Presidential Election of 1948

THE 1948 PRESIDENTIAL election was an election in which many voters and pundits believed that the incumbent Democratic President Harry S. Truman was sure to lose to his opponent, Republican nominee and New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey. However, Truman defied predictions and decisively defeated Dewey in an upset election. Doubts about Truman's election prospects were due to concerns about defections from the Democratic Party, mainly from southern Democrats led by J. Strom Thurmond who were angered by Truman's civil rights policies, and Progressives, led by Henry Wallace, who regarded Truman's foreign policy as too militaristic.

Truman was a senator from Missouri, elected in 1934. During World War II, he chaired an investigative committee that dealt with waste in defense. In 1944, Democratic Party bosses made Truman President Franklin D. Roosevelt's running mate. The decision was a significant one because party insiders knew that Roosevelt was an ill man and that his running mate would likely succeed him as president. Further, party bosses did not like Roosevelt's then vice president, Henry Wallace, whom they considered eccentric.

Roosevelt easily won a fourth term against his Republican opponent, Thomas E. Dewey, in 1944. During the time that Truman was vice president, from January 21 to April 12, 1945, he was not kept informed by Roosevelt. On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt died and Truman became president. As president, Truman had to address a number of issues. First was the issue of price controls, which had been instituted during World War II. Second was the issue of business and labor relations. Third was demobilization of American troops. Fourth was the issue of civil rights. Finally, Truman had to handle the issue of what U.S.-Soviet Union relations would be after World War II. There were tensions in the relationship that were set aside due to the focus on the common enemy, Nazi Germany.

Truman lacked Roosevelt's charisma and oratorical abilities, which was an obstacle for him as president. For many Americans, Roosevelt was the only president that they had known, and it was a major adjustment. Many critics viewed Truman as a tool of Tom Pendergast's political machine. Pendergast brought Truman to power in Missouri as a county commissioner and later as a U.S. Senator. Further, Truman spoke with a midwestern nasal twang, which contrasted unfavorably with Roosevelt's warm, confident, aristocratic New York tones. Liberals in Truman's party felt that he was insufficiently liberal and cited his appointment of a number of conservative supporters to the federal government. Many believed that if only Truman possessed Roosevelt's eloquence, he would have more success in pushing his legislative program through Congress.

Truman found that the difficult postwar environment damaged his initial popularity with voters. A major problem was the time the Truman administration took to end wage and price controls. Voters also clamored in 1945 and 1946, for the Truman administration to quickly demobilize the American military at the end of World War II. As a result, by 1946 millions of American soldiers were [Page 632]demobilized. There were also a number of strikes in 1945 and 1946. In 1946, voters, frustrated with the economic situation, elected a Republican Congress.

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