The Election Of 1948 Essay Research Paper free essay sample

The Election Of 1948 Essay, Research Paper The Election of 1948 Term Project American Government Mr. Jansiewicz Spring, 1996 David Holland To analyze the election of 1948, I believe one must get down briefly with the democratic convention of the old election. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was running for his 4th back-to-back term, but there was some altering done to the ticket by the Democratic Party. Then Vice President Henry Wallace was passed over for the nomination, and the place was given to a Senator from Missouri who had served Roosevelt # 8217 ; s # 8220 ; New Deal # 8221 ; policies good and had been really helpful to his disposal while chairing the Senate Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program in the early 1940 # 8217 ; s. This choice was more than a formality. Rumors of the President # 8217 ; s wellness deteriorating were abounding in Washington and # 8220 ; each delegate kept in head that his choice for Vice President might go President # 8221 ; ( Reichard 2 ) . Roosevelt # 8217 ; s Death on April 12, 1945, merely hebdomads after startup, elevated Truman to the highest office in the l and for every bit close to a full term as could be imagined without holding run for the place. We will write a custom essay sample on The Election Of 1948 Essay Research Paper or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The state was at war. Truman had no pick but to hit the land running, and he did, at first. # 8220 ; The American People, eager to see that Truman could regulate efficaciously, endorsed his first six hebdomads with an 87 per centum blessing evaluation, with merely 3 per centum disapproving, figures neer achieved by any other president # 8221 ; ( Pemberton 38 ) . Merely a small over three months subsequently on the 22ND of July, he and Winston Churchill came to the determination to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, non one time, but twice. As the 1948 election approached, it became apparent that the favorite for the Republican Party would be moderate Thomas Dewey, the Governor of New York. Dewey had opposed Roosevelt in 1944. Thingss looked good for the Republican Party. The Democrats had lost control of both the House and Senate in the 1946 election, and support for Truman seemed to be at an all clip low. Indeed, the incumbent President had a unsmooth clip procuring his ain parties nomination for re-election. He had split the party into three separate subdivisions. After the hapless consequences of the 1946 elections, many broad members of the party were unhappy with Truman. In December of 1946 a new motion was formed. This group was called the Progressive Citizens of America, and many of it # 8217 ; s members were broad democrats who favored third-party action under Henry Wallace # 8217 ; s ( the former Vice President under Roosevelt ) leading ( McCoy 153 ) . In January of 1947 many other Democrats, largely centris ts who were concerned that Truman did non hold what it took to acquire re-elected, formed the Americans for Democratic Action ( ADA ) . This groups chief intent was to happen person to take the topographic point of Truman on the Democratic ticket in 1948. Several people were considered for this place including war hero and future Republican President General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower nevertheless refused the place, but a clip so tardily as to non let the ADA clip to tribunal any other campaigners earnestly. So Truman was non merely running against a really popular Republican opposition, but two other Democrats running on 3rd party tickets. The battle looked impossible to all but possibly two or three Americans, one of the trusters though being Truman. He raised civil rights issues, including set uping a lasting Commission on Civil Rights, supplying federal protection against lynching, protecting more adequately the right to vote, and forbiding favoritism in interstate transit installations. He besides promised a measure forbiding favoritism in federal employment and stoping segregation in the armed forces. This prompted a Southern rebellion among Democrats. South Carolina Governor J. Strom Thurmond led this rebellion and ran against Truman as a # 8220 ; Dixiecrat # 8221 ; , or a State # 8217 ; s Right Democrat, supported by many southern provinces. # 8220 ; Many States rights democratic parties, Including Thurmond, saw the demand to build a run broader than mere refractoriness on civil rights, but the sliver party neer succeeded in developing a positive plan, or raising an equal run exchequer # 8221 ; ( Reichard 36 ) . Although Thurmond was neer considered a menace to win the presidential term himself, his presence could mere ly take away cardinal democratic ballots from Truman in the South. It appeared that civil rights would be a major issue in a presidential run for the first clip since Reconstruction. Another issue at the head of American Politicss at this clip was the beginning of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain. Truman was house with the Sovietss, declining to portion the atomic secrets with them, implementing a 400 million dollar foreign assistance program called the Truman Doctrine to assist Greece and Turkey defend against communist insurgency. The issue of communism destroyed Wallace # 8217 ; s run. Many of his followings and subscribers were known Communists. He was quoted as stating # 8220 ; If they want to back up me, I can # 8217 ; t halt them # 8221 ; He condemned the Truman Doctrine for taking an overly Anti-Soviet attitude. Although he neer endorsed communism, his ties to it destruct his run. The run trail seemed to be a formality for Dewey and an unsurmountable undertaking for Truman. The Polls showed that Dewey would win