U.S. presidential election, 1948

The U.S. presidential election of 1948 is best known as one of the greatest political upsets in history, as incumbent President Harry S Truman defeated Republican Thomas Dewey against the predictions of most contemporary polls and in spite of a three-way split in his own Democratic party.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

In gearing up for the election of 1948, both major parties courted General Dwight Eisenhower, a popular war hero and political moderate who could carry a large number of votes on the back of his military record alone. However, Eisenhower refused, so the Republicans chose Thomas E. Dewey, the Governor of New York and a veteran of the previous presidential election of 1944. Dewey had performed surprisingly well against the popular FDR in wartime, so he was expected to easily beat the unpopular Truman.

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Progressive Party nomination

The Progressive Party reinvented itself in 1948 with the nomination of Henry Wallace, a former Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Briefly Harry Truman's secretary of commerce, he was fired for opposing Truman's firm stand against the Soviet Union. Wallace's 1948 platform opposed the Cold War, the Marshall Plan and big business. He also campaigned to end discrimination against blacks and women, backed a minimum wage and called for the elimination of the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Related Topics:
Progressive Party - Henry Wallace - Secretary of Agriculture - Vice President - Franklin D. Roosevelt - Soviet Union - Cold War - Marshall Plan - House Committee on Un-American Activities

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Democratic Party nomination

On July 12, the Democratic National Convention convened in Philadelphia (in the same hall in which the Republicans had nominated Dewey). Spirits were low: the Republicans had taken control of both houses of Congress and a majority of state governorships during the 1946 midterm elections by running against Truman, and his administration did not seem to have become more popular. Indeed, left-leaning Democrats had already split off to revive the Progressive Party and nominate Henry Wallace. Morale sank even further when some three dozen Southern delegates, led by Strom Thurmond, walked out of the convention in response to an announcement by Truman that his platform would advocate the passage of civil rights laws. Nonetheless, the dispirited Democrats nominated the incumbent President as their candidate by July 14th.

Related Topics:
Democratic National Convention - Strom Thurmond - Civil rights

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Dixiecrat Party nomination

The Democratic delegates who had bolted the Democratic convention over Truman's civil rights platform formed a separate party, which they named the States Rights Party. More commonly known as the "Dixiecrats", the party's main goal was continuing racial segregation and the Jim Crow laws which sustained it. South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, who had led the walkout, became the party's presidential nominee.

Related Topics:
Racial segregation - Jim Crow laws - Strom Thurmond

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