The 1948 election was between Harry S. Truman and Thomas Dewey.
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On July 12 the Democrats met in Philadelphia and they were down about the upcoming election seeming to be favoring the Republicans who had the majority of both houses of congress. Public polls showed Truman trailing by a lot. Several of the Democratic party heads wished to get a new candidate but they couldn’t convince Eisenhower or MacArthur to run so they decided to support Truman. The Democratic party managed to push the issue of civil rights into the election and Truman was skeptical as to whether or not support it. As a response to this the Southern delegates nominated Richard Russell Jr. to run against Truman for the Democratic nomination. However Truman got the majority of the nomination votes and chose Alben W. Barkley as his running partner.
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The Republicans running for nomination were Thomas Dewey, Harold Stassen, MacArthur, Robert Taft, Earl Warren, and Arthur Vandenberg. Dewey ran in the last election and was the frontrunner. He was the mayor of New York but Republicans thought he was cold and calculating. Taft campaigned as an isolationist and attacked Truman for helping Europe with the Marshall Plan. Taft wanted to get rid of some of the New Deal programs. Dewey became the Republican nominee with Earl Warren as his running mate.
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The new Progressive Party drew a lot of liberals away from the Democrats. During the campaign Dewey did little thinking that it would be better for him if he wasn’t in the public spotlight all the time. Truman did the opposite and took a 31,000 mile trip around the country to speak all over the country. Truman spoke about how they didn’t want a do nothing President as Dewey was not campaigning. Truman also reached out to legislators who had more radical ideas that needed someone to support them. Truman supported civil rights and farm aid programs which gained the support of southerners.
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At the time of the election both nominees checked into hotels awaiting the returns. Truman took an early lead that he never lost. Truman listened to the radio continue to announce that he was ahead but wouldn’t win while Dewey watched the vote counts until he was sure he had lost. The Chicago Tribune had printed ahead of time that Dewey had won and Truman drove through the streets holding a copy of the paper. This showed that the theory that voters weren’t swayed at the end of the campaigning period was wrong.
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It showed that the people had to be won over through campaigning. It was one of the biggest upset campaigns.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1948
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h898.html
Dewey
Truman
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