easy, and the documents handled it like it was already over. But one individual knew that it was non yet decided. President Truman began a run the likes that no President had of all time taken earlier. He traveled over 31,700 stat mis in a period of approximately four months, most of it in an armoured presidential train auto called the Magellan, and gave over 356 addresss. He stopped in large metropoliss and gave addresss to immense crowds, and â€Å"whistlestops† , where he would talk to smaller crowds from the platform on the rear of the train auto. Few times were any issues raised in these addresss. America really was in a province of economic roar and Truman reminded the people that the last clip there had been a republican in office was during the great depression. He reminded Rural America of his little town Missouri roots. He spoke to the husbandmans of limitations placed on agribusiness by the republican controlled 80TH Congress. Not one address was the same. He spoke TO the people. Many expressed unhappiness at the chance that he had â€Å"no opportunity of winningà ¢â‚¬  harmonizing to the documents and the polls. What the documents and the polls may hold failed to detect were the immense crowds that the President was pulling everyplace he went. The lone issue raised in every address was the inability of the 80TH Congress to acquire anything done. Oppositions names were seldom mentioned, and the lone clip he spoke at any length at all of his civil rights platform was in Harlem, where he became the first Democratic Presidential Candidate of all time to give a address at that place. His AIDSs and address authors did an first-class occupation of cognizing what the hot issues were in the peculiar country of the state where he was talking, and his off the turnup manner of speech production endeared him to the common adult male. One correspondant, Robert Donevan of the New York Herald-Tribune would subsequently qualify the Truman run as â€Å"sharp addresss reasonably knocking Republican policy and supporting New Deal liberalism mixed with sophism , buncombe piled higher than hayricks, and demagogy honking happily down the track† ( McCullough 661 ) . They spent more money than the well financed Republicans, and at times were merely one twenty-four hours off from being broke. Meanwhile, Dewey was on a run trail of his ain. Dewey would go nowhere near so far, and at a much more easy gait. And he would present far fewer addresss. As the campaigner and his advisers proudly informed the imperativeness, nil would be left to opportunity ( McCullough 668 ) . He was intentionally noncommittal during all of his addresss about the issues as to avoid piquing anyone. He and his advisers figured all they had to make was do visual aspects and look official. The documents and the polls were foretelling a landslide triumph, so Dewey merely laid back and played defence. His large gimmick phrase in his addresss was a # 8220 ; name to unity # 8221 ; . Many people who were interviewed after Dewey addresss suggested that he seemed like a cold, difficult adult male. On the occasions when he would look in a town non long after Truman had been there it was noticed that the crowds were neither as big nor as enthusiastic. As the run neared the November 2ND election day of the month, the polls and the imperativeness continued to demo Dewey in the lead, although the border had dwindled. A concluding Gallup Poll showed that Dewey remained in front 49.5 % to 44.5 % on election Day ( McCullough 703 ) . The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek and many others all predicted a Dewey win. Not one newspaper or publication contradicted this. Truman went to a resort in Excelsior Springs and waited for the intelligence at that place in private. At 10:14 am the undermentioned forenoon, Dewey conceded the election. Truman carried 28 provinces with a sum of 303 electoral ballots, vs. Dewey # 8217 ; s 16 and 189. The popular ballot was 24,105,812 for Truman and 21,970,065 for Dewey. Wallace and Thurmond each pulled a little more than 1,100,000 ballots and Thurmond won four southern provinces worth a sum of 39 electoral votes.` ( McCullough 710 ) . I feel that Thurmond Strom waged a hapless political run. The lone platform he raised was anti-civil rights, and his lone part was to take ballots off from the other campaigners. Henry Wallace was nil more than a huffy small male child who had his plaything taken off from him. His run was inconsequential. Thomas Dewey on the other manus, may hold been misled by the media to be a small excessively confident. If he had known how close the race was truly traveling to be at the terminal he may hold chosen to run more sharply. Many said after the election that the Republicans were so certain of a triumph that many didn # 8217 ; t fuss to vote. But some Democrats said about the same thing, the felt it was hopeless, so why fuss. The Media played a function in this election that it neer should hold. I think it is merely justness that all of those publications, and the journalists had this blow up in their face. Harry Truman waged a run ( harmonizing to some of the books I read anyhow ) wort hy of a film. ( There may already be one, I don # 8217 ; t know ) . He fought hardship from every side and won a conflict that the full state said that he could non win, except on the twenty-four hours that it mattered, November 2ND, 1948. Gosnell, Harold S. Truman # 8217 ; s Crises Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1980 McCoy, Donald R. The Presidency of Harry S. Truman. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1984 McCullough, David. Truman. New York: Simon A ; Schuster, 1992 Pemberton, William E. Harry S. Truman. Boston: Twayne, 1989 Reichard, Gary W. Politics as Ususal. Arlington Heights, Illinois: Harland Davidson, 1988