United states presidential election, 1948 - wikipedia United states presidential election, 1948 United States presidential election, 1948 ← 1944 November 2, 1948 1952 → All 531 electoral votes of the Electoral College 266 electoral votes needed to win Turnout 53.0 % 2.9 pp Nominee Harry S. Truman Thomas E. Dewey Strom Thurmond Party Democratic Republican Dixiecrat Home state Missouri New York South Carolina Running mate Alben W. Barkley Earl Warren Fielding L. Wright Electoral vote 303 189 39 States carried 28 16 Popular vote 24,179,347 21,991,292 1,175,930 Percentage 49.6 % 45.1 % 2.4 % Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Truman / Barkley, red denotes those won by Dewey / Warren, orange denotes those won by Thurmond / Wright, including a Tennessee faithless elector. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state. President before election Harry S. Truman Democratic Elected President Harry S. Truman Democratic The United States presidential election of 1948 was the 41st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1948. Incumbent President Harry S. Truman, the Democratic nominee, defeated Republican Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Truman 's victory is considered to be one of the greatest election upsets in American history. Truman had acceded to the presidency in April 1945 after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945. Defeating attempts to drop him from the ticket, Truman won the presidential nomination at the 1948 Democratic National Convention. The Democratic convention 's civil rights plank caused a walk - out by several Southern delegates, who launched a third - party `` Dixiecrat '' ticket led by Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. The Dixiecrats hoped to win enough electoral votes to force a contingent election in the House of Representatives, where they could extract concessions from either Dewey or Truman in exchange for their support. Truman also faced a challenge from the left in the form of former Vice President Henry A. Wallace, who launched the Progressive Party and challenged Truman 's confrontational Cold War policies. Dewey, who was the leader of his party 's moderate eastern wing and had been the 1944 Republican presidential nominee, defeated Senator Robert A. Taft and other challengers at the 1948 Republican National Convention. Truman 's feisty campaign style energized his base of traditional Democrats, consisting of most of the white South, as well as Catholic and Jewish voters ; he also fared surprisingly well with Midwestern farmers. Dewey ran a low risk campaign and largely avoided directly criticizing Truman. With the three - way split in the Democratic Party, and with Truman 's low approval ratings, Truman was widely considered to be the underdog in the race. Virtually every prediction ( with or without public opinion polls ) indicated that Truman would be defeated by Dewey. Defying predictions of his defeat, Truman won the 1948 election, garnering 303 electoral votes to Dewey 's 189. Truman won 49.6 % of the popular vote compared to Dewey 's 45.1 %, while the third party candidacies of Thurmond and Wallace each won less than 3 % of the popular vote. Truman 's surprise victory was the fifth consecutive presidential win for the Democratic Party, the longest winning streak for either party since the 1880 election. With simultaneous success in the 1948 congressional elections, the Democrats regained control of both houses of Congress, which they had lost in 1946. Thus, Truman 's election confirmed the Democratic Party 's status as the nation 's majority party. Contents 1 Nominations 1.1 Republican Party nomination 1.2 Republican Convention 1.3 Democratic Party nomination 1.4 Democratic Convention 1.5 Progressive Party nomination 1.6 States ' Rights Democratic Party nomination 2 General election 2.1 Fall campaign 2.2 Results 2.2. 1 Results by state 2.2. 2 Close states 3 Miscellaneous 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 Further reading 7.1 Primary sources 8 External links Nominations Republican Party nomination Main article : Republican Party presidential primaries, 1948 Further information : 1948 Republican National Convention Republican Party Ticket, 1948 Thomas E. Dewey Earl Warren for President for Vice President 47th Governor of New York ( 1943 -- 1954 ) 30th Governor of California ( 1943 -- 1953 ) Campaign Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York Senator Robert A. Taft from Ohio Former Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota President Pro Tempore Arthur H. Vandenberg Governor Earl Warren of California General of the Army Douglas MacArthur from New York Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Joseph William Martin, Jr., from Massachusetts Former Chief of Staff of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower from New York ( Declined -- Jan 24, 1948 ) Senator John W. Bricker from Ohio ( Declined -- Endorsed Taft ) As would be experienced by the Democrats, there was a boom for General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the most popular general of World War II and a favorite in the polls. Unlike the latter movement within the Democratic party, however, the Republican draft movement came largely from the grassroots of the party. By January 23, 1948, the grassroots movement had successfully entered Eisenhower 's name into every state holding a Republican presidential primary, and polls gave him a significant lead against all other contenders. With the first state primary approaching, Eisenhower was forced to make a quick decision. Stating that soldiers should keep out of politics, Eisenhower declined to run and requested that the grassroots draft movement cease its activities. After a number of failed efforts to get Eisenhower to reconsider, the organization disbanded, with the majority of its leadership endorsing the presidential campaign of the former Governor of Minnesota, Harold Stassen. With Eisenhower refusing to run, the contest for the Republican nomination was between Stassen, New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Senator Robert A. Taft from Ohio, California Governor Earl Warren, General Douglas MacArthur, and Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg from Michigan, the senior Republican in the Senate. Dewey, who had been the Republican nominee in 1944, was regarded as the frontrunner when the primaries began. Dewey was the acknowledged leader of the Republican Party 's Eastern Establishment. In 1946 he had been re-elected governor of New York by the largest margin in state history. Dewey 's handicap was that many Republicans disliked him on a personal level ; he often struck observers as cold, stiff, and calculating. Taft was the leader of the Republican Party 's conservative wing, which was strongest in the Midwest and parts of the South. Taft called for abolishing many New Deal welfare programs, which he felt were harmful to business interests, and he was skeptical of American involvement in foreign alliances such as the United Nations. Taft had two major weaknesses : He was a plodding, dull campaigner, and he was viewed by most party leaders as being too conservative and controversial to win a presidential election. Both Vandenberg and Warren were highly popular in their home states, but each refused to campaign in the primaries, which limited their chances of winning the nomination. Their supporters, however, hoped that in the event of a Dewey - Taft - Stassen deadlock, the convention would turn to their man as a compromise candidate. General MacArthur, the famous war hero, was especially popular among conservatives. Since he was serving in Japan as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers occupying that nation, he was unable to campaign for the nomination. He did make it known, however, that he would accept the GOP nomination if it were offered to him, and some conservative Republicans hoped that by winning a primary contest he could prove his popularity with voters. They chose to enter his name in the Wisconsin primary. The `` surprise '' candidate of 1948 was Stassen, a liberal from Minnesota. In 1938, Stassen had been elected governor of Minnesota at the age of 31 ; he resigned as governor in 1943 to serve in the wartime Navy. In 1945 he served on the committee that created the United Nations. Stassen was widely regarded as the most liberal of the Republican candidates, yet during the primaries he was criticized for being vague on many issues. Stassen stunned Dewey and MacArthur in the Wisconsin primary ; Stassen 's surprise victory virtually eliminated General MacArthur, whose supporters had made a major effort on his behalf. Stassen defeated Dewey again in the Nebraska primary, thus making him the new frontrunner. He then made the strategic mistake of trying to beat Taft in Ohio, Taft 's home state. Stassen believed that if he could defeat Taft in his home state, Taft would be forced to quit the race and most of Taft 's delegates would support him instead of Dewey. Taft defeated Stassen in his native Ohio, however, and Stassen earned the hostility of the party 's conservatives. Even so, Stassen was still leading Dewey in the polls for the upcoming Oregon primary. Dewey, however, realized that losing another primary would end his chances at the nomination, and he decided to make an all - out effort in Oregon. In April 1948 Dewey sent Paul Lockwood, one of his top aides, to build a strong grassroots organization in the state. Working with $150,000 sent by Dewey 's powerful New York political organization ( three times the previous record spent in an Oregon primary ), Lockwood paid `` for 126 billboards, hundreds of sixty - second radio spots on every station in the state, and half - hour broadcasts