UNIVAC I predicts the 1952 presidential election. WHAT? What was UNIVAC I? In the 1950s, UNIVAC was synonymous with computer. Before UNIVAC was introduced in 1951, computers were one-of-a-kind machines built by scientists. UNIVAC turned the computer into a product. On election night, 1952, millions of Americans saw their first computer, a UNIVAC I, correctly predict that Eisenhower would win. CBS News later announced that UNIVAC had actually predicted a landslide but they didn't believe the computer and altered UNIVAC's prediction.