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

by A. J. Baime

  “It will be extremely difficult”: “Strategy on Warren,” George Elsey Papers, Box 24, Truman archives.

  “We were startled when”: Oral History Interview with Howard I. McGrath (transcript), Truman archives, p. 23.

  “The most significant thing”: “Address at Lakeside Park, Oakland, California,” September 22, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/203/address-lakeside-park-oakland-california.

  “You have got a terrible”: Rear Platform Remarks in California, (Fresno), September 23, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/204/rear-platform-remarks-california.

  “you couldn’t put any more in”: Oral History Interview with Judge Oliver J. Carter (transcript), 1970, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 105.

  “We want Bogey!”: “Searchlight Spectacle Lights Gilmore Stadium,” Los Angeles Times, September 24, 1948.

  “This is a championship fight”: “Address at the Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles,” September 23, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/205/address-gilmore-stadium-los-angeles.

  “The fact that the Communists”: Ibid.

  “I just have never seen anything”: Oral History Interview with Judge Oliver J. Carter (transcript), Truman archives, p. 106.

  “It was at that point”: Oral History Interview with Howard I. McGrath (transcript), Truman archives, p. 23.

  “A grim, new struggle is on”: “Text of Dewey’s Address at Bowl,” Los Angeles Times, September 25, 1948.

  “It would be foolish to make”: “Dewey Renews Stand Against Communism at Home and Abroad,” Christian Science Monitor, September 25, 1948.

  25. “The Democratic Party Was Down to Its Last Cent”

  “It is surprising to me that”: Albert Z. Carr to Matthew Connelly, September 22, 1948, Clark Clifford Papers, Box 34, Truman archives.

  “The railroad station was at the”: Oral History Interview with Donald S. Dawson (transcript), 1977, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, pp. 31–32.

  “He hadn’t had any sleep”: Oral History Interview with Jonathan Daniels (transcript), 1963, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 162.

  “I remember we stopped at”: Oral History Interview with Donald S. Dawson (transcript), Truman archives, p. 32.

  “Your horse is eight years”: Ibid.

  “In some towns . . . they didn’t even”: Margaret Truman, Harry S. Truman (New York: Morrow, 1973), p. 33.

  “the most tremendous breakfast”: Ibid., p. 34.

  “only to be used in case of”: Ibid.

  “That question is too deep”: “U.S. Moscow Envoy Sees Truman; Takes Grave View but Doubts War,” New York Times, September 28, 1948.

  “If we did have unity”: “Address at Bonham, Texas,” September 27, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/213/address-bonham-texas.

  “We were headed for Oklahoma”: Oral History Interview with Robert G. Nixon (transcript), Truman archives, pp. 599–600.

  “the hostest with the mostest”: “For Perle Mesta, Postage Is Overdue,” Washington Post, March 1, 1987.

  “And to keep this from”: Oral History Interview with Robert G. Nixon (transcript), Truman archives, p. 600.

  “The President and everybody else”: Ibid., p. 603.

  “I should like the American”: “Address in Oklahoma City,” September 28, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/215/address-oklahoma-city.

  “We ran out of money”: “Why Truman’s Campaign Train Lingered in Oklahoma City,” New York Times, October 25, 1992.

  “ready to crawl into a hole”: Diary entry of David Lilienthal, September 28, 1948, The Journals of David E. Lilienthal, vol. 2, p. 413.

  “more dead than alive”: George M. Elsey to William L. Batt Jr., October 1, 1948, George Elsey Papers, Box 23, Truman archives.

  “It’s all over”: Diary entry of Margaret Truman, October 1, 1948, Margaret Truman Daniel and E. Clifton Daniel Papers, Box 14, Truman archives.

  26. “This Was the Worst Mistake of the Truman Campaign”

  “Beyond any election in the”: “The Difference: Dewey Confident, Truman Hopeful,” Boston Daily Globe, October 31, 1948.

  “Our government is made up”: “Informal Remarks in San Antonio, Texas,” Gunter Hotel, September 26, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/210/informal-remarks-san-antonio-texas.

