by A. J. Baime
“further evidence as to the”: “The 1946 Elections: A Statistical Analysis,” ibid., Series 2, Box 49.
“The outlook is exceedingly favorable”: Ibid.
“The organizational job”: Thomas Dewey to Herbert Brownell, June 3, 1948, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 10, Box 6.
“The Communist Party organization”: “Hit Russia Harder, Stassen Proposes,” New York Times, March 19, 1948.
“There isn’t any use in”: F. N. Belgrano Jr. to Herbert Brownell, May 5, 1948, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 2, Box 28.
“Dewey and Women’s Rights”: Oregon primary campaign literature, ibid.
“The Governor is making rapid”: Clyde A. Lewis to Herbert Brownell, May 10, 1948, ibid., Series 10, Box 44.
“would be a must pick-up”: Fred E. Baker to Thomas Dewey, May 2, 1948, ibid., Series 2, Box 18.
“the little son of a bitch”: Pietrusza, 1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory, p. 135.
“I think you can take the guy”: Ibid., p. 136.
“Chairman Van Boskirk”: Transcript of the complete debate reprinted in Vital Speeches of the Day, June 1, 1948, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 5, Box 47.
“The free world looks to us”: Ibid.
“Herb . . . I feel that I can”: Joe Montgomery to Herbert Brownell, June 7, 1948, ibid., Series 2, Box 40.
“Mister Pegler’s place as”: “The Press: Mister Pegler,” Time, October 10, 1938.
“We have had evidence”: “Wallace’s Character,” Atlanta Constitution, May 12, 1947.
“The protecting shield of the”: “Did Wallace Write the Guru Letters?” Atlanta Constitution, March 9, 1948.
“I would tell them to get ready”: “Wallace Accuses Truman of Leading to Russian War,” New York Times, February 25, 1948.
“laying the foundations”: Ibid.
“deliberately created [a] crisis”: “Wallace Accuses Truman of Scare to Get Draft, UMT,” New York Times, March 21, 1948.
“Our country’s heritage means”: “History Lesson: Red Scare in Evansville,” USA Today Courier & Press, March 13, 2018.
“According to newspapers”: “Wallace Renews His Red Vote Stand,” New York Times, July 24, 1948.
“I was very much shocked”: Oral history of Henry A. Wallace, Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library, p. 5116.
“It must be part of a communist”: “Offer Rewards of $117,800 for Reuther’s Foe,” Chicago Daily Tribune, April 22, 1948.
“This is the colored entrance”: “Glen Taylor Seized, Fingerprinted as He Flouts Alabama Segregation,” New York Times, May 2, 1948.
“This is it”: Culver and Hyde, American Dreamer, p. 470.
“They got me for pukin’”: Ibid.
“I have never seen a”: Ibid., p. 446.
“I’m here, I’ve seen it”: Curtis Daniel MacDougall, Gideon’s Army, vol. 1 (New York: Marzani & Munsell, 1965), p. 155.
“Thousands of people believe”: “Harold L. Ickes: Wallace’s Popularity,” Atlanta Constitution, June 4, 1947.
“Let the mass of American”: “W. E. B. Dubois: The Winds of Time,” Chicago Defender, March 20, 1948.
“to turn the rascals out”: Frank Lloyd Wright to Henry Wallace, June 1, 1948, Henry A. Wallace Papers, Reel No. 45, University of Iowa.
“The Third Party candidate has”: Americans for Democratic Action report, Henry A. Wallace: The First Three Months, p. 3, 1948 Election Campaign File, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/henry-wallace-first-three-months?documentid=NA&pagenumber=3.
“test of Truman-Wallace strength”: “Mayor to Support Bronx Democrat,” New York Times, February 4, 1948.
“I do not want and I will not”: Harry Truman, St. Patrick’s Day Address in New York City, March 17, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/53/st-patricks-day-address-new-york-city.
“There is no known method”: “Doom of Those Near an Atomic Attack Foreseen,” Chicago Daily Tribune, April 11, 1948.
“definite, decisive steps”: “Text of Wallace Letter to Stalin Calling for Peace Program,” New York Times, May 12, 1948.
“need of improvement”: Devine, Henry Wallace’s 1948 Presidential Campaign, p. 120.
“I am humbled and grateful”: Ibid.
