1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America

by David Pietrusza

Overview

The wild, combative inside story of the most stunning upset in the history of presidential elections: Harry Truman's 1948 victory over Tom Dewey.



"Outstanding. . . . by far the best yet about the fateful [1948] election." —Minneapolis Star-Tribune



"Coherent, compelling. . . . A skillful, authoritative investigation." —Kirkus Reviews



Award-winning historian David Pietrusza unpacks the most ingloriously iconic headline in the history of presidential elections—DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN—to reveal the 1948 campaign's backstage events and recount the down-to-the-wire brawl fought against the background of an erupting Cold War, the Berlin Airlift, the birth of Israel, and a post-war America facing exploding storms over civil rights and domestic communism.



"A terrific book. . . . a must-read." —Ron Faucheux, former editor-in-chief, Campaigns & Elections magazine



"David Pietrusza brilliantly portrays President Harry Truman's successful efforts to stave off the challenge of New York Gov. Tom Dewey, who was making a repeat bid as the Republican nominee." —David Mark, journalist, political analyst, and author of Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning



"Sweeping . . . compelling." —Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635764482
Publisher:	Diversion Books
Publication date:	09/04/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	559
Sales rank:	996,677
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

David Pietrusza’s books include 1920: The Year of Six Presidents; Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series; 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America's Role in the World; 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies; and 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR—Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny. Rothstein was a finalist for an Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category, and 1920 was honored by Kirkus Reviews as among their "Books of the Year." Pietrusza has appeared on Good Morning America, Morning Joe, The Voice of America, The History Channel, ESPN, NPR, AMC, and C-SPAN. He has spoken at The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, The National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, the Harry S Truman library and Museum, and various universities and festivals. He lives in Scotia, New York. Visit davidpietrusza.com.

Table of Contents

Cast of Characters viii

1 "Three sizes too large" 1

2 "You judge. I can't." 3

3 "I hope it's the same team again, Henry" 15

4 "You men who have nigger children" 28

5 "I'll be different, not like I used to be" 38

6 "To err is Truman" 51

7 "My very stomach turned" 65

8 "The South can be considered safely Democratic" 75

9 "No one laughs at Harold Stassen" 83

10 "Maybe Masaryk had cancer" 92

11 "The Bronx is not cheering" 105

12 "A lost ball in high grass" 119

13 "We have a lot of Communists in New York" 133

14 "Professors who scratch their waffles" 148

15 "Why can't a simple soldier be left alone…?" 158

16 "It's such outrageous sport, really" 171

17 "It might have been worse" 181

18 "Shifty and somewhat slimy" 194

19 "What do these people want?" 201

20 "The bright sunshine of human rights" 206

21 "Behold, the validity of Christian principles" 219

22 "An interesting and instructive evening" 226

23 "The wool hat woman of Byron, Georgia" 237

24 "I have been thinking of you holding the casket" 249

25 "Half of the gallery are FBI agents" 258

26 "Bases, bombs, Moscow, Leningrad, etc." 272

27 "A last hysterical gasp of an expiring administration" 279

28 "I have never laid eyes on him" 291

29 "The unseemly spectacle we are now witnessing" 302

30 "You simply cant make a politician out of him" 312

31 "Fifty million pounds of lard" 330

32 "Daddy, you shouldn't say 'hell'" 343

33 "Ain't he coming?" 362

34 "The campaign is ending and you still don't know" 376

35 "Don't bother me anymore; I'm going to bed" 385

36 "One for the books" 405

Acknowledgments 413

Notes 414

Sources 487

Editorial Reviews

Praise for 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America



"Outstanding. . . . by far the best yet about the fateful [1948] election." —Minneapolis Star-Tribune



"Reads like a movie thriller waiting to be filmed." —Washington Times



"Coherent, compelling. . . . A skillful, authoritative investigation." —Kirkus Reviews



"Pietrusza is the undisputed champion of chronicling American Presidential campaigns." —Dead Presidents blog



"Sweeping . . . compelling." —Library Journal



"A masterpiece!" —Roger Stone



"In 1948 David Pietrusza brings to light some of the forgotten but important figures in

American political history. There’s Glen Taylor, the singing senator from Idaho and running

mate of Henry Wallace on perhaps the most left-wing national ticket of the past century.