each noon... The daily Portland Oregonian carried five Dewey advertisements a day. '' Dewey also extensively campaigned in Oregon, spending three weeks in the state. He `` invaded every hamlet, no matter how isolated, speaking at rural crossroads and shaking hands in hamburger stands. One journalist commented that Dewey was the greatest explorer of Oregon since Lewis and Clark. '' Dewey also agreed to debate Stassen in Oregon on national radio. Held on May 17, 1948, it was the first - ever radio debate between presidential candidates. The sole issue of the debate concerned whether to outlaw the Communist Party of the United States. Stassen, despite his liberal reputation, argued in favor of outlawing the party, stating his belief that a network of Soviet - directed Communist spies `` within the U.S. demanded immediate, and punitive, response... Why did Dewey oppose such a ban ? Stassen wanted to know. '' `` We must not coddle Communism with legality '', Stassen insisted. Dewey - while criticizing Communist totalitarianism and Soviet actions in the Cold War - still forcefully argued against banning the Communist Party : `` This outlawing idea is nothing new... for thousands of years despots have tortured, imprisoned, killed, and exiled their opponents, and their governments have always fallen into the dust. '' Dewey ended his turn in the debate by stating that `` I am unalterably, wholeheartedly, and unswervingly against any scheme to write laws outlawing people because of their religious, political, social, or economic ideas. I am against it because it is a violation of the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights... I am against it because I know from a great many years of experience in law enforcement that the proposal would n't work. Stripped to its naked essentials... this is nothing but the method of Hitler and Stalin. It is thought control... an attempt to beat down ideas with a club. It is a surrender of everything we believe in. '' Surveys showed that from 40 to 80 million people nationwide listened to the debate, and most observers rated Dewey as the winner. Four days after the debate, Dewey defeated Stassen in the Oregon primary. From this point forward, the New York governor had the momentum he needed to win his party 's second nomination. Republican convention The 1948 Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the first presidential convention to be shown on `` national '' television. ( At this time there were 27 television stations in full operation in the US and an estimated 350,000 TV sets in the whole country. ) As the convention opened, Dewey was believed to have a large lead in the delegate count. His campaign managers - Herbert Brownell, Jr., Edwin Jaeckle, and J. Russell Sprague - were `` as skillful a group of operators as ever manipulated a convention... it was said at the convention that the Dewey forces `` could have won even with Taft '' as their candidate. '' His main opponent, Senator Taft, was hobbled by an ineffective campaign team that one writer called `` bumblers '', and another historian noted that Taft 's campaign manager, Ohio Congressman Clarence J. Brown, `` seemed no match for Herbert Brownell... while the Dewey forces were busy flattering delegates and hinting at promises of patronage, Brown was still worrying about such mundane matters as hotel rooms and seats in the gallery for his friends. '' Dewey 's leading opponents -- Taft and Stassen -- met in Taft 's hotel suite to plan a `` stop - Dewey '' movement. A key obstacle soon developed, however, as both men refused to unite behind a single candidate to oppose Dewey : `` The essence of their impasse was simple. Neither Stassen nor Taft hated Dewey enough to withdraw ( in favor of the other ), and neither man thought he could get his delegates to follow if he did. '' Instead, both Taft and Stassen, along with Senator Vandenberg, simply agreed to try to hold their own delegates in the hopes of preventing Dewey from obtaining a majority. This proved to be futile, as Dewey 's efficient campaign team methodically gathered the remaining delegates they needed to win the nomination. Stassen tried to contact General Eisenhower to ask him to reconsider becoming a candidate, but Eisenhower `` could not be reached. '' After the second round of balloting, Dewey was only 33 votes short of victory. Taft then called Stassen and urged him to withdraw from the race and endorse him as Dewey 's main opponent. When Stassen refused, Taft wrote a concession statement and had it read to the convention at the start of the third ballot ; at this point the other candidates also dropped out, and Dewey was then nominated unanimously by acclamation. Dewey 's campaign team originally wanted Illinois Governor Dwight Green to be his running mate, but the opposition of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the powerful publisher of the Chicago Tribune, nixed his chances. According to journalist Jules Abels, Dewey managers Brownell, Sprague, and Jaeckle then appeared to offer the vice-presidential nomination to influential Indiana Congressman Charles Halleck, in exchange for Halleck delivering the entire Indiana delegation to Dewey. Halleck did so, but Dewey, who had not been present at the meeting between his managers and Halleck, decided to reject his candidacy, telling his aides `` Halleck wo n't do. '' After Dewey told Halleck of his decision, Halleck `` was first speechless with disbelief and then overcome with emotion. '' He told Dewey that `` you 're running out on the Eightieth Congress, and you 'll be sorry ! '' Abels wrote that Dewey 's decision to deny Halleck the vice-presidential bid `` may have been a fateful one... Halleck with his forceful personality might have changed the tone of the Dewey campaign, and certainly the issue of the record of the GOP - controlled Eightieth Congress would have to have been met heads on. '' Instead, Dewey chose popular governor ( and future Chief Justice ) Earl Warren of California as his running mate. Following the convention, most political experts in the news media rated the Republican ticket as an almost - certain winner over the Democrats. The tally Ballot Thomas E. Dewey 434 515 1094 Robert A. Taft 224 274 0 Harold Stassen 157 149 0 Arthur H. Vandenberg 62 62 0 Earl Warren 59 57 0 Dwight H. Green 56 0 0 Alfred E. Driscoll 35 0 0 Raymond E. Baldwin 19 19 0 Joseph William Martin, Jr. 18 10 0 B. Carroll Reece 15 0 0 Douglas MacArthur 11 8 0 Everett Dirksen 0 0 Abstaining 0 0 Democratic Party nomination Main article : 1948 Democratic National Convention Democratic Party Ticket, 1948 Harry S. Truman Alben W. Barkley for President for Vice President 33rd President of the United States ( 1945 -- 1953 ) U.S. Senator from Kentucky ( 1927 -- 1949 ) Campaign Democratic candidates : President Harry S. Truman Senator Richard Russell, Jr. from Georgia Senator Claude Pepper from Florida ( Withdrew -- July 14, 1948 ) Former Chief of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower from New York ( Declined -- July 10, 1948 ) Associate Justice William O. Douglas from New York ( Declined -- July 10, 1948 ) On July 12, the Democratic National Convention convened in Philadelphia in the same arena where the Republicans had met a few weeks earlier. Spirits were low ; the Republicans had taken control of both houses of the United States Congress and a majority of state governorships during the 1946 mid-term elections, and the public opinion polls showed Truman trailing Republican nominee Dewey, sometimes by double digits. Furthermore, some liberal Democrats had joined Henry A. Wallace 's new Progressive Party, and party leaders feared that Wallace would take enough votes from Truman to give the large Northern and Midwestern states to the Republicans. Conservatives dominated the party in the South, and they were angered by the growing voice of northern labor unions in the party. The hope that Truman would reverse course had faded by 1947, when he vetoed the Taft - Hartley Law to control union power. Truman 's appointment of a liberal civil rights commission convinced Southern conservatives that to re-establish their voice they had to threaten third party action to defeat Truman in 1948. Truman was aware of his unpopularity. In July 1947 he offered to run as Eisenhower 's running mate on the Democratic ticket if MacArthur won the Republican nomination, an offer which Eisenhower declined. As a result of Truman 's low standing in the polls, several Democratic party bosses began working to `` dump '' Truman and nominate a more popular candidate. Among the leaders of this movement were Jacob Arvey, the head of the powerful Cook County ( Chicago ) Democratic organization ; Frank Hague, the boss of New Jersey ; James Roosevelt, the eldest son of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt ; and liberal Senator Claude Pepper from Florida. The rebels hoped to draft Eisenhower as the Democratic presidential candidate. On July 10, however, Eisenhower officially refused to be a candidate. There was then an attempt to put forward Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, but Douglas also declared that he would not be a presidential candidate. Finally, Senator Pepper declared his intention to challenge Truman for the presidential nomination. His candidacy collapsed when the liberal Americans for Democratic Action and the Congress of Industrial Organizations withheld their support, partly due to concerns over Pepper 's attacks on Truman 's foreign policy decisions regarding the Soviet Union. As a result of the refusal by most of the dump - Truman delegates to support him, Pepper withdrew his candidacy for the nomination on July 14. Lacking a candidate acceptable to all sides, the leaders of the dump - Truman movement reluctantly agreed to support Truman for the nomination. Democratic convention At the Democratic Convention, Truman initially proposed a civil rights plank to the party platform that moderated the strong vocal support for civil rights that he had expressed at the NAACP convention in 1947, and to Congress in February 1948. This proposal disappointed Northern and Western liberals who wanted more swift and sweeping reforms in civil rights, but it also failed to placate Southern conservatives, and both sides decided to present their own amendments and proposals to Truman 's civil rights plank. Former Texas Governor Dan Moody proposed a plank that supported the status quo of states ' rights ; a similar but shorter proposal was made by Cecil Sims of the Tennessee delegation. On the liberal side, Wisconsin Representative Andrew Biemiller proposed a strong civil rights plank which was more explicit and direct in its language than Truman 's convention proposal. Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey led the support for the Biemiller plank. In his speech, Humphrey memorably stated that `` the time has come for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states ' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights ! '' Truman and his staff knew it was highly likely that any civil rights plank would lead to Southern delegates staging a walk - out in protest, but Truman believed that civil rights was an important moral cause and ultimately abandoned his advisers ' attempts to `` soften the approach '' with the moderate plank ; so the President supported and defended the `` Crackpot '' Biemiller plank, which passed by 651.5 votes to 582.5. It also received strong support from many of the big - city party bosses, most of whom felt that the civil rights platform would encourage the growing black population in their cities to vote for the Democrats. The passage of the civil rights platform caused some three dozen Southern delegates, led by South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, to walk out of the convention. The Southern delegates who remained nominated Senator Richard Russell, Jr. from Georgia for the Democratic nomination as a rebuke to Truman. Nonetheless, 947 Democratic delegates voted for Truman as the Democratic nominee, while Russell received only 266 votes, all from the South. Truman 's first choice for his running mate was Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, hoping that it might make the ticket more appealing to liberals. Douglas refused the nomination. Needing an alternative, Truman then selected Senator Alben W. Barkley from Kentucky, who had delivered the convention 's keynote address, as his running mate, with this nomination being made by acclamation. Truman gave a fighting acceptance speech, stating that `` Senator Barkley and I will win this election and make the Republicans like it - do n't you forget it !... We will do that because they are wrong and we are right. '' He claimed that the Republican Party had, `` ever since its inception... been under the control of special privilege ; and they have completely proved it in the Eightieth Congress. '' At the end of the speech the `` delegates rose to their feet and cheered loudly for two minutes... for a moment Truman had created the illusion - few regarded it as more than an illusion - that the Democrats had a fighting chance in November. '' The Balloting Presidential Ballot Vice Presidential Ballot Harry S. Truman 947.5 Alben W. Barkley 1,234 Richard Russell, Jr. 266 James A. Roe 15 Paul V. McNutt Alben W. Barkley Progressive Party nomination Progressive Party Ticket, 1948 Henry A. Wallace Glen H. Taylor for President for Vice President 33rd Vice President of the United States ( 1941 -- 1945 ) U.S. Senator from Idaho ( 1945 -- 1951 ) Campaign Meanwhile, the Democratic party fragmented. A new Progressive Party ( the name had been used earlier by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 and Robert M. La Follette in 1924 ) was created afresh in 1948, with the nomination of Henry A. Wallace, who had served as Secretary of Agriculture, Vice President of the United States, and Secretary of Commerce under Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1946, President Truman had fired Wallace as Secretary of Commerce when Wallace publicly opposed Truman 's firm moves to counter the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Wallace 's 1948 platform opposed the Cold War policies of President Truman, including the Marshall Plan and Truman Doctrine. The Progressives proposed stronger government regulation and control of Big Business. They also campaigned to end discrimination against blacks and women, backed a minimum wage, and called for the elimination of the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was investigating the issue of communist spies within the U.S. government and labor unions. Wallace and his supporters believed that the committee was violating the civil liberties of government workers and labor unions. The Progressives, however, also generated a great deal of controversy because of the widespread belief that they were secretly controlled by Communists who were more loyal to the Soviet Union than the United States. Wallace himself denied being a Communist, but he repeatedly refused to disavow their support and, at one point, was quoted as saying that the `` Communists are the closest thing to the early Christian martyrs. '' Walter Reuther, the president of the influential United Auto Workers union, strongly opposed Wallace 's candidacy, stating that `` people who are not sympathetic with democracy in America are influencing him. '' Philip Murray, the president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations ( CIO ), stated in April 1948 that `` the Communist Party is directly responsible for the creation of the third party ( Progressive Party ) in the United States. '' Wallace was also hurt when Westbrook Pegler, a prominent conservative newspaper columnist, revealed that Wallace as vice president had written coded letters discussing prominent politicians such as Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill to his controversial Russian New Age spiritual guru Nicholas Roerich ; the letters were nicknamed the `` Guru letters. '' In his book Out of the Jaws of Victory, the journalist Jules Abels wrote : `` Personalities were referred to by symbolic titles -- Roosevelt was ' The Flaming One ', Churchill ' The Roaring Lion ', and Cordell Hull ' The Sour One '... some of the letters were signed ' Wallace ', others ' Galahad ' '', the name that Roerich had assigned Wallace in his cult. This revelation -- including direct quotes from the letters -- led to much ridicule of Wallace in the national press. The Progressive Party Convention, which was also held in Philadelphia, was a highly contentious affair ; several famous newspaper journalists, such as H.L. Mencken and Dorothy Thompson, publicly accused the Progressives of being covertly controlled by Communists. The party 's platform was drafted by Lee Pressman, the convention secretary, he later admitted that he had been a member of the Communist party. John Abt served as legal counsel to the convention 's permanent chairman, Albert Fitzgerald ; he also testified years later that he was a Communist. Rexford Tugwell, a prominent liberal in President Franklin Roosevelt 's New Deal, served as the Chairman of the party 's platform committee. He became convinced that the party was being manipulated by Communists, and was `` so heartsick about Communist infiltration of the party that he discussed... with his wife disaffiliating ( from the party ) the night before the convention '' started. Tugwell later did disassociate himself from the Progressive Party and did not participate in Wallace 's fall campaign. A number of other Progressive Party delegates and supporters would quit the party in protest over what they perceived as the undue influence Communists exerted over Wallace, including the prominent American socialist Norman Thomas. In the fall, Thomas would run as the Socialist Party presidential candidate to offer liberals a non-Communist alternative to Wallace. Senator Glen H. Taylor from Idaho, an eccentric figure who was known as a `` singing cowboy '' and who had ridden his horse `` Nugget '' up the steps of the United States Capitol after winning election to the Senate in 1944, was named as Wallace 's running mate. Although he was a member of the Democratic Party, Taylor accepted the Progressive Party 's vice-presidential nomination, saying `` I am not leaving the Democratic Party. It left me. Wall Street and the military have taken over the Democratic Party. '' After receiving the vice-presidential nomination, Taylor told reporters that there was a difference between `` pink '' Communists and `` red '' Communists. Taylor claimed that `` pink '' Communists would support the Wallace - Taylor ticket because they believed in a `` peaceful revolution '' to turn the government to left - wing beliefs, but `` red '' Communists would support the Republican ticket in the belief that they would cause another Great Depression, which would give Communists the chance to take over the government. In the fall campaign the Wallace - Taylor ticket made a Southern tour, where both Wallace and Taylor insisted on speaking to racially integrated audiences, in defiance of Southern custom and law at the time. In several North Carolina cities Wallace was hit by a total of `` twenty - seven eggs, thirty - seven tomatoes, six peaches, and two lemons. '' When he left the state he announced : `` As Jesus Christ said, if at any time they will not listen to you willingly, then shake the dust off from your feet and go elsewhere. '' He ate only in unsegregated