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Dewey Defeats Truman: The 1948 Election and the Battle for America's Soul

Page 42

by A. J. Baime


  “The Special Session is a”: Smith, Thomas E. Dewey, p. 505.

  “In Berlin we must not”: “Text of Press Conference with Governor Thomas E. Dewey, July 21, at Pawling, New York (During Meeting with General Eisenhower)” (Note: title seems to be dated incorrectly). Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.

  “I have not identified myself”: Ibid.

  “I want to tell you, ladies”: Jack Bass and Marilyn W. Thompson, Strom: The Complicated Personal and Political Life of Strom Thurmond (New York: Public Affairs, 2005), p. 117. A clip from Thurmond’s States’ Rights Democratic Party acceptance speech is at “Strom Thurmond’s Dixiecrat Days Newsreel,” YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emSihCBR3XY.

  “If we throw the election”: “Thurmond and Wright Head Dixie Rights Ticket,” Atlanta Constitution, July 18, 1948.

  “In Philadelphia, a definite”: Ibid.

  “a riotous rebel convention”: Ibid.

  “too moderate”: “J. B. Stoner: The Symbol of a Bygone Era of Hate—Or Is He?” Atlanta Constitution, October 1, 1977.

  “declaration of principles”: “Southern Declaration of Principles,” Hartford Courant, July 18, 1948.

  “We stand for the segregation”: Ibid.

  “I agree, but Truman”: Abels, Out of the Jaws of Victory, p. 84.

  “not interested one whit”: Joseph Crespino, Strom Thurmond’s America (New York: Hill and Wang, 2012), p. 72.

  “All your high-flown”: Alfred Steinberg, Sam Rayburn: A Biography (New York: Hawthorn, 1975), p. 240.

  “The president has gone too”: Bass and Thompson, Strom, p. 108.

  “monstrous frame-up”: “Leading U.S. Reds Arrested,” Boston Daily Globe, July 21, 1948.

  “The American people can now”: “Wallace Hits Impression He Is in Communist Grip,” Christian Science Monitor, July 21, 1948.

  “So you can save your breath”: Thomas W. Devine, Henry Wallace’s 1948 Presidential Campaign and the Future of Postwar Liberalism (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013), p. 129.

  “Have you ever repudiated”: Abels, Out of the Jaws of Victory, p. 115.

  “A tense, terrible silence”: John C. Culver and John Hyde, American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A. Wallace (New York: W. W. Norton, 2000), p. 483.

  “I never discuss Westbrook”: Dialogue is recounted in both ibid., p. 483, and Abels, Out of the Jaws of Victory, p. 115.

  “The American press had one”: “Wallace’s Gag Gives Newsmen a Shining Hour,” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 24, 1948.

  “corruption . . . betrayal . . . murder”: “It’s Wallace or War, Says Keynoter for New Party,” Washington Post, July 24, 1948.

  “birth of a new party”: “Wallace Party Launched in Philadelphia,” Hartford Courant, July 24, 1948.

  “Berlin did not happen”: “Text of Henry Wallace’s Acceptance of Presidential Nomination,” Washington Post, July 25, 1948.

  “To make that dream”: Ibid.

  “almost fanatical enthusiasm”: “Revival Fervor Hails Nominees,” New York Times, July 25, 1948.

  “One, two, three, four”: Ibid.

  “I’d say they have a good”: Devine, Henry Wallace’s 1948 Presidential Campaign, p. 45.

  “Nobody can stop them”: Curtis Daniel MacDougall, Gideon’s Army, vol. 1 (New York: Marzani & Munsell, 1965), p. 504.

  “It will remain a thing of awe”: Culver and Hyde, American Dreamer, p. 488.

  16. “A Profound Sense of What’s Right and What’s Wrong”

  “The prices of food products”: The Council of Economic Advisors to the President, “The Government’s Anti-Inflation Program,” July 19, 1948, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/council-economic-advisors-harry-s-truman.

  “stirred up the greatest biological”: “Report on Kinsey,” Life, August 2, 1948.

  “You can now summon”: Advertisement for Otis Electronic Signal Control, Business Week, July 10, 1948.

  “As television grows on an”: “TV to Alter U.S. As Much As Model T,” Chicago Daily Tribune, August 1, 1948.

