnis, President, Carrier Corporation. "Creating the Willis H. Chicago was the perfect city for this innovation. Widely recognized as the world¿s convention capital, Chicago has hosted more major political party conventions than any other U.S. city. Since 1860, the Republicans have met there 14 times, the Democrats 11 times. Today, Chicago continuously holds conventions of all kinds; the annual Chicago Auto Show draws more than a million people each year.
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