restaurants, traveled with a black secretary, and in Mississippi had to be escorted by police for protection. His aide Clark Foreman admitted that Wallace wanted to stir up controversy for the publicity it would receive in more liberal areas in the North and West. As the campaign progressed, however, Wallace 's crowds thinned and his standing in the polls dropped. Wallace was hurt by the successful effort of labor unions to keep their members in the Democratic column, and by controversial statements from Progressives supporting `` appeasement with Russia. '' Wallace himself attacked Winston Churchill as a `` racist '' and `` imperialist '', and Senator Taylor earned criticism for a speech in which he claimed that the `` Nazis are running the US government. So why should Russia make peace with them ? If I were a Russian... I would not agree to anything... we are aggressively preparing for war. '' The Wallace - Taylor ticket finished in fourth place in the election, winning 1,157,328 votes ( 2.4 % ). This was slightly less than the States ' Rights Party, but the Progressive Party received no electoral votes. States ' rights Democratic Party nomination States ' Rights Democratic Party Ticket, 1948 Strom Thurmond Fielding L. Wright for President for Vice President 103rd Governor of South Carolina ( 1947 -- 1951 ) 49th & 50th Governor of Mississippi ( 1946 -- 1952 ) Campaign In some southern states Strom Thurmond had managed to obtain the Democratic Party line, but in the majority he had to run under the label of the States ' Rights Democratic Party. Only in those states in which he ran under the standard Democratic Party label did he win, his best performance as a third - party candidate being a far second in Georgia. Southern Democrats had become increasingly disturbed over President Truman 's support of civil rights, particularly following his executive order racially integrating the U.S. armed forces and a civil rights message he sent to Congress in February 1948. At the Southern Governor 's Conference in Wakulla Springs, Florida, on February 6, Mississippi Governor Fielding Wright proposed the formation of a new third party to protect racial segregation in the South. On May 10, 1948, the governors of the eleven states of the former Confederacy, along with other high - ranking Southern officials, met in Jackson, Mississippi, to discuss their concerns about the growing civil rights movement within the Democratic Party. At the meeting, South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond criticized President Truman for his civil rights agenda, and the governors discussed ways to oppose it. The Southern Democrats who had walked out of the Democratic National Convention to protest the civil rights platform approved by the convention, and supported by Truman, promptly met at Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama, on July 17, 1948, and formed yet another political party, which they named the States ' Rights Democratic Party. More commonly known as the `` Dixiecrats '', the party 's main goal was continuing the policy of racial segregation in the South and the Jim Crow laws that sustained it. Governor Thurmond, who had led the walkout, became the party 's presidential nominee after the convention 's initial favorite, Arkansas Governor Benjamin Laney, withdrew his name from consideration. Governor Wright of Mississippi received the vice-presidential nomination. The Dixiecrats had no chance of winning the election themselves, since they could not get on the ballot in enough states to win the necessary electoral votes. Their strategy was to take enough Southern states from Truman to force the election into the United States House of Representatives under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment, where they could then extract concessions from either Truman or Dewey on racial issues in exchange for their support. Even if Dewey won the election outright, the Dixiecrats hoped that their defection would show that the Democratic Party needed Southern support in order to win national elections, and that this fact would weaken the pro-civil rights movement among Northern and Western Democrats. The Dixiecrats were weakened, however, when most Southern Democratic leaders ( such as Governor Herman Talmadge of Georgia and `` Boss '' E.H. Crump from Tennessee ) refused to support the party. Despite being an incumbent president, Truman was not placed on the ballot in Alabama. In the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina, the party was able to be labeled as the main Democratic Party ticket on the local ballots on election night. Outside of these four states, however, it was only listed as a third - party ticket. General election Fall campaign Dewey during a campaign tour in New York `` I 'm Just Wild About Harry '' Instrumental version of `` I 'm Just Wild About Harry '', used as a campaign song by the Truman campaign. Duration 3 : 54. Problems playing this file ? See media help. Given Truman 's sinking popularity and the seemingly fatal three - way split in the Democratic Party, Dewey appeared unbeatable. Top Republicans believed that all their candidate had to do to win was to avoid major mistakes ; in keeping with this advice, Dewey carefully avoided risks. He spoke in platitudes, avoided controversial issues, and was vague on what he planned to do as president. Speech after speech was filled with non-political, optimistic assertions of the obvious, including the now infamous quote `` You know that your future is still ahead of you. '' An editorial in The ( Louisville ) Courier - Journal summed it up as such : `` No presidential candidate in the future will be so inept that four of his major speeches can be boiled down to these historic four sentences : Agriculture is important. Our rivers are full of fish. You can not have freedom without liberty. Our future lies ahead. '' One writer noted that the `` one broad issue that Dewey set forth in the campaign was unity... but ( he ) was oversold on an issue which had no visceral appeal to the average American. It was hard to understand what Dewey was driving at. Sometimes it seemed that he was asking Americans to achieve unity by being united behind him. '' Truman 's campaign strategist, Clark Clifford, later said that Truman 's campaign was `` pitched to four distinct interest groups - labor, the farmer, the Negro, and the consumer. Every move had these four interest groups in mind. '' Since he was trailing in the polls, Truman decided to adopt a slashing, no - holds - barred campaign. He ridiculed Dewey by name, criticized Dewey 's refusal to address specific issues, and scornfully targeted the Republican - controlled 80th Congress with a wave of relentless and blistering partisan assaults. Truman claimed that `` the Communists are rooting for a GOP victory because they know it would bring on another Great Depression. '' In several speeches, Truman stated that `` GOP '' actually stood for `` gluttons of privilege '', and said that Republicans were `` princes of privilege '' and `` bloodsuckers with offices on Wall Street. '' He told one audience that `` The Republicans have begun to nail the American consumer to the wall with spikes of greed. '' At the National Plowing Contest in Dexter, Iowa, Truman told 80,000 farmers in attendance that `` this Republican Congress has already stuck a pitchfork in the farmer 's back. '' He nicknamed the Republican - controlled Congress as the `` worst '', `` do - nothing '' Congress, a remark which brought strong criticism from Republican Congressional leaders ( such as Taft ), but no comment from Dewey. In fact, Dewey rarely mentioned Truman 's name during the campaign, which fit into his strategy of appearing to be above petty partisan politics. Under Dewey 's leadership, the Republicans had enacted a platform at their 1948 convention that called for expanding Social Security, more funding for public housing, civil rights legislation, and promotion of health and education by the federal government. These positions were, however, unacceptable to the conservative Congressional Republican leadership. Truman exploited this rift in the opposing party by calling a special session of Congress on `` Turnip Day '' ( referring to an old piece of Missouri folklore about planting turnips in late July ) and daring the Republican Congressional leadership to pass its own platform. The 80th Congress played into Truman 's hands, delivering very little in the way of substantive legislation during this time. Truman simply ignored the fact that Dewey 's policies were considerably more liberal than most of his fellow Republicans, and instead he concentrated his fire against what he characterized as the conservative, obstructionist tendencies of the unpopular 80th Congress. Clifford K. Berryman 's editorial cartoon of Oct. 19, 1948, shows the consensus of experts in mid-October Truman toured much of the nation with his fiery rhetoric, playing to large, enthusiastic crowds. `` Give ' em hell, Harry '' was a popular slogan shouted out at stop after stop along the tour. The polls and the pundits, however, all held that Dewey 's lead was insurmountable and that Truman 's efforts were for naught. Indeed, Truman 's own staff considered the campaign a last hurrah. Even Truman 's own wife, Bess, had private doubts that her husband could win. The only person who appears to have considered Truman 's campaign to be winnable was the president himself, who confidently predicted victory to anyone who would listen to him. Near the end of the campaign, Truman privately wrote a state - by - state electoral vote prediction and gave it to his aide, George Elsey. Truman believed that he would win the election with 340 electoral votes, to 108 for Dewey, 42 for Thurmond, and 37 