  “structural nerves”: Robert Klara, The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America’s Most Famous Residence (New York: Thomas Dunne, 2013), p. 68.

  “Vitamin C stands for”: Dialogue is from “Washington Merry-Go-Round: Truman-Ickes Relations Oiled Up,” Washington Post, October 7, 1948.

  “On election day . . . we’ll all”: Oral History Interview with Dr. Johannes Hoeber (transcript), 1966, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 42.

  “I remember catching the”: Ibid., pp. 42–43.

  “What was most urgently needed”: Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, vol. 2, Years of Trial and Hope, 1946–1952 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956), p. 213.

  “We were pretty desperate”: Oral History Interview with Jonathan Daniels (transcript), 1963, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 150.

  “to use diplomatic language or a”: Robert H. Ferrell, Off the Record: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1980), p. 31.

  “I outlined to him what”: Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 213.

  “as Chief Justice”: Dialogue from ibid., p. 214.

  “a public statement of major”: Ibid., p. 216.

  “You don’t know any Russian”: Tom Connally, as told to Alfred Steinberg, My Name Is Tom Connally (New York: Crowell, 1954), p. 331.

  “He must be feeling desperate”: Ibid.

  “I have heard enough”: Jonathan Daniels, The Man of Independence (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat, 1971), p. 29.

  “[Truman] got up and went out of”: Ibid.

  “The capital was alive with”: “President Reported Planning to Send Vinson to Moscow,” Hartford Courant, October 9, 1948.

  “It is dangerous to the peace”: “The Incredible Harry Truman,” Los Angeles Times, October 12, 1948.

  “a resounding blunder”: “Blundering Diplomacy,” Wall Street Journal, October 18, 1948.

  “further confirmation of the”: “Thurmond’s View Caustic: Says Vinson Plan Was ‘Hatched Up’ for Political End,” New York Times, October 11, 1948.

  “This was the worst mistake”: Clark Clifford, with Richard Holbrooke, Counsel to the President: A Memoir (New York: Random House, 1991), p. 233.

  “But the damage was done”: Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 216.

  “The Republicans have the”: “Address at the Armory, Akron, Ohio,” October 11, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/232/address-armory-akron-ohio.

  “Election Forecast: 50 Political”: “Election Forecast: 50 Political Experts Predict a GOP Sweep,” Newsweek, October 11, 1948.

  “That Dewey would be”: Clifford, Counsel to the President, p. 235.

  “What have you got under”: Dialogue from ibid.

  “The greatest danger that could”: J. E. Broyhill to Governor Dewey, July 27, 1948, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 5, Box 24, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.

  “If you don’t open up on”: Earle S. Clayton to Thomas E. Dewey, undated, ibid., Series 2, Box 28.

  “No, I won’t do it”: Jules Abels, Out of the Jaws of Victory: The Astounding Election of 1948 (New York: Henry Holt, 1959), p. 203.

  “our friends of the free world”: “Governor Seeks to Offset Damage of Peace Project, Called ‘Blunder,’” Washington Post, October 11, 1948.

/>   “The people of America”: Ibid.

  “perhaps without precedent in”: Ibid.

  “Certainly”: Ibid.

  “We need the money and”: “Republicans Lag on Campaign Gifts,” New York Times, October 14, 1948.

  27. “Could We Be Wrong?”

  “Again renew my challenge to”: Strom Thurmond to Harry Truman, October 10, 1948, Research Files, President’s Committee on Civil Rights, Truman archives.

  “The oil men’s generous”: “Strange Mixture of Southerners Among Dixiecrats,” Boston Daily Globe, October 20, 1948.

  “understandable mistake”: “Explains Big to Hastie,” New York Times, October 26, 1948.

  “pro-Truman”: Ibid.

  “I would not have written”: 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. 310.

  “an inefficient and confused”: “Thurmond Pledges to Cleanse Party,” Washington Post, October 22, 1948.

  “His endless attacks on”: Essie Mae Washington-Williams, with William Stadiem, Dear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond (New York: Regan Books, 2005), p. 136.

  “On the question of social”: Ibid., p. 137.

  “I don’t like that man”: Ibid.