  “The political figures who”: Jules Abels, Out of the Jaws of Victory: The Astounding Election of 1948 (New York: Henry Holt, 1959), p. 82.

  “The lack of money in the”: Margaret Truman, Harry S. Truman (New York: Morrow, 1973), p. 20.

  “Our governmental house”: All the quotes in this paragraph from “GOP Quotes Democrats That Truman Can’t Win,” Los Angeles Times, July 18, 1948.

  “My brother Vivian”: Diary entry of Harry Truman, August 2, 1948, Post Presidential File, Box 643, Truman archives.

  “I would like to take this”: Thomas C. Buchanan to Philip Mathews, June 24, 1948, William M. Boyle Jr. Papers, Box 3, Truman archives.

  “The greatest ambition Harry”: Irwin Ross, The Loneliest Campaign: The Truman Victory of 1948 (New York: Signet, 1968), p. 18.

  “We are going to win”: Margaret Truman, Harry S. Truman, p. 5.

  “The situation isn’t as bad”: Jack Redding, Inside the Democratic Party (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1958), p. 263.

  “It’s all so futile”: Harry Truman to Mary Jane Truman, July 26, 1948, Papers of Harry S. Truman Pertaining to Family, Business, and Personal Affairs, Box 20.

  “I’m going to make it a”: George McKee Elsey, An Unplanned Life: A Memoir by George McKee Elsey (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005), p. 167.

  “We would meet at six”: Oral History Interview with Oscar R. Ewing (transcript), 1969, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 131.

  “I was their link with”: Oral History Interview with Clark M. Clifford (transcript), 1971, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 190.

  “White House Wonder”: “White House Wonder,” Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1947.

  “Capital’s Golden Boy”: Ibid.

  “Every morning when I”: Oral History Interview with Neale Roach (transcript), 1969, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 48.

  “The pressure was increasingly”: Redding, Inside the Democratic Party, p. 65.

  “Meetings were held at the”: Ibid., pp. 164–65.

  “I didn’t come here”: Ibid., pp. 169–70.

  “Come back!”: Ibid.

  “They asked me to go up”: Oral History Interview with William L. Batt Jr. (transcript), 1966, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, pp. 3–4.

  “miserably noisy”: Ibid., p. 4.

  “We had been told right at”: Oral History Interview with Dr. Johannes Hoeber (transcript), 1966, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 10.

  “we lived, literally”: Ibid., pp. 47–48.

  “his courage, his coolness”: William L. Batt Jr. to Clark Clifford, July 22, 1948, Clark M. Clifford Papers, Box 21, Truman archives.

  “My gosh . . . Nash is away”: Oral History Interview with Philleo Nash (transcript), 1966, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 346.

  “jumped on the night train”: Ibid., p. 347.

  “fair employment practices”: Executive Order 9980, Executive Orders, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/executive-orders/9980/executive-order-9980.

  “caught almost everyone off”: Clark Clifford, with Richard Holbrooke, Counsel to the President: A Memoir (New York: Random House, 1991), p. 211.

  “I believe that it is necessary”: “Message to the Special Session of the 80th Congress,” July 27, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/165/message-special-session-80th-congress.

  “I think he was motivated by”: Oral History Interviews with Charles S. Murphy, 1963, 1969–70 (transcript), Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, pp. 227–28.

  “All I can say is that I’m sure”: Ibid.

  “Would you say it was a”: Transcript of the President’s News Conference, August 12, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-pape
rs/174/presidents-news-conference.

  “I felt justified in calling the”: Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, vol. 2, Years of Trial and Hope, 1946–1952 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956), p. 208.

  “a petulant Ajax from”: “National Affairs: Turnip Day Session,” Time, July 26, 1948.

  “the most expensive advertising”: “Expensive Promotion for Turnips,” Atlanta Constitution, August 10, 1948.

  “They sure are in a stew”: Harry Truman to Bess Truman, July 23, 1948, Papers of Harry S. Truman Pertaining to Family, Business, and Personal Affairs, Box 16, Truman archives.

  17. “What Exciting Times You Are Having!”

  “I am having a ‘holiday’”: Thomas Dewey to Winston Churchill, July 12, 1948, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 10, Box 8, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.

  “principal innovations in”: “Governor Dewey’s Dairy Farm,” ibid., Series 2, Box 117.

  “What exciting times you are”: Winston Churchill to Thomas Dewey, June 16, 1948, ibid., Series 10, Box 8.