“may be a possible violation”: D. M. Ladd to “The Director” (J. Edgar Hoover), May 18, 1948, Wallace FBI file.
“We aren’t dealing with Stalin”: Devine, Henry Wallace’s 1948 Presidential Campaign, p. 121.
12. “For Better or Worse, the 1948 Fight Has Started”
“If people see him in person”: Redding, Inside the Democratic Party, pp. 52–53.
“The pretense that this”: “Truman Tackles Congress on Cross-Country Tour,” Christian Science Monitor, June 5, 1948.
“Rolling across the United”: “Truman Looks Towards West with Both Eyes on White House,” Christian Science Monitor, June 4, 1948.
“one of those deadly dull”: Daniels, The Man of Independence, p. 347.
“Why wasn’t that on”: Diary entry of David Lilienthal, April 18, 1948, The Journals of David E. Lilienthal, vol. 2, p. 317.
“A large number of reporters”: Oral History Interviews with Oscar L. Chapman, 1972 (transcript), Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 231.
“Truman in Omaha”: “The Truman-Vandenberg Bill of Goods,” Chicago Daily Tribune, June 9, 1948.
“It was almost a death knell”: Oral History Interviews with Matthew J. Connelly, 1967–68 (transcript), Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 263.
“I am honored . . . to dedicate”: Numerous accounts of this event exist, including Jules Abels, Out of the Jaws of Victory: The Astounding Election of 1948 (New York: Henry Holt, 1959), p. 397.
“It wasn’t anything to laugh at”: Oral History Interview with Robert L. Dennison, 1971 (transcript), Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 45.
“I like old Joe”: “Truman Calls ‘Old Joe Stalin’ Nice Chap But . . . ,” Los Angeles Times, June 12, 1948.
“The uproar caused by”: Clifford, Counsel to the President, p. 201.
“we just have to tell you”: Ibid.
“I actually cringed”: Oral History Interviews with Charles S. Murphy, 1963, 1969–70 (transcript), Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 18.
“At this point . . . he decided that”: Ken Hechler, Working with Truman: A Personal Memoir of the White House Years (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1982), p. 77.
“If your father knew what”: “James Roosevelt, Son of FDR, Dies at 83,” Los Angeles Times, August 14, 1991.
“Not even the most charitable”: “Presidential Boners,” Washington Post, June 11, 1948.
“Governors are running like deer”: “McLemore: Admires the Way Truman Is Pitching,” Washington Evening Star, June 15, 1948.
“the wrong tax cut at the wrong”: Smith, Thomas E. Dewey, p. 477.
“was deliberately contrived”: John F. Witte, The Politics and Development of the Federal Income Tax (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), p. 135.
“It wasn’t until Butte”: Oral History Interview with Robert G. Nixon (transcript), 1970, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 550.
“A typical reaction that you”: Oral History Interviews with Charles S. Murphy, Truman archives, p. 26.
“inactivity . . . a rich man’s tax”: Harry Truman, Address Before the Greater Los Angeles Press Club, June 14, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/134/address-greater-los-angeles-press-club.
“If you want to continue the”: Harry Truman, Informal Remarks in Washington, June 10, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/124/informal-remarks-washington.
“He is making his attack”: “Truman Tackles Congress on Cross-Country Tour,” Christian Science Monitor, June 5, 1948.
“The President is blackguarding”:
Redding, Inside the Democratic Party, p. 178.
“Please wire the Democratic”: Ibid.
13. “We Have a Dreamboat of a Ticket”
I’M ON THE DEWEY TEAM: Campaign materials from Inter Office Correspondence, F. L. Carlisle to Herbert Brownell et al., May 11, 1948, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 2, Box 39, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
“The general idea of the”: Memorandum, Mrs. Charles W. Weis Jr. to Mrs. Carl T. Hogan, May 27, 1948, ibid.
“Cheese at Stassen’s”: David Pietrusza, 1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America’s Role in the World (New York: Union Square, 2011), p. 176.
“Shake his trunk”: “Dewey, Taft Arrive at GOP Convention,” Washington Post, July 21, 1948.
“The great silent star of the”: “Truman—Source of All Republican Joy,” Atlanta Constitution, June 24, 1948.
“We are assembled in this”: Joe Martin, My First Fifty Years in Politics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960), p. 163.
“What was unique about”: Ibid.
