Most Important Election: 1952?

 Here's a discussion of which election since 1945 has been the most important. Sadly, the experts omit any discussion of my favorite: 1952.  (They focus on 2020, 2016, 1964, etc.)

Why 1952? What was critical was the Republican nomination: Robert Taft versus Dwight Eisenhower.  Either could win, as the country was tired of the New Deal at home and of the Korean War abroad. Taft was the more conservative, with an isolationist history from before December 7, 1941. Ike was the more internationalist and the more supportive of NATO. 

On paper, if Taft had won the nomination and the presidency the course of the Cold War looks very different than what happened.  

I say "on paper" because Taft died in 1953 and we don't know who he would have chosen as vice president.  It might have been someone from the Eisenhower wing of the party in an attempt to present a unified front against the Democrats.  Or it might not.