⑫ The Result of the election

The election of 1948 is one of the greatest political comeback victories in U.S. political history.

Truman and running mate Alben Barkley won 49.6 percent of the popular vote to Dewey's 45.1 percent, which produced a lopsided electoral vote of 303 to 189, and 39 for Thurmond's Dixiecrats.

Truman's victory came about because he won the support of most of Roosevelt's "New Deal" coalition: labor, Blacks, Jews, farmers from the mid-west, and a number of southern states.

Truman's victory, however, was far from overwhelming. He barely won California, Illinois, and Ohio, and lost the Democratic strongholds Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, and New Jersey. In fact, more Americans voted for other candidates than voted for him.

⑪ Wrong Polls

The final pre-election Gallup poll -- taken in mid-October -- became public the day before the election itself, giving Dewey a solid lead of 49.5 percent to Truman's 44.5 percent of the total vote.

The Truman winning caused pollsters like Gallup, Roper, and Crossley, to investigate where they went wrong. Columnists, reporters, and editorial writers blamed themselves for relying too much on the polls. Marquis Childs, a columnist, wrote,

“We were wrong, all of us, completely and entirely, the commentators, the political editors, the politicians-except for Harry S. Truman, and no one believed him. The fatal flaw was the reliance on the public opinion polls.”

⑩ On Election day

On election day, November 2 1948, Truman, along with Bess and Margaret, voted in their hometown of Independence, Missouri. Truman had lunch with several old friends and repaired alone to a local hotel to await the returns.

At midnight, Truman heard NBC report that while he was ahead by more than one million votes, Dewey was still expected to win. At four in the morning, his secret service agents woke him and told him to turn on the radio: he was ahead by two million votes -- and would maintain the lead. With victory in hand, Truman went to Kansas City, where he awaited Dewey's concession, which came by mid-morning.

Dewey himself went to bed election night thinking he had won. Imagine his surprise the next morning when he discovered that Truman was the victor. Dewey said he felt like a man who awoke in a sealed coffin with a lily in his hand. "If I'm alive, what am I doing here?" he asked. "And if I'm dead, why do I have to go to the bathroom?"

Two days after the election, as the Truman returned to Washington via St. Louis, reporters snapped the most famous photo of Truman's career: an image of the President holding aloft a copy of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman."

⑨ Media against Truman

Truman had fought the media during the presidential campaign.

The commentators, and everyone else, and won the election. Many newspapers, magazines, and political pundits were so confident of Dewey's impending victory. ‘LIFE’ magazine printed a large photo in its final edition before the election; entitled "Our Next President Rides by Ferryboat over San Francisco Bay."

Several well-known and influential newspaper columnists, such as Drew Pearson and Joseph Alsop, wrote columns to be printed the morning after the election speculating about Dewey's possible choices for his cabinet.

Alistair Cooke, the distinguished writer for the Manchester Guardian newspaper in England, published an article on the day of the election entitled "Harry S. Truman: A Study of a Failure."

One of the most famous pictures is of Truman holding the Chicago Daily Tribune, with a headline that reads, “Dewey Defeats Truman.” after the presidential election.

⑧ Lack of money

The party was often so low on funds that the President was cut off during the middle of his speeches. Louis Johnson, his fund-raiser, let the networks cut him off mid-speech to dramatize the financial plight. 

Once, when a station manager told him unless he coughed up more money, the President would be cut off, Jack Redding, the director of Public Relations for Democratic Party, told him to, “Cut him off on a high note,” and in a loud voice stated, “The networks won’t let the President of the United States finish his speech!”

This brought reporters running, stories in the newspapers the next day, and tons of indignant letters to the editors, as well as contributions to the Party.

⑦ Whistle-stop Train Rally

30,000-mile whistle-stop train tour of 30 states,

Delivered about 300,

Denounced the "do-nothing" Republican Congress,

Earning the nickname Give 'Em Hell Harry.

Truman began the presidential campaign in earnest with a Labor Day speech to a large union crowd in Detroit. He stumped energetically throughout the fall, making several train tours across the country.

He spoke out on behalf of civil rights legislation, for repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act and in support of farm aid programs. By trumpeting these issues, the president helped to revive the old New Deal coalition of Southern blacks, labor unionists and farmers.

In Iowa, the President claimed that

"This Republican Congress has already stuck a pitchfork in the farmer's back."

⑥ Truman’s Campaign

New York Times political correspondent James Reston once wrote: "Personality is a force in American politics equally as strong as principle, and ... the American people have always loved a fighter."

Truman, trailing in the polls, decided to adopt a slashing, no-holds-barred campaign. He ridiculed Dewey by name, criticized Dewey's refusal to address specific issues, and scornfully targeted the Republican-controlled 80th Congress with a wave of relentless, and blistering, partisan assaults. He nicknamed the Republican-controlled Congress as the "do-nothing" Congress, a remark which brought strong criticism from GOP Congressional leaders (such as Senator Taft), but no comment from Dewey. In fact, Dewey rarely mentioned Truman's name during the campaign, which fit into his strategy of appearing to be above petty partisan politics.

And also, he embarked on a 31,000-mile train trip across the nation and delivered hundreds of off-the-cuff speeches to crowds. “Give 'em hell, Harry,” was a popular slogan shouted out at stop after stop along the tour.

On civil rights, Truman issued executive orders desegregating the military and ending discrimination in the civil service. No longer beholden to southern Democrats (who supported Strom Thurmond's Dixiecrat candidacy), Truman could finally issue these long-promised initiatives that doubtlessly pleased blacks and liberals, two important segments of the Democratic Party.