Dewey Defeats Truman

March 15, 2020
An absorbing chronicle of the months leading up to the extraordinary 1948 presidential election. In this insightful look at the players and issues that dominated the campaign, Baime, whose previous book was The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World (2017), focuses on the years following Franklin Roosevelt's death in 1945, leading to Truman's surprising triumph in the 1948 election. Without downplaying the seriousness of the postwar problems confronting the new president, the author pays particular attention to how they affected his chances for election given his opponents on both the left and the right. These included Henry Wallace, FDR's one-time vice president, who ran as a Progressive candidate in the 1948 election; Strom Thurmond, founder of the States' Rights Democratic Party (popularly known as the Dixiecrats); and Thomas Dewey, the popular New York governor and Truman's main rival. Truman had some unfortunate stumbles in his first years as president, and seemingly everyone--including his wife and daughter--believed that he could never actually win a presidential election. "To err is Truman" was a "popular quip" at the beginning of his presidency. Compounding his woes, Republicans won both houses in the 1946 midterms by a landslide. However, despite his hostility to what he called the "Do-Nothing Congress," he passed major bills like the Marshall Plan and championed civil rights legislation, which so infuriated the South that many switched allegiance to the Dixiecrats. In 1948, Truman's name was purposely left off the ballot in Alabama. Baime engagingly chronicles how Truman campaigned vigorously and creatively. Each speech on his whistle-stop tours was tailored to his audience; a documentary, The Truman Story, and a comic-book version of his biography were released in October 1948; and Eleanor Roosevelt gave a stump speech that was broadcast on radio to the entire nation. There were TV and newspaper ads as well. Even readers familiar with Truman's presidency will be engaged by the story of the campaign that came before.

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April 1, 2020

Baime (The Accidental President) examines the 1948 election, which was, in his words, "a fight for the very soul of American government." As Baime demonstrates, the contest between Thomas E. Dewey and Harry S. Truman, who mostly agreed on Cold War foreign policy, may have been less significant ideologically than the conflict over the New Deal and the rise of segregationist Strom Thurmond, who sought the nomination on behalf of the Dixiecrat Party. Baime explains that the differences between mainline Democrats and Republicans were primarily focused on U.S. social policies, along with the role of the federal government toward the needs of African Americans and the growing middle class. In comparing the unexpected results of the 1948 and 2016 elections, Baime explores the significance of new media, as well as party presumption and personality differences. Notably, he explains how Truman won in 1948, despite the reach of early TV and newspaper endorsements of Dewey. That several books have been written on the 1948 election, including Truman's Triumphs (2012) by Andrew Busch, is a testament to the interest in the quintessentially direct Truman overcoming a rather austere Dewey. VERDICT A valuable addition to reflections on Truman and the factors that motivate voters.--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Lib. of Congress, Washington, DC

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 13, 2020
Journalist Baime, who chronicled Harry Truman’s first four months as chief executive following FDR’s death in The Accidental President (2017), delivers a spirited rundown of Truman’s come-from-behind 1948 victory over Republican challenger Thomas Dewey to win his first full term in office. Neither the media, nor pollsters, nor Truman’s own wife, Bess, thought he could win, according to Baime, who details internal divisions within the Democratic Party between Truman and “Dixiecrat” Strom Thurmond over civil rights programs and notes the electoral threat posed by Progressive party candidate Henry Wallace. Baime also details outside pressures on the campaign, including the Soviet Union’s blockade of West Berlin and turmoil in the Middle East over the creation of a “Jewish homeland in Palestine.” Undertaking a “whistle-stop” train tour across America, Truman delivered unrehearsed, plainspoken addresses to growing crowds of voters, and turned Republican opposition to his “Fair Deal” programs, including a national health-care program and the repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act, into a winning strategy. Readers looking for parallels to the current political climate will find plenty, including Baime’s contention that Republicans, Democrats, and the FBI all suspected Russia of attempting to influence the 1948 election, but by-and-large he treads familiar ground. Nevertheless, political history buffs will enjoy this colorful treatment of an oft-told story.

Starred review from May 15, 2020
The 1948 Presidential election pitted Democratic incumbent Harry Truman against the Republican nominee, New York governor Thomas Dewey. Still catching its breath after WWII victory, the nation was beset with new challenges: inflation, civil rights struggles, the Arab-Israeli war, and the Soviet Union's advances in Eastern Europe. Immigration issues divided the country over admitting political refugees from Russian aggression. Besides the major parties' nominees, Henry Wallace, Vice President before Truman, argued for peace with Soviet Union, and Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina defended white supremacy. Baime (The Accidental President, 2017) narrates the fascinating story of this election, in which Truman fought scrappily against what seemed overwhelming support for Dewey's pro-corporation stance. As Baime points out, there was very little difference in the major parties' platforms on significant issues, so much came down to personalities. Truman galvanized crowds with his barnstorming speeches across the nation, while Dewey came across to voters as uncaring about the working public. Pundits and pollsters predicted a Dewey sweep, but key states fell into the Truman column, leading to his victory and the famous faulty newspaper headline. In retrospect,1948 election issues still echo in the 2020 election season. Includes a few photographs and an extensive bibliography.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)