Why did Eisenhower, so wary of the civil rights cause, find himself in the surprising role of abetting it? For one thing, there was the promise of a glittering electoral prize in black votes. Eisenhower received 40 percent of the African American vote in 1956—a higher percentage, by far, than any Republican presidential candidate between 1932 and today. (Nixon would win 32 percent in 1960, but since then Republican presidential aspirants have managed to garner on average only 9.6 percent of the black vote.)