marked doubtful ( he accidentally left out four electoral votes ). In the final weeks of the campaign, American movie theaters agreed to play two short newsreel - like campaign films in support of the two major - party candidates ; both had been created by its respective campaign organization. The Dewey film, shot professionally on an impressive budget, featured very high production values but somehow reinforced an image of the New York governor as cautious and distant. The Truman film, hastily assembled on virtually no budget by the perpetually cash - short Truman campaign, relied heavily on public - domain and newsreel footage of the president taking part in major world events and signing important legislation. Perhaps unintentionally, the Truman film visually reinforced an image of him as engaged and decisive. Years later, historian David McCullough cited the expensive but lackluster Dewey film and the far cheaper but more effective Truman film, as important factors in determining the preferences of undecided voters. As the campaign drew to a close, the polls showed Truman was gaining. Though Truman lost all nine of the Gallup Poll 's post-convention surveys, Dewey 's Gallup lead dropped from 17 points in late September to 9 points in mid-October to just 5 points by the end of the month, just above the poll 's margin of error. Although Truman was gaining momentum, most political analysts were reluctant to break with the conventional wisdom and say that a Truman victory was a serious possibility. On September 9, nearly two months before election day, pollster Elmo Roper announced, `` Thomas E. Dewey is almost as good as elected... I can think of nothing duller or more intellectually barren than acting like a sports announcer who feels he must pretend he is witnessing a neck - and - neck race. '' Roper stopped polling voters until the final week before the election, when he took another poll. It showed `` a slight shift to Truman ; it still gave Dewey a heavy lead, however, so he decided not to hedge his bet. '' One poll showing strong Truman support in the rural Midwest was sponsored by the Staley Milling Company. They `` polled farmers by giving them a choice of a donkey or an elephant on chicken feed sacks. When the results among 20,000 farmers showed up as fifty - four percent to forty - six percent for the donkey, the poll was abandoned. '' When Dewey considered adopting a more aggressive stance after noticing that his crowds were dwindling, Herbert Brownell contacted 90 GOP state committeemen and committeewomen in all 48 states. With one exception, they `` urged ( Dewey ) to press forward on the high road '' his campaign had taken and to continue to ignore Truman 's attacks. The sole exception was Kansas committeeman Harry Darby, who warned Dewey and his managers `` that farmers were in a mutinous mood '' and recommended for Dewey to take a tougher and more aggressive stance. However, given that all the polls still showed Dewey leading, and no other committee member supported Darby, his advice was rejected. In the campaign 's final days, many newspapers, magazines, and political pundits were so confident of Dewey 's impending victory they wrote articles to be printed the morning after the election speculating about the new `` Dewey Presidency. '' Life magazine printed a large photo in its final edition before the election. Entitled `` Our Next President Rides by Ferryboat over San Francisco Bay, '' the photo showed Dewey and his staff riding across the city 's harbor. Newsweek polled fifty experts ; all fifty predicted a Dewey win. Several well - known and influential newspaper columnists, such as Drew Pearson and Joseph Alsop, wrote columns to be printed the morning after the election speculating about Dewey 's possible choices for his cabinet. The day before the election, Pearson wrote that Truman 's election was `` impossible, '' and his column printed the day after the election stated that Pearson had `` surveyed the closely - knit group around Tom Dewey who will take over the White House 86 days from now. '' Walter Winchell reported that gambling odds were 15 to 1 against Truman. More than 500 newspapers, accounting for over 78 % of the nation 's total circulation, endorsed Dewey. Truman picked up 182 endorsements, accounting for just 10 % of America 's newspaper readership, being surpassed by Thurmond, who got the remaining 12 % from many Southern papers. Alistair Cooke, the distinguished writer for the Manchester Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom, published an article on the day of the election entitled `` Harry S. Truman : A Study of a Failure. '' For its television coverage, NBC News constructed a large cardboard model of the White House containing two elephants that would pop out when NBC announced Dewey 's victory ; since Truman 's defeat was considered certain, no donkeys were placed in the White House model. As Truman made his way to his hometown of Independence, Missouri, to await the election returns, some among his inner circle had already accepted other jobs, and not a single reporter traveling on his campaign train thought that he would win. A number of prominent Republicans, anticipating serving in a Dewey Presidency, had already bought homes in Washington. Results Famous photograph of Truman grinning and holding up a copy of the newspaper that erroneously announced his defeat. On election night, Dewey, his family, and campaign staff confidently gathered in the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City to await the returns. Truman, aided by the Secret Service, sneaked away from reporters covering him in Kansas City and rode to nearby Excelsior Springs, Missouri. There, he took a room in the historic Elms Hotel, had dinner and a Turkish bath, and went to sleep. As the votes came in, Truman took an early lead that he never lost. The leading radio commentators, such as H.V. Kaltenborn of NBC, still confidently predicted that once the `` late returns '' came in Dewey would overcome Truman 's lead and win. At midnight, Truman awoke and turned on the radio in his room ; he heard Kaltenborn announce that while Truman was still ahead in the popular vote, he could not possibly win. At 4 a.m., Truman awoke again and heard on the radio that his popular - vote lead was now nearly two million votes, and that he was well ahead in the electoral vote. He told the Secret Service agents guarding him to drive him back to Kansas City, `` because it looks as if we 're in for another four years. '' For the rest of his life, Truman would gleefully mimic Kaltenborn 's pedantic voice predicting his defeat throughout that election night. Dewey, meanwhile, realized that he was in trouble when early returns from New England and New York showed him running well behind his expected vote total. He stayed up for the rest of the night and early morning analyzing the votes as they came in. By 10 : 30 a.m., he was convinced that he had lost ; at 11 : 14 a.m., he sent a gracious telegram of concession to Truman. The Chicago Daily Tribune, a pro-Republican newspaper, was so sure of Dewey 's victory that on Tuesday afternoon, before any polls closed, it printed `` DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN '' as its headline for the following day. Part of the reason Truman 's victory came as such a shock was because of as - yet uncorrected flaws in the emerging craft of public opinion polling. According to historian William Manchester, `` many professional pollsters... believed in what some had come to call Farley 's Law. '' James Farley, President Franklin Roosevelt 's successful campaign manager in 1932 and 1936, had stated that, in his opinion, the great majority of voters decided which candidate to support during the political conventions. The fall campaigns, Farley believed, were simply `` ineffective carnivals '' that swayed few voters. In 1948 many pollsters, relying on Farley 's Law, believed that the election was effectively over after the Republican and Democratic Conventions, and they discounted the impact of Truman 's campaigning that fall. Manchester noted that `` Gallup 's September 24 report foresaw 46.5 % for Dewey to 38 % for Truman. His last column, appearing in the Sunday papers two days before the election, showed Truman gaining sharply -- to 44 percent -- and the interviews on which it was based had been conducted two weeks earlier. The national mood was shifting daily, almost hourly. '' After the election, a study by the University of Michigan revealed that `` 14 % of Truman 's voters, or 3,374,800, had decided to vote for him in the last fortnight of the campaign. '' Gallup and Roper also did an analysis of the votes, they `` learned that one voter in every seven ( 6,927,000 ), made up his mind in the last two weeks before the election. Of these, 75 percent picked Truman '', which was more than his margin of victory over Dewey. `` Using either the Michigan figures or Gallup - Roper 's, one finds that some 3,300,000 fence - sitters determined the outcome of the race in its closing days -- when Dewey 's instincts were urging him to adopt Truman 's hell - for - leather style and slug it out with him, and when he did n't because all the experts told him he should n't. '' After 1948, pollsters would constantly survey voters through election day. The key states in the 1948 election were Ohio, California, and Illinois. Truman narrowly won all three states by a margin of less than one percentage point apiece. These three states had a combined total of 78 electoral votes. Had Dewey carried all three states, he would have won the election in the Electoral College, even if not winning the popular vote. Had Dewey won only two ( any two ) of the three states, Truman would have had the most electoral votes but