  “brainwashed . . . if not by”: Ibid., p. 133.

  “If the South had been stabbed”: Ibid., p. 135.

  “We went through Illinois”: Oral History Interview with Robert G. Nixon (transcript), 1970, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, pp. 628–29.

  “There is something happening”: Oral History Interview with Eben A. Ayers (transcript), 1967, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 153.

  “The Truman crowds had just”: Oral History Interview with Richard L. Strout (transcript), 1971, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, p. 18.

  “This correspondent’s inquiries”: “Looks Now as if Republicans Will Carry Senate,” Boston Daily Globe, October 15, 1948.

  “about 75 percent of the newspapers”: “Merry-Go-Round: Gov. Dewey Is Picked as Sure Victor,” Washington Post, October 14, 1948.

  13 Oct 1948 between”: “Handwritten estimated tally of electoral votes, October 13, 1948,” Research Files, 1948 Election Campaign collection, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/handwritten-estimated-tally-electoral-votes.

  “George, how many do I have?”: Dialogue from George McKee Elsey, An Unplanned Life: A Memoir by George McKee Elsey (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005), p. 170.

  “Farm boy, Soldier, Statesman”: The Story of Harry S. Truman, Research Files, 1948 Election Campaign collection, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/story-harry-s-truman.

  “Workers at the precinct level”: Jack Redding, Inside the Democratic Party (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1958), p. 238.

  “The ‘Democratic Record’ show is”: Ibid., p. 239.

  “I think, Mrs. Roosevelt, that”: Dialogue from ibid., p. 228.

  “The country is going to be in”: “Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in Wisconsin and Minnesota,” Adams, Wisconsin, October 13, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/235/rear-platform-and-other-informal-remarks-wisconsin-and-minnesota.

  “On November 2 . . . you are going”: Ibid., Spooner, Wisconsin.

  “Could we be wrong?”: “Truman’s Mostly Making Neighbors,” Washington Post, October 17, 1948.

  28. “The Campaign Special Train Stopped with a Jerk”

  “That’s the first lunatic I’ve”: Richard Norton Smith, Thomas E. Dewey and His Times (New York: Touchstone, 1982), p. 532.

  “The campaign special train”: Ibid.

  “I think as much of Dewey as”: “Dewey Engineer Resents Being Called Lunatic,” Chicago Daily Tribune, October 14, 1948.

  “wonderful train crews”: “Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in Indiana,” October 15, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/240/rear-platform-and-other-informal-remarks-indiana.

  LUNATICS FOR TRUMAN: “When Harry Gave ’em Hell,” U.S. News & World Report, January 28, 2008.

  “Johnny . . . we are slipping”: Smith, Thomas E. Dewey, p. 533.

  “He didn’t really like handshaking”: Ibid., pp. 348–49.

  “as certain as anything can”: “A Reporter Looks Back: A ‘Sure’ Defeat for Truman,” Christian Science Monitor, August 20, 1980.

  “I am worried”: Helen Brigham to Herbert Brownell, October 9, 1948, Thomas E. Dewey Papers, Series 2, Box 21.

  “Don’t float in, fight your”: Grace Burdick to Herbert Brownell, October 21, 1948, ibid.

  “I tell you”: “Fire Gen. Marshall, Wallace Demands of Truman in Speech,” Chicago Daily Tribune, October 20, 1948.

  “Harry S. Truman has abdicated”: “Wallace Asserts Truman Abdicated,” New York Times, October 20, 1948.

  “He’s going to take the worst”: “Party to Stay, Wallace Says,” Washington Post, October 21, 1948.

  “I see a lot of faces that”: “Wallace Attacks Truman in St. Louis,” New York Times, September 26, 1948.

  “I’m not tired”: Ibid.

  “I can’t help feeling that”: Thomas W. Devine, Henry Wallace’s 1948 Presidential Campaign and the Future of Postwar Liberalism (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013), p. 278.

  “There was a parade through Miami”: Diary entry of Margaret Truman, October 18, 1948, Margaret Truman Daniel and E. Clifton Daniel Papers, Box 14, Truman archives.