Mississippi Fielding Wright also makes a memorable appearance as understudy for

segregationist South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond, a reminder of just how solid the South

was for Democrats at one time. Pietrusza brilliantly portrays President Harry Truman’s

successful efforts to stave off the challenge of New York Gov. Tom Dewey, who was making a

repeat bid as the Republican nominee. Though Dewey lost, readers will come to see him as a

surprisingly civil libertarian-minded candidate, opposing the banning of the Communist Party,

despite its promotion of a noxious ideology." —David Mark, Senior Editor, POLITICO



"A terrific book. . . . a must-read." —Ron Faucheux, editor-in-chief, Campaigns & Elections magazine





"If you think [2012] is wild, this is really wild—Harry Truman and Henry Wallace and Strom Thurmond and Tom Dewey." —Tom Brokaw



Praise for Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series





Finalist for the Edgar Award in Best Fact Crime





“Pietrusza does a terrific job of capturing Rothstein’s colorful career and sheds new light on [his] role in fixing the World Series, disputing the standard history.” —New York Times Book Review





“An engaging biography. . . . Puts real flesh on the story of how the new machinery of mass entertainment—the yellow press, movies, radio, the recording industry—created and brought together the culture of celebrity, politics, big-time sports, stock market fortunes and organized crime in the 1920s.” —Washington Post Book World





Praise for 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents





“Broad, fluid brush strokes. . . . a brisk narrative." —The Wall Street Journal (rated one of the Top Five Books on Presidential Campaigns)



"David Pietrusza has a gift for making the past both real and dramatically gripping, and in 1920 he has an extraordinary cast of characters with which to work his magic. ... one helluva historical dinner party. An unforgettable group portrait of America on the brink of modernity." —Richard Norton Smith





"More than just a story of six men who either already had been president or would be, this is the story of America as it moved into the modern age." —Denver Post





“A rousing chronicle. . . . Pietrusza . . . adds color and dimension with smart discussions of Prohibition, women’s suffrage, immigration, civil rights, the League of Nations and labor strife, and he offers animated portraits.... A hugely fascinating episode in American history, told with insight and great humor, by an author in command of his subject.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)





"Absorbing. . . . a broad, satisfying political and social history, in the style of Doris Kearns Goodwin." —Publishers Weekly





"Fascinating and compelling. . . . Highly recommended." —Library Journal





Praise for 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR―Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny





"1932 confirmed my belief that David Pietrusza is the best historian of our times. Deep, clever, witty, master of the subject." ―Columnist and film critic Ivan Denisov





"[E]xtremely well written and researched. Highly recommended!!" ―Huffington Post critic Rob Taub







Praise for 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon—The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies





"1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies aims to take us deeper into the campaign than Theodore White's famous The Making of the President, 1960. And it does. . . ." –Chicago Sun-Times



"Here’s what Theodore White didn't tell you in The Making of the President, 1960.” –Denver Post



“Almost half a century after Theodore White’s The Making of the President, 1960, Pietrusza raises the bar with his winning and provocative chronicle . . . Highly recommended.” —Library Journal (starred review)



“The 1960 presidential campaign season was dominated by the personalities of three men, each of whom became president. Award-winning author Pietrusza chronicles their roles and character in a stirring, hard-edged political saga. . . . An outstanding reexamination.” –Booklist



"The bare-knuckle primaries. The back-room dealing of the conventions. The historic television debates. The explosive controversies of race, religion, and foreign policy. And, above all, the towering clash of personalities—LBJ, JFK, and Nixon. They're all here in David Pietrusza's superb 1960. 1960 provides new insights into that year's hard-fought, pivotal election, but, more than that, 1960is great story-telling—a fascinating, can't-put-it-down account of how American politics really works." —Former United States Attorney General Richard Thornburgh





"This is the very best book about the 1960 Presidential election. . . ." –POTUSGeeks Blog

From the Publisher