“In a few minutes I began”: Donald A. Ritchie, Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 185.
“we were conducting our affairs”: Martin, My First Fifty Years, p. 163.
“gone goose”: “Truman ‘a Gone Goose’ La Luce Quips to GOP,” Boston Daily Globe, June 22, 1948.
“Let’s waste no time”: Ibid.
“Harold . . . you have no idea”: Pietrusza, 1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory, p. 192.
“[Dewey’s] ‘blitz’ was a thing”: Diary entry of Arthur H. Vandenberg, June 20–25, 1948, in Arthur H. Vandenberg Jr., ed., The Private Papers of Senator Vandenberg (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1952), p. 438.
“I look just awful”: Pietrusza, 1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory, p. 180.
“It has been a difficult”: “It’s Dewey on the 3rd Ballot,” Chicago Daily Tribune, June 25, 1948.
“Will you excuse me for”: “Remarks by Governor Thomas E. Dewey on the Marquee of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia, PA, Thursday Evening, June 24,” Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 2, Box 117.
“We were all sworn to”: Diary entry of Arthur H. Vandenberg, June 20–25, 1948, in Vandenberg, The Private Papers of Senator Vandenberg, p. 439.
“Let’s not be mealy-mouthed”: Abels, Out of the Jaws of Victory, p. 66.
“We should have notes”: Ibid.
“Well, how about Charlie?”: Pietrusza, 1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory, p. 180.
“It is the unanimous opinion”: “Calif. Governor’s Easy Nomination Called Only Real Convention Upset,” Washington Post, June 26, 1948.
“You’re running out on”: Abels, Out of the Jaws of Victory, p. 67.
“If this is to be the”: Diary entry of Arthur H. Vandenberg, undated, in Vandenberg, The Private Papers of Senator Vandenberg, p. 436.
“We have a dreamboat”: Richard Norton Smith, Thomas E. Dewey and His Times (New York: Touchstone, 1982), p. 501.
“You will make a great”: Tom Warren to Thomas Dewey, June 25, 1948, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 10, Box 44.
“Your victory . . . is practically”: B. B. Hickenlooper to Thomas Dewey, June 30, 1948, ibid., Series 5, Box 84.
“in the decisive phase of”: Michael Burgan, The Berlin Airlift (Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point, 2007), p. 25.
“not as serious as indicated”: Cabinet Meeting Minutes, June 25, 1948, Matthew Connelly papers, Box 2, Truman archives.
“A very serious situation”: Ibid.
“improvised ‘airlift’”: Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, vol. 2, Years of Trial and Hope, 1946–1952 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956), p. 123.
14. “With God’s Help, You Will Win”
“Nothing quite so strange”: “Thomas L. Stokes: Will ‘Ike’ Come to the Rescue?,” Atlanta Constitution, March 30, 1948.
“every seasoned political leader”: “The Washington Merry-Go-Round: Leaders See Truman Defeated,” Washington Post, July 7, 1948.
“Doublecrossers all”: Diary entry of Harry Truman, July 6, 1948, Post Presidential File, Box 643, Truman archives.
“This job gets worse every”: Harry Truman to Bess Truman, July 5, 1947, Papers of Harry S. Truman Pertaining to Family, Business, and Personal Affairs, Box 15.
“I’ve made my decision”: Diary entry of Harry Truman, July 19, 1948, Post Presidential File, Box 643, Truman archives.
“The glum resignation”: “Democrats in the Dumps,” Los Angeles Times, July 1, 1948.
“There never has been anything”: “State of the Convention Operation Underdog,” Christian Science Monitor, July 12, 1948.
“a number two man”: Diary entry of Harry Truman, July 12, 1948, Post Presidential File, Box 643, Truman archives.
“I stuck my neck all”: Diary entry of Eben Ayers, July 13, 1948, in Eben A. Ayers, Truman in the White House: The Diary of Eben A. Ayers (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1991), pp. 265–66.
“Why do they hate me”: “The Washington Merry-Go-Round: A Lonely Man Meditates on Hate,” Washington Post, August 8, 1948.
“This election can only be”: “Memorandum: Should the President Call Congress Back?,” June 29, 1948, Clark Clifford papers, Box 33, Truman archives.
“He said he had made”: Diary entry of Eben Ayers, July 13, 1948, in Ayers, Truman in the White House, pp. 265–66.