  “Let me say here again”: “Address in Miami at the American Legion Convention,” October 18, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/244/address-miami-american-legion-convention.

  “You can win the south without”: E. R. Roberts to Harry Truman, undated, Research Files, President’s Committee on Civil Rights, Truman archives, https://trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/correspondence-between-harry-s-truman-and-ernie-roberts?documentid=NA&pagenumber=5.

  “I can’t approve of such”: Harry Truman to E. R. Roberts, August 18, 1948, ibid.

  “At almost any point in Berlin”: Oral History Interview with William H. Draper Jr. (transcript), 1972, Oral History Interviews, Truman archives, pp. 68–69.

  “the extraordinary demands of the”: Harry Truman to Executive Secretary, National Security Council, October 22, 1948, Harry S. Truman Papers, President’s Secretary’s Files, Box 178, Truman archives.

  “It must be assumed that”: “Prospects for Survival of the Republic of Korea,” October 28, 1948, Harry S. Truman Papers, Central Intelligence Agency, President’s Secretary’s Files, Box 177, Truman archives.

  “Rhee’s government would be”: Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 330.

  “Arab refugee tragedy is rapidly”: John McDonald to the President and Acting Secretary of State, October 17, 1948, Clark M. Clifford Papers, Box 14, Truman archives.

  “fully acceptable to the State of”: “Text of Platform as Drafted by Resolutions Committee,” New York Times, July 14, 1948.

  “Like you and everyone else who”: Chester Bowles to Clark Clifford, September 23, 1948, Clifford Papers, Box 13, Truman archives.

  “any parliamentary procedures”: John B. Judis, Genesis: Truman, American Jews, and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014), p. 333.

  “use every effort to avoid”: Ibid.

  “every effort [should] be made to”: Ibid., p. 337.

  “unity to our country to meet”: “Dewey Tells Rally He Expects Abuse,” Los Angeles Times, October 23, 1948.

  “the vacillation of the Democratic”: “Dewey Asks Backers Not to Use Abuse,” Washington Post, October 23, 1948.

  “I am working on a statement”: Clark Clifford to Harry Truman, Telegram, October 23, 1948, President’s Secretary’s Files, Recognition of the State of Israel, Tr
uman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/telegram-clark-clifford-harry-s-truman.

  “You been bothered much by”: “Address in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,” October 23, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/252/address-pittsburgh-pennsylvania.

  “The Republican candidate for President”: “Statement by the President on Israel,” October 24, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/253/statement-president-israel.

  “Am told removal of restrictions”: Judis, Genesis, p. 337.

  29. “We Are Engaged in a Great Crusade”

  “A parade a mile long”: Diary entry of Margaret Truman, October 25, 1948, Margaret Truman Daniel and E. Clifton Daniel Papers, Box 14, Truman archives.

  “extreme right wing”: “Address in the Chicago Stadium,” October 25, 1948, Public Papers, Truman archives, https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/256/address-chicago-stadium.

  “So emotional was Mr. Truman”: “Truman Rips GOP ‘Evil,’” Chicago Daily Tribune, October 26, 1948.

  “President Likens Dewey to Hitler”: “President Likens Dewey to Hitler as Fascist Tool,” New York Times, October 26, 1948.

  “tear it to shreds”: Smith, Thomas E. Dewey, p. 535.

  “If I have to stay up all night”: Ibid.

  “Thank you so much for this glorious”: “The Text of the Address by Gov. Dewey in Chicago Accusing His Rivals of Appeal to Prejudice,” New York Times, October 27, 1948.

  “weakness” and “incompetence”: Ibid.

  “the most complete fumbler”: “And Now, the Ballot Box!,” Los Angeles Times, October 31, 1948.

  “an incompetent”: “The Campaign That Never Began,” Chicago Daily Tribune, October 31, 1948.

  “a sorry and pathetic squirt”: “A Sad, Cheap Ceremony by ‘Man Who Broke Rules,’” New York Journal American, July 28, 1948.

  “operated, or subsidized by the”: Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 175.

  “the commonplace practice of”: Ibid.