the Dixiecrats would have succeeded in their goal of forcing the election into the House of Representatives. The extreme closeness of the vote in these three states was the major reason why Dewey waited until late on the morning of November 3 to concede. A similarly narrow margin garnered Idaho and Nevada 's electoral votes for Truman. Dewey countered by almost as narrowly carrying New York and Pennsylvania, the states with the most electoral votes at the time, as well as his native state of Michigan, but this was too little to give him the election. Dewey would always believe that he lost the election because he lost the rural vote in the Midwest, which he had won in 1944 ( the Kaltenborn predictions that Truman would joyously mock had, in fact, taken for granted that the `` country vote '' would go to Dewey ). Journalist Sidney Lubell found in his post-1948 survey of voters that Truman, not Dewey, seemed the safer, more conservative candidate to the `` new middle class '' that had developed over the previous 20 years. He wrote that `` to an appreciable part of the electorate, the Democrats had replaced the Republicans as the party of prosperity '' during and after the war. Lubell quoted a man who, when asked why he did not vote Republican after moving to the suburbs, answered `` I own a nice home, have a new car and am much better off than my parents were. I 've been a Democrat all my life. Why should I change ? '' Dewey 's promise of a `` great house cleaning '' in Washington worried an Iowa minister who wanted to retain farm subsidies for parishioners. Worried about the consequences of another depression, he voted Democratic for the first time in his church 's history. Truman received a record number of Catholic votes, exceeding even the Catholic support of Al Smith in 1928, in part because Wallace drew leftists away from the Democrats. Another reason for Dewey 's surprise defeat was his complacent, distant approach to the campaign, and his failure to respond to Truman 's attacks. Journalist Jules Abels wrote that `` the election was not thrown away by indifference or lack of effort. Preparation and more preparation had always been the distinguishing characteristic of Dewey and his team throughout his career... The truth is that Dewey 's campaign was the result not of careless, but too careful and painstaking, calculation. The Dewey campaign was frozen into inertia not because it had been underthought, but because it had been overthought. '' Other possible factors for Truman 's victory included his aggressive, populist campaign style ; broad public approval of Truman 's foreign policy, notably the Berlin Airlift of that year ; and widespread dissatisfaction with the institution Truman labeled as the `` do - nothing, good - for - nothing 80th Republican Congress. '' In addition, after suffering a relatively severe recession in 1946 and 1947 ( in which real GDP dropped by 12 % and inflation went over 15 % ), the economy began recovering throughout 1948, thus possibly motivating many voters to give Truman credit for the economic recovery. The year 1948 was a banner year for the Democrats, as they not only retained the presidency but also recaptured both houses of Congress. It was also an unprecedented fifth consecutive presidential victory for the party. Since 1948, the Democrats have not managed to win more than two consecutive presidential elections, while the Republicans have managed to win three consecutive elections only once. The two third parties did not hurt Truman nearly as much as expected. Thurmond 's Dixiecrats carried only four Southern states, a lower total than predicted. The civil rights platform helped Truman win large majorities among black voters in the populous Northern and Midwestern states and may well have made the difference for Truman in states such as Illinois and Ohio. Wallace 's Progressives received only 2.4 % of the national popular vote, well below their expected vote total and slightly less than the Dixiecrats, and Wallace did not take as many liberal votes from Truman as many political pundits had predicted. Some analysts, including author Zachary Karabell, have even argued that the separate candidacies of Wallace and Thurmond were beneficial to Truman by removing the separate taints of communism and racism from the Democratic Party. Thurmond 's 2.4 % is the lowest popular vote percentage for a candidate who won all of a state 's electoral votes. The 1948 Presidential election contrasted with other elections across the world during this period, for Truman was a war leader who managed to win re-election ( Churchill and de Gaulle both left office shortly after the end of the war ). Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral vote Running mate Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote Harry S. Truman ( Incumbent ) Democratic Missouri 24,179,347 49.55 % 303 Alben W. Barkley Kentucky 303 Thomas E. Dewey Republican New York 21,991,292 45.07 % 189 Earl Warren California 189 Strom Thurmond States ' Rights Democratic South Carolina 1,175,930 2.41 % 39 Fielding L. Wright Mississippi 39 Henry A. Wallace Progressive / American Labor Iowa 1,157,328 2.37 % 0 Glen H. Taylor Idaho 0 Norman Thomas Socialist New York 139,569 0.29 % 0 Tucker P. Smith Michigan 0 Claude A. Watson Prohibition California 103,708 0.21 % 0 Dale Learn Pennsylvania 0 Edward A. Teichert Socialist Labor Pennsylvania 29,244 0.06 % 0 Stephen Emery New York 0 Farrell Dobbs Socialist Workers Minnesota 13,613 0.03 % 0 Grace Carlson Minnesota 0 Other 3,504 0.01 % -- Other -- Total 48,793,535 100 % 531 531 Needed to win 266 266 Source ( Popular Vote ) : Leip, David. `` 1948 Presidential Election Results ''. Dave Leip 's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved August 1, 2005. Source ( Electoral Vote ) : `` Electoral College Box Scores 1789 -- 1996 ''. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved August 1, 2005. Popular vote Truman 49.55 % Dewey 45.07 % Thurmond 2.41 % Wallace 2.37 % Others 0.60 % Electoral vote Truman 57.06 % Dewey 35.59 % Thurmond 7.34 % Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate 's percentage of the vote Results by state States won by Truman / Barkley States won by Dewey / Warren States won by Thurmond / Wright Harry S. Truman Democratic Thomas E. Dewey Republican J. Strom Thurmond Dixiecrat Henry Wallace Progressive Norman Thomas Socialist Other Margin State Total State electoral votes # % electoral votes # % electoral votes # % electoral votes # % electoral votes # % electoral votes # % electoral votes # % # Alabama 11 - - - 40,930 19.04 - 171,443 79.75 11 1,522 0.71 - - - - 1,085 0.50 - - 130,513 - 60.71 214,980 AL Arizona 95,251 53.79 77,597 43.82 - - - - 3,310 1.87 - - - - 907 0.51 - 17,654 9.97 177,065 AZ Arkansas 9 149,659 61.72 9 50,959 21.02 - 40,068 16.52 - 751 0.31 - 1,037 0.43 - 0.00 - 98,700 40.71 242,475 AR California 25 1,913,134 47.57 25 1,895,269 47.13 - 1,228 0.03 - 190,381 4.73 - 3,459 0.09 - 18,067 0.45 - 17,865 0.44 4,021,538 CA Colorado 6 267,288 51.88 6 239,714 46.52 - - - - 6,115 1.19 - 1,678 0.33 - 442 0.09 - 27,574 5.35 515,237 CO Connecticut 8 423,297 47.91 - 437,754 49.55 8 - - - 13,713 1.55 - 6,964 0.79 - 1,790 0.20 - - 14,457 - 1.64 883,518 CT Delaware 67,813 48.76 - 69,588 50.04 - - - 1,050 0.75 - 250 0.18 - 372 0.27 - - 1,775 - 1.28 139,073 DE Florida 8 281,988 48.82 8 194,280 33.63 - 89,755 15.54 - 11,620 2.01 - - - - - - - 87,708 15.18 577,643 FL Georgia 12 254,646 60.81 12 76,691 18.31 - 85,055 20.31 - 1,636 0.39 - 0.00 - 733 0.18 - 169,591 40.50 418,764 GA Idaho 107,370 49.98 101,514 47.26 - - - - 4,972 2.31 - 332 0.15 - 628 0.29 - 5,856 2.73 214,816 ID Illinois 28 1,994,715 50.07 28 1,961,103 49.22 - - - - - - - 11,522 0.29 - 16,706 0.42 - 33,612 0.84 3,984,046 IL Indiana 13 807,833 48.78 - 821,079 49.58 13 - - - 9,649 0.58 - 2,179 0.13 - 15,474 0.93 - - 13,246 - 0.80 1,656,214 IN Iowa 10 522,380 50.31 10 494,018 47.58 - - - - 12,125 1.17 - 1,829 0.18 - 7,912 0.76 - 28,362 2.73 1,038,264 IA Kansas 8 351,902 44.61 - 423,039 53.63 8 - - - 4,603 0.58 - 2,807 0.36 - 6,468 0.82 - - 71,137 - 9.02 788,819 KS Kentucky 11 466,756 56.74 11 341,210 41.48 - 10,411 1.27 - 1,567 0.19 - 1,284 0.16 - 1,430 0.17 - 125,546 15.26 822,658 KY Louisiana 10 136,344 32.75 - 72,657 17.45 - 204,290 49.07 10 3,035 0.73 - - - - 10 0.00 - - 67,946 - 16.32 416,336 LA Maine 5 111,916 42.27 - 150,234 56.74 5 - - - 1,884 0.71 - 547 0.21 - 206 0.08 - - 38,318 - 14.47 264,787 ME Maryland 8 286,521 48.01 - 294,814 49.40 8 2,476 0.41 - 9,983 1.67 - 2,941 0.49 - - - - - 8,293 - 1.39 596,735 MD Massachusetts 16 1,151,788 54.66 16 909,370 43.16 - - - - 38,157 1.81 - - - - 7,831 0.37 - 242,418 11.50 2,107,146 MA Michigan 19 1,003,448 47.57 - 1,038,595 49.23 19 - - - 46,515 2.20 - 6,063 0.29 - 14,988 0.71 - - 35,147 - 1.67 2,109,609 MI Minnesota 11 692,966 57.16 11 483,617 39.89 - - - - 27,866 2.30 - 4,646 0.38 - 3,131 0.26 - 209,349 17.27 1,212,226 MN Mississippi 9 19,384 10.09 - 5,043 2.62 - 167,538 87.17 9 225 0.12 - - - - - - - - 148,154 - 77.09 192,190 MS Missouri 15 917,315 58.11 15 655,039 41.49 - 42 0.00 - 3,998 0.25 - 2,222 0.14 - 12 0.00 - 262,276 16.61 1,578,628 MO Montana 119,071 53.09 96,770 43.15 - - - - 7,313 3.26 - 695 0.31 - 429 0.19 - 22,301 9.94 224,278 MT Nebraska 6 224,165 45.85 - 264,774 54.15 6 - - - - - - - - - 0.00 - - 40,609 - 8.31 488,940 NE Nevada 31,291 50.37 29,357 47.26 - - - - 1,469 2.36 - - - - - - - 1,934 3.11 62,117 NV New Hampshire 107,995 46.66 - 121,299 52.41 7 0.00 - 1,970 0.85 - 86 0.04 - 83 0.04 - - 13,304 - 5.75 231,440 NH New Jersey 16 895,455 45.93 - 981,124 50.33 16 - - - 42,683 2.19 - 10,521 0.54 - 19,772 1.01 - - 85,669 - 4.39 1,949,555 NJ New Mexico 105,464 56.38 80,303 42.93 - - - - 1,037 0.55 - 83 0.04 - 176 0.09 - 25,161 13.45 187,063 NM New York 