Truman Defeats Dewey [Paperback]

Gary A. Donaldson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2000

" Fifty years ago Harry S. Truman pulled off the greatest upset in U.S. political history. With his party split on both the left and the right, and facing a formidable Republican opponent in New York governor Thomas E. Dewey, the Missourian was thought to have little chance of remaining in the White House. But politics in the postwar years were changing dramatically. Truman and his advisers successfully read those changes: their strategy focused on building a coalition of organized labor, African Americans in large northern cities, and traditional liberals--and ignoring protests from the conservative South. Donaldson argues that Dewey did nearly as much to lose the election as Truman did to win it. Dewey entered the campaign so overconfident that he refused to confront Truman on the issues. The Republicans, certain of a mandate from the public after the midterm elections of 1946, prepared to disassemble the New Deal. Yet they suffered from even more severe internal division than the Democrats. The 1948 presidential campaign was a watershed event in the history of American politics. It encompassed Truman's rousing ""Give 'em Hell Harry"" speeches and intriguing behind-the-scenes political maneuvering. It was the first election after Roosevelt's death and the last before the advent of television. It marked the new political prominence of African American voters and organized labor, as well as the South's declining influence over the Democratic Party.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Donaldson (Abundance and Anxiety: America 1945 to 1960), an associate professor of history at Xavier University, gets his title by playfully inverting the Chicago Tribune headline made famous by President Truman after his victory in the 1948 presidential election. Unlike Gullan in The Upset That Wasn't (see above), Donaldson concentrates on the issues of the campaign, not the personalities. He focuses on Truman's obstacles: an economy in reconversion, labor unrest and disgruntled farmers. He shows how the GOP "misread its results" when it took control of Congress in 1946 and how Truman turned the tables on the "do nothing [80th] congress." He looks at the third-party candidates, the much "martyred" Henry Wallace and break-away Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond. Donaldson also shows how Truman built coalitions with labor and blacks largely because both groups had "no place to go," while Dewey ran a "lethargic, issueless campaign" that did not attack Truman on either domestic or foreign policy issues. There are also two chapters on the romancing of Dwight D. Eisenhower by both parties. Special emphasis is placed on the evolution of the Democratic Party as it left behind the Solid South and became the party of civil rights. This is a nitty-gritty political handbook to the issues in the election of 1948. Photos.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

A new study or the 1948 election that has long been called the greatest upset in American political history. Donaldson, (History/Xavier Univ.) provides persuasive analyses of postwar politics, the tactics of contending political parties that marked the breakup of the old FDR New Deal coalition after WWII. To many voters, ``Plain Harry'' Truman was a drastic letdown after the charismatic and innovative FDR. Truman had little use for New Dealers and was heard to call them ``crackpots'' and ``the lunatic fringe''. He replaced the FDR cabinet with his political cronies and old war buddies. Donaldson finds that only FDR could hold together his unlikely coalition of leftists, liberals, aggressive labor unions, conservative farmers, newly united northern African-Americans, professionals and right-wing southern white supremacists. Truman walked a tightrope between these contending forces. In addition, Donaldson points out that Republicans drew away many old FDR voters who perceived the Yalta conference as a sellout to the Soviet Union. The GOP captured Congress in the 1946 elections as Truman's popularity declined. All polls predicted a Republican landslide in 1948. Truman found he couldnt please all factions and decided to abandon the far leftists and the extreme southern white supremacists, both of whom formed new parties led respectively by Henry Wallace and Strom Thurmond. Truman's feisty ``whistle stop'' train campaign and ``give them hell, Harry'' speeches endeared him to millions of Americans In the west and south and in large cities. He regained many lukewarm voters with no other place to go except to the newly animated Harry. Donaldson argues that the overconfident Dewey lost the election with his bland, boring campaign speeches as much as Truman won it in a close popular vote. An excellent history of a remarkable event in a tumultuous time in America. (For another look at this election, see Harold I. Gullan, The Upset that Wasn't, p. 1432.) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky; First Edition edition (July 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813190029
• ISBN-13: 978-0813190020
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,266,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent look at an exciting election, August 1, 2000

By 

Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Truman Defeats Dewey (Hardcover)

I grew up listening to my parents talk about Harry Truman and the 1948 election. No one thought Truman had a chance and everyone went to bed believing Tom Dewey would be the next President. Boy, was everyone wrong, from the reporters who covered the campaign, to H.V. Kaltenborn, the famous radio announcer of that era, to the new political pollsters. All were left with egg on their faces when Truman won over 300 electoral votes and swept to victory.

This book demonstrate the importance of the farm vote switching mightily to Truman as the campaign wore on, and how Dewey was impossibly arrogant and stopped active campaigning on mid-October, thinking he had the election sewn up! Most of all, this is a tribute to the plucky Harry Trumam, who never conceded, never doubted he would win, and throughout his famous whistle-stop tour, gave 'em hell. A stirring account of the agreat campaign.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fresh and informative examination, April 7, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Truman Defeats Dewey (Hardcover)

Truman Defeats Dewey makes a persuasive case that the 1948 election was a watershed event in American political history and began the modern political era. An associate professor of history at Xavier University in New Orleans, Gary Donaldson presents a fresh and informative examination of how Harry Truman took the 1948 race and what Thomas Dewey did (and didn't) do that resulted in his losing the election. In summary, Truman did a better and more effective job of connecting with the American public whereas Dewey was fairly inept as both a public speaker and in understanding/presenting the issues that concerned constituent voters. Truman Defeats Dewey is a superbly written and presented treatise that will prove a welcome addition to 20th Century American political science and electorial history reading lists and reference collections.