“As . . . we started to”: Ibid.
“you couldn’t have gotten”: Oral History Interview with Brigadier General Louis H. Renfrow (transcript), 1971, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 85.
“many things: politics, trivia”: Alben W. Barkley, That Reminds Me (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1954), p. 203.
“It seemed like almost”: Oral History Interview with Robert G. Nixon (transcript), 1970, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 571.
“The south is no longer”: “11 States Support Georgian,” Atlanta Constitution, July 15, 1948.
“Mississippi has gone”: “Truman and Barkley Nominated; Two Dixie Delegations Walk Out,” Los Angeles Times, July 15, 1948.
“He can’t win”: “Truman Calls Congress in GOP Dare,” Atlanta Constitution, July 15, 1948.
“Our fight is the fight”: “Delegates Look for Spectacle and Find One,” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 15, 1948.
“A live donkey was led”: “Confederate Flag Waves as South Names Russell,” Los Angeles Times, July 15, 1948.
“We may well be watching”: “Washington Calling: Democratic Break-up?,” Washington Post, March 9, 1948.
“Thank you, thank you”: “Acceptance Speech of the President at the Democratic National Convention, Convention Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 15, 1948,” Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/presidents-acceptance-speech. See also “1948 Truman DNC Acceptance Speech,” YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-7kpqhnXHE.
“The delegates that evening”: Oral History Interview with David C. Bell (transcript), 1968, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 54.
“I can’t tell you how”: “Acceptance Speech of the President at the Democratic National Convention, Convention Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 15, 1948,” Truman archives.
“I meant just that”: Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 207.
“It was one of the most”: Oral History Interview with Max Lowenthal (transcript), 1967, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 97.
“I never in all my life”: Oral History Interview with Tom L. Evans (transcript), 1963, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 512.
“Everybody jumped up”: Oral History Interview with Frank K. Kelly (transcript), 1988, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 48.
“Get those goddamned”: Zachary Karabell, The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election (New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
2000), p. 151.
“I remember vividly all”: Oral History Interview with Neale Roach (transcript), 1969, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 41.
“What do you want him”: Joe Martin, My First Fifty Years in Politics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960), p. 188.
“Arrived in Washington at”: Diary entry of Harry Truman, July 15, 1948, Post Presidential File, Box 643, Truman archives.
“Good morning, Fields”: Dialogue from Alonzo Fields: My 21 Years in the White House (New York: Coward-McCann, 1961), p. 145.
15. “What Is at Stake Here Is the Very Survival of Western Civilization”
“The president was chipper”: Diary entry of James Forrestal, July 15, 1948, in Forrestal, The Forrestal Diaries, edited by Walter Millis (New York: Viking, 1951), p. 458.
“I would have done”: Ibid.
“serious question as to the”: Ibid.
“to have some dashing lieutenant”: Ibid.
“I don’t think we ought”: Diary entry of David Lilienthal, July 21, 1948, in The Journals of David E. Lilienthal, vol. 2, The Atomic Energy Years 1945–1950 (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), p. 391.
“it is estimated that the”: “Memorandum for the President: Estimate of the Status of the Russian Atomic Energy Project,” July 6, 1948, Central Intelligence Agency, President’s Secretary’s Files, Box 213, Truman archives.
“The position of the present”: “The Current Situation in China,” July 22, 1948, Central Intelligence Agency report, President’s Secretary’s Files, Box 177, Truman archives.
“We’ll stay in Berlin”: Diary entry of Harry Truman, July 19, 1948, Post-Presidential File, Box 643, Truman archives.
“The atmosphere in Washington”: “Prewar Atmosphere in Washington: How War Might Come,” Boston Daily Globe, March 17, 1948.
“Bob . . . I think we ought”: Dialogue is from Irwin Ross, The Loneliest Campaign: The Truman Victory of 1948 (New York: Signet, 1968), p. 132.
“It is the act of a”: “GOP Sees Politics in Congress Call,” New York Times, July 16, 1948.
“The Constitution says that the”: Robert Taft, “Radio Address: The Special Session and Prices,” July 28, 1948, in The Papers of Robert A. Taft, edited by Clarence E. Wunderlin Jr., vol. 3, 1945–1948 (Kent, OH: Kent State University, 2003), pp. 447–48.