47 2,780,204 45.01 - 2,841,163 45.99 47 - - - 509,559 8.25 - 40,879 0.66 - 5,532 0.09 - - 60,959 - 0.99 6,177,337 NY North Carolina 14 459,070 58.02 14 258,572 32.68 - 69,652 8.80 - 3,915 0.49 - - - - - - - 200,498 25.34 791,209 NC North Dakota 95,812 43.41 - 115,139 52.17 374 0.17 - 8,391 3.80 - 1,000 0.45 - - - - - 19,327 - 8.76 220,716 ND Ohio 25 1,452,791 49.48 25 1,445,684 49.24 - - - - 37,596 1.28 - - - - - - - 7,107 0.24 2,936,071 OH Oklahoma 10 452,782 62.75 10 268,817 37.25 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 183,965 25.49 721,599 OK Oregon 6 243,147 46.40 - 260,904 49.78 6 - - - 14,978 2.86 - 5,051 0.96 - - - - - 17,757 - 3.39 524,080 OR Pennsylvania 35 1,752,426 46.92 - 1,902,197 50.93 35 - - - 55,161 1.48 - 11,325 0.30 - 14,039 0.38 - - 149,771 - 4.01 3,735,148 PA Rhode Island 188,736 57.59 135,787 41.44 - - - - 2,619 0.80 - 429 0.13 - 131 0.04 - 52,949 16.16 327,702 RI South Carolina 8 34,423 24.14 - 5,386 3.78 - 102,607 71.97 8 154 0.11 - 0.00 - - - - - 68,184 - 47.82 142,571 SC South Dakota 117,653 47.04 - 129,651 51.84 - - - 2,801 1.12 - - - - - - - - 11,998 - 4.80 250,105 SD Tennessee 12 270,402 49.14 11 202,914 36.87 - 73,815 13.41 1,864 0.34 - 1,288 0.23 - - - - 67,488 12.26 550,283 TN Texas 23 824,235 65.96 23 303,467 24.29 - 113,776 9.11 - 3,920 0.31 - 919 0.07 - 3,260 0.26 - 520,768 41.68 1,249,577 TX Utah 149,151 53.98 124,402 45.02 - - - - 2,679 0.97 - - - - 73 0.03 - 24,749 8.96 276,305 UT Vermont 45,557 36.92 - 75,926 61.54 - - - 1,279 1.04 - 585 0.47 - 35 0.03 - - 30,369 - 24.61 123,382 VT Virginia 11 200,786 47.89 11 172,070 41.04 - 43,393 10.35 - 2,047 0.49 - 726 0.17 - 234 0.06 - 28,716 6.85 419,256 VA Washington 8 476,165 52.61 8 386,315 42.68 - - - - 31,692 3.50 - 3,534 0.39 - 7,353 0.81 - 89,850 9.93 905,059 WA West Virginia 8 429,188 57.32 8 316,251 42.24 - - - - 3,311 0.44 - - - - - - - 112,937 15.08 748,750 WV Wisconsin 12 647,310 50.70 12 590,959 46.28 - - - - 25,282 1.98 - 12,547 0.98 - 702 0.05 - 56,351 4.41 1,276,800 WI Wyoming 52,354 51.62 47,947 47.27 - - - - 931 0.92 - 137 0.14 - 56 0.06 - 4,407 4.35 101,425 WY TOTALS : 531 24,179,347 49.55 303 21,991,292 45.07 189 1,175,930 2.41 39 1,157,328 2.37 - 139,569 0.29 - 150,069 0.31 - 2,188,055 4.48 48,793,535 US Close states Margin of victory less than 1 % ( 138 electoral votes ) : Ohio, 0.24 % California, 0.44 % Indiana, 0.80 % Illinois, 0.84 % ( tipping point state ) New York, 0.99 % Margin of victory less than 5 % ( 131 electoral votes ) : Delaware, 1.28 % Maryland, 1.39 % Connecticut, 1.64 % Michigan, 1.67 % Iowa, 2.73 % Idaho, 2.73 % Nevada, 3.11 % Oregon, 3.39 % Pennsylvania, 4.01 % Wyoming, 4.35 % New Jersey, 4.39 % Wisconsin, 4.41 % South Dakota, 4.80 % Margin of victory between 5 % and 10 % ( 59 electoral votes ) : Colorado, 5.35 % New Hampshire, 5.75 % Virginia, 6.85 % Nebraska, 8.31 % North Dakota, 8.76 % Utah, 8.96 % Kansas, 9.02 % Washington, 9.93 % Montana, 9.94 % Arizona, 9.97 % Miscellaneous The 1948 election marked only the second time in American presidential election history that the winning candidate won despite losing both Pennsylvania and New York ( the first time being in 1916 ; later such elections included 1968, 2000, and 2004. Truman became the first Democrat ever to be elected president without carrying Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, or South Carolina ( the Dixiecrats ' states ). Truman was also the last Democratic presidential candidate to win without carrying Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, or Delaware, and the 1948 election marked the last time that the Northeast acted as the `` banner region '' of the Republican Party. In fact, 1948 is the only presidential election since the founding of the Republican Party where a Democrat won without Maryland. 1948 also remains the last time a Democratic candidate won Arizona by a majority of the state 's popular vote, although Bill Clinton carried the state by a plurality in 1996. This remains the last time the Democratic Party has won Maricopa and Yavapai Counties in Arizona, Davis and Uintah Counties in neighbouring Utah, Benton and Sebastian Counties in Arkansas, Seminole and Highlands Counties in Florida or Hamilton County, Tennessee. This was the last time that the Democrats won Arizona until 1996, the last time the Democrats won California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming until 1964, and the last time the Democrats won Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Texas until 1960. The four states won by Thurmond also meant that this election was also the last time that the Democrats failed to win South Carolina until 1964, when it voted Republican, the last time they failed to win Alabama and Mississippi until 1960, when they voted for unpledged electors, and the last time they failed to win Louisiana until it voted Republican in 1956. As of 2017, this remains the last election in which Illinois and New Jersey have not voted for the same candidate -- and the only one since 1888. See also Party conventions : 1948 Republican National Convention ( Philadelphia : June 21 -- 25, 1948 ) 1948 Democratic National Convention ( Philadelphia : July 12 -- 14, 1948 ) Dixiecrat ( Birmingham : July 17, 1948 ) 1948 Progressive National Convention ( Philadelphia : July 23 -- 25, 1948 ) History of the United States ( 1945 -- 1964 ) Truman Balcony United States House of Representatives elections, 1948 United States Senate elections, 1948 Second inauguration of Harry S. Truman United States presidential election, 2016 - The next major political upset Notes ^ Jump up to : In New York, the Truman vote was a fusion of the Democratic and Liberal slates. There, Truman obtained 2,557,642 votes on the Democratic ticket and 222,562 votes on the Liberal ticket. ^ Jump up to : In Mississippi, the Dewey vote was a fusion of the Republican and Independent Republican slates. There, Dewey obtained 2,595 votes on the Republican ticket and 2,448 votes on the Independent Republican ticket. Jump up ^ Hamilton County did give a plurality to George Wallace in 1968 References Jump up ^ `` Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections ''. The American Presidency Project. UC Santa Barbara. Jump up ^ American Experience. `` General Article : Presidential Politics ''. pbs.org. Jump up ^ Susan Rosegrant ( April 18, 2012 ). University of Michigan, ed. `` ISR and the Truman / Dewey upset ''. isr.umich.edu. Archived from the original on April 2, 2013. Jump up ^ Ben Cosgrove ( October 21, 2012 ). `` BEHIND THE PICTURE : ' DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN ' ''. TIME Magazine. Jump up ^ DiSalvo, Daniel ( 2010 ). `` The Politics of a Party Faction : The Liberal - Labor Alliance in the Democratic Party, 1948 -- 1972 ''. Journal of Policy History. 22 ( 3 ) : 269 -- 299. doi : 10.1017 / S0898030610000114. Jump up ^ Paul Kleppner et al. The Evolution of American Electoral Systems ( 1981 ) pp 203 - 42 Jump up ^ James T. Patterson ( 1972 ). Mr. Republican : a biography of Robert A. Taft. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 399 -- 408. Jump up ^ Howard B. Schonberger, `` The General and the Presidency : Douglas MacArthur and the Election of 1948, '' Wisconsin Magazine of History, ( Spring 1974 ) 57 # 3 pp. 201 -- 219 Jump up ^ Alec Kirby, `` ' A Major Contender ' : Harold Stassen and the Politics of American Presidential Nominations, '' Minnesota History, ( Dec 1996 ) 55 # 4 pp 150 - 165 Jump up ^ ( Smith, pp. 488 - 489 ) Jump up ^ ( Smith, p. 489 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 57 ) Jump up ^ ( Smith, pp. 492 - 493 ) ^ Jump up to : ( Smith, p. 493 ) Jump up ^ ( Smith, pp. 492 - 494 ) Jump up ^ ( Smith, p. 494 ) Jump up ^ Tom Swafford, `` The Last Real Presidential Debate, '' American Heritage, Feb / Mar 1986, Vol. 37 Issue 2, pp. 66 -- 71 Jump up ^ ( Patterson, p. 411 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, pp. 63 - 64 ) ^ Jump up to : ( Patterson, p. 410 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, pp. 64 - 65 ) ^ Jump up to : ( Abels, p. 65 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, pp. 66 - 67 ) Jump up ^ ( Halleck, p. 68 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 71 ) Jump up ^ Robert A. Garson, `` The Alienation of the South : A Crisis for Harry S. Truman and the Democratic Party, 1945 - 1948, '' Missouri Historical Review, ( July 1970 ) 64 # 4 pp. 448 -- 471 Jump up ^ `` Truman Wrote of ' 48 Offer to Eisenhower '' The New York Times, July 11, 2003. Jump up ^ Michael R. Gardner ( 2003 ). Harry Truman and Civil Rights : Moral Courage and Political Risks. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 96. Jump up ^ Jon E. Taylor ( 2012 ). Freedom to Serve : Truman, Civil Rights, and Executive Order 9981. Routledge. p. 94. Jump up ^ Max Hall ( July 14, 1948 ). `` State 's Right Plank Defeated ''. Kentucky New Era. p. 8. Jump up ^ Michael R. Gardner ( 2003 ). Harry Truman and Civil Rights : Moral Courage and Political Risks. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 97. Jump up ^ Carl Solberg ( 2003 ). Hubert Humphrey : A Biography. Minnesota Historical Society Press. p. 17. Jump up ^ Michael R. Gardner ( 2003 ). Harry Truman and Civil Rights : Moral Courage and Political Risks. Southern Illinois University Press. pp. 98 -- 99. Jump up ^ ( Ross, pp. 124 - 125 ) Jump up ^ Sitkoff, Harvard ( 1971 ). `` Harry Truman and the Election of 1948 : The Coming of Age of Civil Rights in American Politics ''. Journal of Southern History. 