The issue of Ike's health raised hard questions about the political fate of Vicepresident Nixon. He had received high marks from the public and the press for his leadership after Eisenhower's heart attack, yet there were clearly many voters who were pro-Ike and anti-Nixon, especially with Nixon only an erratic heartbeat away from the presidency. Of those polled by Gallup in April, 19 percent believed Nixon would help the Republican ticket; 32 percent believed he was a political liability. Republican National Committee chairman Leonard Hall tried to quash any Democratic attempt to play on the connection between a Nixon vicepresidency and Ike's health by repeatedly proclaiming that "the American people simply won't stand for tactics of that kind." But the issue continued to be raised by Eisenhower himself, who in press conferences would praise the vice-president's intellect, loyalty, and record of service but...