Republicans, by contrast, did not rely on oratory. They had a blunt election slogan: “Time for a change.” After 20 years of Democratic rule, this resonated. “Indignation,” observed Rovere, was “the emotional keynote of Eisenhower’s campaign.” Allegations swirled around Truman’s administration that a New Deal agency, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, had been approving loans in return for political favors. Republicans cried foul, condemning corruption in high places. They bemoaned bloated federal budgets and expansive bureaucracy, reviled
