| REVIEWER | RATING & REVIEW |
 | irishgit (138)
02/08/2007 | Dewey ran an arrogant, in the bag campaign. Truman ran from behind, campaigned like a man possessed, and looked like the scrappy little guy next door up against the big money arseholes that everyone loves to hate. One of the most brilliant campaigns in history, and easily the biggest upset.
(5 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | callitdowntheline75 (53)
05/18/2006 | The 1948 Presidential Election ought not to be a total surprise. If anything the campaigns of Harry S Truman and Thomas Dewey reminds historians of the turtoise and the hare: Dewey was so confident of winning that he basically opted not to campaign, whereas Truman showed his fighting spirit by defending his policies and attacking his naysayers by non-stop campaigning by train- thereby proving the media and many wrong. At the end, the Man from Independence pulled a supposed-surprise victory. But it probably wasn't a surprise. If anything, the man with the better message (and character) prevailed (and deservedly so).
(4 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | PzKpfw VI E (27)
12/14/2005 | The famous (or infamous, depending on your viewpoint) picture of Truman holding up a copy of the Chicago Tribute with the headline 'DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN' says it all.
Over-confidence of a presidental hopeful, over-confidence on the media and over-confidence of the voting citizens of America all lead to this shocker.
(4 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | Solenoid DH (19)
03/10/2005 | This was a huge surprise. Even though I wasn't born yet, my father remembers the '48 election well and he says he didn't know a single person who thought Truman was going to win. There's no big mystery how it happened - people listened to the pollsters and believed them, leading the Republicans to being so confident of a victory that large numbers didn't bother to vote. One magazine had even started publishing the names of who would likely serve in a Dewey cabinet. One good thing that came out of it is that nobody on either side takes a victory for granted anymore until after Election Day. The motto is Overcome Overconfidence.
(2 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | abichara (60)
09/06/2004 |  1948 was definitely the upset of the 20th Century. All the political pro's gave the election to Dewey but Truman managed to stage a late hour comeback. At first sight it was easy to image that Dewey was going to win the election, after all, there was the universal perception that Truman was horribly ineffective at his job. Indeed throughout 1948, polling seemed to indicate that Dewey would win in a landslide. However by Election Day, the polls had narrowed significantly, but not enough to suggest a Truman victory. There were trends that did suggest the President's win: the economy was growing rapidly at the time, foreign events were turning Truman's way, the Berlin Airlift turned out to be a smashing success, and Dewey was simply not liked by the electorate at large. People saw him as competent but totally unlikeable. As opposed, voters liked the fact that Truman made an all out effort to get their vote; Americans like a fighter and Truman was definitely one. Perception and likability usually trump other considerations in politics, for better or worse. Truman won the old fashioned way, barnstorming the country ultimately helped turn out a strong Democratic vote which ultimately brought him victory.
(1 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | jgls (12)
09/05/2004 | it sure as hell shocked the chicago tribune. an incumbent president in a hopelessly divided party manages to win an election most people thought he had no hope of winning. what i find most fascinating about this is if dewey won the election earl warren may never have been selected as chief justice of the united states and life in america would have been vastly different.
(2 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
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