Republican Nomination
Thomas E. Dewey was chosen as the republican nominee for the 1948 election. He had also been the party's nominee in 1944, and was considered a leader of the Republican Party. Though many found him cold and unlikeable on a personal level, he had won the 1946 Gubernatorial Election by a wide margin. His running mate was the popular Earl Warren, Governor of California.
The republican platform called for public debt reduction, opposed racial segregation, a constitutional amendment for equal rights for women, and eventual statehood for Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. In foreign policy, the republicans planned to strengthen the United Nations, establish friendship with China, and recognize Israel.
Democratic Nomination
Truman managed to win the democratic nomination, though the democratic national convention was controversial; the Democratic platform supported the desegregation of the military, a policy strongly opposed by Southern Democrats. Some of them even left the Convention in protest, and later formed a States' Rights Party, known as the Dixiecrats, with South Carolina's Governor Strom Thurmond as their nominee for president. The liberal Democrats also defected, forming the Progressive Party and nominating Henry Wallace as their presidential candidate.
For much of the time leading up to the election, things didn't look good
for Truman. Opinion polls indicated that Truman was far behind Dewey,
and some democrats were lending their support to either the Progressive
or States' Rights Parties. Some of the Democratic party bosses tried to
get rid of Truman and nominate someone more popular. Interestingly,
Eisenhower was seriously considered as a nominee for both
the democratic and republican parties, but refused to be a candidate
for either party.
Despite serious doubt from others, Truman believed he could win the 1948 election. In February of that year, at a dinner in Washington, D.C., he proclaimed "I will tell you who is going to be the next president of the United States. You are looking at him right now!" The rest of the nation was not convinced, however; everyone predicted that Dewey would win. The Chicago Daily Tribune was so certain of a Republican victory that they decided on election night to distribute a paper with the headline "Dewey defeats Truman". Faced with a three-way split in the Democratic Party, Truman's confidence seemed groundless. His victory in the 1948 election is widely considered "the greatest election upset in American history."
Electoral Results
red: Dewey, 189 electoral votes, 21,969,170 popular votes
yellow: Thurmond, 39 electoral votes, 1,169,021 popular votes
The Truman Campaign
Truman embarked on an ambitious national campaign, giving speeches in more than 250 cities. He criticized the "do-nothing, good-for-nothing Republican congress" and and blamed them for the passage of the anti-labor Taft-Hartley act. He was relentless in his criticizing and even ridiculing Dewey and the Republican party.His campaign was exciting, with the crowd frequently yelling out "Give 'em hell, Harry!" in response to his vigorous speeches. His campaign slogans included "With Truman for Civil Rights", "Beat High Prices", and "Phooey on Dewey".
In the early months of the campaign, Truman's campaign appearances were accompanied by the sound of the Missouri Waltz, an association that Truman didn't seem to enjoy. In July of 1948, one band, which had not been given instruction on what to play, chose a Broadway tune, "I'm Just Wild About Harry".
One of Truman's aides, seeing how pleased Truman was at the change, contacted the song's composers, requesting permission to make the song the official Truman campaign song. The composers Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake were black Americans and active NAACP members were supportive of Truman, granting his campaign permission to use the song and even changing a few lyrics to show support for Truman's decision to desegregate the armed forces. The new lyrics said “I’m just wild about Harry And Harry’s wild about me. The fates decreed it, and I agreed it, Harry made history!” Blake was later quoted saying "Mr. Truman integrated the armed forces. I would write him an opera if he wanted.” (use the following url to listen to a version of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV_qpGirp5Y )
Sissle and Blake
In a time when many feared the U.S. might soon enter war against the Soviet Union, the following poster was meant to point out that Truman was a veteran, while Dewey was not.
The Republican Campaign
Dewey's campaign was exceedingly bland by comparison. He was noncommittal on many issues, hoping to avoid any groups within the population. Because of the three-way split in the Democratic party, it was believed that all he needed to do to secure the election was not make any big mistakes. His campaign slogans included "Dewey Gets Things Done", "All 48 in 48' Dewey Warren", and "Truman for Ex-President".
Sources
Levy, Michael. "United States Presidential Election of 1948." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 22 Aug. 2015.
"1948 Presidential Election." 1948 Election Results. 270 To Win, n.d. Web. 22 Aug. 2015.
"Harry Truman's 1948 Presidential Campaign Items." Items from Harry S. Truman's 1948 Presidential Campaign. Truman Library, n.d. Web. 01 Sept. 2015.
"Fighting Bigotry Shaped Truman's 1948 Campaign Tunes." Carl Anthony Online. N.p., 08 Oct. 2012. Web. 01 Sept. 2015.
Goodman, Bonnie K. "Overviews & Chronologies: 1948." Presidential Campaigns and Elections. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Sept. 2015.
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