[x]

Goes back at least as far as the 1950s.

Some German emigre intellectuals saw Eisenhower as Hindenburg or McCarthy as Hitler, which was silly, since many of those intellectuals had real affinities with totalitarian thinking themselves.

American liberals didn't go that far until the 60s and 70s. By the Nixon era, it was quite common, with swastikas forming the "x" in his name on posters.

[Political Junkie Too]

Interesting. Given that Eisenhower was the Supreme Allied Commander who actually defeated the Nazis, it would seem that by process of elimination, the earliest Republican presidential candidate who could be compared to Nazis would be after Eisenhower's term as president.

-PJ