1948- Harry S. Truman (D) vs Thomas E. Dewey (R)

This election gives us all a clear warning against over-confidence. Nearly everyone assumed Dewey would win, so his supporters stayed home. Truman ran a masterful campaign and won...then had a dismal second term. Thank goodness for Ike (although Taft probably should have...well, never mind).

The 1948 Election was the upset of the century. Despite a strong foreign policy record in his 1st term, Harry Truman was not seen as a strong candidate for re-election. It wasn't so much his record that was in dispute rather it was the perception that he was not big enough for the job. The media and the Republicans portrayed him as a failed haberdasher and political hack from Kansas City. He even had difficulty in securing the Democratic nomination. On the domestic front, Truman continued price controls from the war which were highly unpopular; people wanted to spend the money that they had saved during the 2nd World War. Price controls are never a good thing in my opinion. At any rate, inflation was a major issue at the time along with labor strikes which made the Democrats very highly unpopular. To top it all off the Democratic coalition that had re-elected Frankin Delano Roosevelt was at last falling apart. The liberals thought that Truman was being too hard on the Soviets and they ... Read more