  “Help sweep the nation clean”: Election memorabilia and correspondence, ibid., Series 2, Box 39.

  “We believe that it will”: Ibid.

  “Dewey Will Do It”: Election memorabilia from ibid.

  “Well . . . this will come as”: Richard Norton Smith, Thomas E. Dewey and His Times (New York: Touchstone, 1982), p. 515.

  “which not even Goebbels would”: “Text of Dewey Speech,” Hartford Courant, September 26, 1944.

  “That’s the worst speech”: Smith, Thomas E. Dewey, p. 515.

  “This campaign will be different”: Abels, Out of the Jaws of Victory, p. 146.

  “Can you tell us when you”: Transcript of Dewey Press Conference, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 2, Box 117.

  “the slightest mismanagement”: “Berlin Crisis a Powder Keg, Dewey Says,” Washington Post, July 22, 1948.

  “thoroughly competent grasp of”: On-camera interview with Senator Arthur Vandenberg, The Dewey Story, YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozJFb0wKWD8.

  “Why shouldn’t we have”: Thomas Dewey to Herbert Brownell, August 23, 1948, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 10, Box 6.

  “Why does the Republican Committee”: Quotes in Ben Duffy to Herbert Brownell, August 25, 1948, ibid., Series 10, Box 6.

  “Why doesn’t Dewey answer”: Abels, Out of the Jaws of Victory, p. 170.

  “I’m the man who beat”: Ibid., p. 171.

  18. “As for Me, I Intend to Fight!”

  “the results in civil strife”: “Thurmond Warns of Rights Strife,” New York Times, August 1, 1948.

  “a virtual revolution in the”: Ibid.

  “The South’s fight is not”: Strom Thurmond to Thomas Dewey, April 13, 1948, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 5, Box 189.

  “Governor Thurmond is a”: Director, FBI, SAC, Savannah to J. Edgar Hoover, October 14, 1948, FBI file of Strom Thurmond.

  “The struggle in which we were”: Jack Bass and Marilyn W. Thompson, Strom: The Complicated Personal and Political Life of Strom Thurmond (New York: Public Affairs, 2005), p. 15.

  “Every Democrat must feel”: Ibid.

  “He was my idol”: Joseph Crespino, Strom Thurmond’s America (New York: Hill and Wang, 2012), p. 18.

  “What do you want?”: Dialogue from Bass and Thompson, Strom, p. 19.

  “Men were stacked up”: Bass and Thompson, Strom, p. 73.

  “The United States is a constitutional”: Hans Kelsen, General Theory of Law and State, vol. 1 (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2009), p. 295n.

  “We will have done”: Walter Francis White, A Man Called White: The Autobiography of Walter White (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1995), p. 90.

  “For too many years”: Nadine Cohodas, Strom Thurmond and the Politics of Southern Change (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1994), p. 116.

  “Why I thought the world”: Essie Mae Washington-Williams, with William Stadiem, Dear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond (New York: Regan Books, 2005), p. 108.

  “I knew they meant business”: “Trigger Man Identified as R.C. Hurd, 45,” Atlanta Daily World, May 15, 1947.

  “Lord, you done killed me”: “Statements Accuse S.C. Taxi Driver of ‘Execution’ in Mass Lynch Trial,” Atlanta Constitution, May 15, 1947.

  “At least in that part”: “Lynch Verdict,” Washington Post, May 23, 1947.

  19. “They Are Simply a ‘Red Herring’”

  “Tom, when you get to the”: Robert J. Donovan, Conflict and Crisis: The Presidency of Harry S. Truman, 1945–1948 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1996), p. 413.

  “Miss Bentley . . . please”: Dialogue from Hearings Before the Committee on Legislation of the Committee on Un-American Activities: House of Representatives, Eightieth Congress, Second Session on H.R. 4422 and H.R. 4581 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1948).

  “the insidious evil”: Ibid.

  “A ripple of surprise went through”: Richard Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York: Touchstone, 1990), p. 53.

  “Smearing good people like”: Robert W. Lee, The United Nations Conspiracy (Appleton, WI: Western Islands, 1981), p. 15.

  “I am here at my own”: Hearings Before the Committee on Legislation of the Committee on Un-American Activities, Second Session on H.R. 442-2 and H.R. 4581.

  “High prices are not taking”: Eleanor Roosevelt, “My Day,” July 31, 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt Collection, Digital Edition, George Washington University, https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1948&_f=md001033.

  “There is still time for the”: Dialogue from transcript of the President’s News Conference, August 5, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/170/presidents-news-conference.

  “The President simply had”: Oral History Interview with Robert G. Nixon (transcript), 1970, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 413.

  “treasonable in spirit”: “Truman’s Remark Attacked by Macy,” New York Times, August 15, 1948.

  “puerile whim-wham”: “Mencken Meditates on the Red Spy Hunt,” Los Angeles Times, August 15, 1948.

  “shocked . . . seeming to cover up”: “Dewey Arranging Trans-US Drive,” New York Times, August 13, 1948.

  “The trend of presidential”: “Impeachment of President Raised in Ferguson Speech,” New York Times, August 8, 1948.

  “You have that much confidence?”: Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, p. 56.

  “Neither a man nor a crowd”: Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays (New York: Routledge, 1995), pp. 121–22.

  “In different ages there have”: “Communism Is the Greatest Internal Security Threat at This Time,” A Report to the National Security Council, August 6, 1948, President’s Secretary’s Files, Box 178, Truman archives.

  “If there turned out to be”: Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, p. 56.

  “There’s no question about it”: Ibid., p. 57.

  “Red Activity Looms Big”: “Red Activity Looms Big in Campaign,” Chicago Daily Tribune, August 16, 1948.

  “Watch your step with this one”: John J. Abt, with Michael Myerson, Advocate and Activist: Memoirs of an American Communist Lawyer (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993), p. 152.

  “It was clear that these”: Ibid., p. 151.

  “a shameful circus”: “Think Alikes,’” Chicago Daily Tribune, August 19, 1948.

  “civil rights, inflation, housing”: “Pressman Sees Inquiry a ‘Shameful Circus,’” Washington Post, August 5, 1948.

  “If I had my way about”: “Send Reds to Russia, Wallace at Head, Says Georgia Judge,” Boston Daily Globe, August 8, 1948.

  “I don’t think any person”: Oral history of Charles “Beanie” Baldwin, Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library, p. 20.

  “This meant I had to stay”: Oral history of Henry A. Wallace, Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Libr
ary, p. 5123.

  “We must learn from Jesus”: “Wallace Tours South; Urges Dixie Subsidies,” Chicago Daily Tribune, August 30, 1948.

  “Hey, Joe Stalin is looking . . . Why don’t you go”: Ibid.

  SEND WALLACE BACK TO RUSSIA: “Wallace Durham Rally Protested by Vet Group,” Atlanta Constitution, August 30, 1948.

  “They continually shouted”: Oral history of Henry A. Wallace, Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library, p. 5123.

  “Please sit down!”: “Boos Greet Wallace’s Dixie Aid,” Atlanta Constitution, August 29, 1948.

  “Don’t you think we ought”: Oral history of Henry A. Wallace, Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library, p. 5124.

  “I would like to see some”: “Pelt Wallace with Eggs on His Dixie Tour,” Chicago Daily Tribune, August 31, 1947.

  SELL YOUR JUNK IN MOSCOW: “Wallace Again Bombarded in Speech Making Efforts,” Los Angeles Times, September 1, 1948.

  “I believe there are people”: “Wallace Continues March Through Southern Boos,” Christian Science Monitor, August 31, 1948.

  “Get out of town!”: John C. Culver and John Hyde, American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A. Wallace (New York: W. W. Norton, 2000), p. 493.

  “the greatest blow against”: “When Wallace Comes a-Preaching, the Southern Sees Red,” Boston Daily Globe, September 5, 1948.

  “As the direct result of”: Thomas W. Devine, Henry Wallace’s 1948 Presidential Campaign and the Future of Postwar Liberalism (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013), p. 260.

  “human hate in the raw”: Oral history of Henry A. Wallace, Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library, p. 5123.

  20. “There Is Great Danger Ahead”

  “The White House Architect and”: Diary entry of Harry Truman, August 3, 1948, Post Presidential File, Box 643, Truman archives.

  “Margaret’s sitting room floor”: Harry Truman to Mary Jane Truman, August 10, 1948, Papers of Harry S. Truman Pertaining to Family, Business, and Personal Affairs, Box 20, Truman archives.

 

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