37 ( 4 ) : 597 -- 616. JSTOR 2206548. Jump up ^ ( Ross, p. 129 ) Jump up ^ ( Ross, p. 131 ) Jump up ^ ( Ross, p. 130 ) Jump up ^ ( Ross, p. 162 ) ^ Jump up to : ( Ross, p. 153 ) Jump up ^ ( Ross, p. 163 ) ^ Jump up to : ( Abels, p. 117 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, pp. 116 - 117 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 233 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, pp. 34 - 35 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 118 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, pp. 118 - 119 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 206 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, pp. 206 - 207 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 207 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, pp. 211 - 212 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 212 ) Jump up ^ Mississippi numbers Wright as the 49th governor ( 1946 - 48 ; completing his predecessor 's term ) & the 50th governor ( 1948 - 52 ) ; serving his full term Jump up ^ Jeffrey Smith. Dixiecrat : The Life and Times of Strom Thurmond Jump up ^ Hugh Alvin Bone, American Politics and the Party System, p. 262 ( McGraw - Hill 1955 ). ^ Jump up to : Dixiecrats New Georgia Encyclopedia. Jump up ^ Donaldson, Gary A. ( 1999 ). Truman Defeats Dewey. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 173. ISBN 0 - 8131 - 2075 - 6. Quoting The Courier - Journal, November 18, 1948. Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 191 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 165 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 237 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 194 ) ^ Jump up to : ( Manchester, p. 460 ) Jump up ^ ( Manchester, p. 461 ) Jump up ^ ( Manchester, p. 465 ) ^ Jump up to : ( Manchester, p. 466 ) Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 275 ) ^ Jump up to : ( Manchester, p. 463 ) ^ Jump up to : ( Abels, p. 261 ) Jump up ^ ( Smith, p. 20 ) Jump up ^ ( Manchester, p. 453 ) Jump up ^ ( Ross, p. 241 ) ^ Jump up to : ( Ross, p. 242 ) Jump up ^ ( Manchester, p. 469 ) Jump up ^ ( Ross, p. 240 - 243 ) ^ Jump up to : ( Manchester, p. 471 ) Jump up ^ americanheritage.com Jump up ^ Lubell, Samuel ( 1956 ). The Future of American Politics ( 2nd ed. ). Anchor Press. pp. 62 -- 63,170 -- 172,224 -- 227. Jump up ^ ( Abels, p. 142 ) Jump up ^ `` Evan McMullin Could Set Mark for Weakest National Popular Vote by Candidate to Win a State ''. Jump up ^ www.gov.uk Jump up ^ biographyonline.net Jump up ^ A Tennessee faithless elector voted for Thurmond / Wright Jump up ^ `` 1948 Presidential General Election Data -- National ''. Retrieved April 8, 2013. ^ Jump up to : `` Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 1948 '' ( PDF ). Official website of the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Retrieved April 29, 2008. Jump up ^ Reichley, A. James ( 2000 ). The Life of the Parties. p. 249. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ Sullivan, Robert David ; ' How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century ' ; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review ; June 29, 2016 Further reading Abels, Jules. Out of the Jaws of Victory. New York : Henry Holt and Company ( 1959 ) Bass, Jack ; Thompson, Marilyn W. ( 2005 ). Strom : The Complicated Personal and Political Life of Strom Thurmond. New York : Public Affairs. ISBN 1 - 58648 - 297 - 1. Bowen, Michael ( 2011 ). The Roots of Modern Conservatism : Dewey, Taft, and the Battle for the Soul of the Republican Party. U. of North Carolina Press. Busch, Andrew E. Truman 's Triumphs : The 1948 Election and the Making of Postwar America. Lawrence, KS : University Press of Kansas, 2012. Cohodas, Nadine. Strom Thurmond & the Politics of Southern Change ( 1995 ) Devine, Thomas W. Henry Wallace 's 1948 Presidential Campaign and the Future of Postwar Liberalism Chapel Hill, NC : University of North Carolina Press ; 2013. Divine, Robert A. ( 1972 ). `` The Cold War and the Election of 1948 ''. Journal of American History. 59 ( 1 ) : 90 -- 110. doi : 10.2307 / 1888388. JSTOR 1888388. Donaldson, Gary A. ( 1999 ). Truman Defeats Dewey. Lexington : University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0 - 8131 - 2075 - 6. Frederickson, Kari. The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, 1932 -- 1968 ( 2001 ) Gullan, Harold I. ( 1998 ). The Upset That Was n't : Harry S. Truman and the Crucial Election of 1948. Chicago : Ivan R. Dee. ISBN 1 - 56663 - 206 - 4. External video Booknotes interview with Zachary Karabell on The Last Campaign : How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election, June 4, 2000, C - SPAN Karabell, Zachary ( 2001 ). The Last Campaign : How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election. New York : Knopf. ISBN 0 - 375 - 40086 - 9. Manchester, William. ( 1975 ). The Glory and the Dream : A Narrative History of America, 1932 -- 1972. New York : Bantam Books. Patterson, James T. ( 1972 ). Mr. Republican : a biography of Robert A. Taft. Houghton Mifflin. Pietrusza, David W. ( 2011 ). 1948 : Harry Truman 's Improbable Victory and the Year that Changed America. New York : Union Square Press ( Sterling Publishing ). ISBN 1 - 4027 - 6748 - X. Reinhard, David W. ( 1983 ). The Republican Right since 1945. Lexington : University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0 - 8131 - 1484 - 5. Ross, Irwin. The Loneliest Campaign : The Truman Victory of 1948. New York : New American Library, 1968. Schmidt, Karl M. ( 1960 ). Henry A. Wallace, Quixotic Crusade 1948. Syracuse : Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0 - 8156 - 0020 - 8. Sitkoff, Harvard. `` Harry Truman and the Election of 1948 : The Coming of Age of Civil Rights in American Politics '', Journal of Southern History Vol. 37, No. 4 ( Nov. 1971 ), pp. 597 -- 616. JSTOR 2206548. Smith, Richard Norton ( 1984 ). Thomas E. Dewey and His Times. New York : Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0 - 671 - 41741 - X. Primary sources Gallup, George H. ed. The Gallup Poll, Volume One 1935 -- 1948 ( 1972 ) statistical reports on each poll Mosteller, Frederick ( 1949 ). The Pre-Election Polls of 1948 : Report to the Committee on Analysis of Pre-Election Polls and Forecasts. New York : Social Science Research Council. Neal, Steve ( 2003 ). Miracle of ' 48 : Harry Truman 's Major Campaign Speeches & Selected Whistle - Stops. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0 - 8093 - 2557 - 8. External links United States presidential election of 1948 at Encyclopædia Britannica 1948 popular vote by counties 1948 State - by - state Popular vote How close was the 1948 election ? -- Michael Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Election of 1948 in Counting the Votes State results of the 1948 U.S. presidential election Candidates Harry S. Truman Thomas Dewey Strom Thurmond Full list General articles Election timeline Democratic primaries Republican primaries Republican Convention Democratic Convention Debates Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Other 1948 elections House Senate Gubernatorial ( 1944 ← ) United States presidential election, 1948 ( → 1952 ) Democratic Party Convention Primaries Nominee Harry Truman VP nominee Alben W. Barkley Candidates Harley M. Kilgore Richard Russell Jr. Henry A. Wallace Republican Party Convention Primaries Nominee Thomas Dewey VP nominee Earl Warren Candidates Riley A. Bender Herbert E. Hitchcock Douglas MacArthur Joseph William Martin Jr. Edward Martin Leverett Saltonstall Harold Stassen Arthur H. Vandenberg Robert Taft State 's Rights Democratic Party Nominee Strom Thurmond VP nominee Fielding L. Wright Other third party and independent candidates Prohibition Party Nominee Claude A. Watson VP nominee Dale H. Learn Progressive Party Nominee Henry A. Wallace VP nominee Glen H. Taylor Socialist Party Nominee Norman Thomas VP nominee Tucker P. Smith Socialist Workers Party Nominee Farrell Dobbs VP nominee Grace Carlson Independents and other candidates Gerald L.K. Smith Other 1948 elections : House Senate United States presidential elections Elections by year 1788 -- 89 1792 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1992 2000 2008 2012 2016 2020 Elections by state Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington, D.C. 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Truman 33rd President of the United States ( 1945 -- 1953 ) 34th Vice President of the United States ( 1945 ) U.S. Senator from Missouri ( 1935 -- 1945 ) Presidency 1945 inauguration 1949 inauguration Potsdam Conference Agreement on Europe Declaration to Japan Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Fair Deal Mental Health Act National Institute of Mental Health National School Lunch Act Employment Act of 1946 Council of Economic Advisers Truman Doctrine Marshall Plan Loyalty Order National Security Act of 1947 Joint Chiefs of Staff National Security Council Department of the Air Force Central Intelligence Agency Key West Agreement Joint Long Range Proving Grounds Revolt of the Admirals Committee on Civil Rights Integration of the Armed Forces Housing Act of 1949 North Atlantic Treaty NATO Assassination attempt Korean War U.N. Security Council Resolutions 82, 83 Relief of General MacArthur Office of Defense Mobilization Science Advisory Committee 1952 steel strike Puerto Rican constitutional referendum, 1952 National Security Agency State of the Union Address ( 1946 1950 1952 ) Judicial appointments Supreme Court Cabinet Truman Balcony `` The buck stops here '' Life Early life and career Presidential Library, Museum, and gravesite Missouri Office and Courtroom Truman Committee Democratic vice presidential nomination of 1944 Books Bibliography Homes Birthplace Harry S. Truman Farm Home Harry S. Truman home and National Historic Site Historic District Blair House Truman Little White House Elections United States Senate election in Missouri, 1934 1940 Democratic National Convention 1944 1948 United States presidential election, 1944 1948 `` Dewey Defeats Truman '' campaign song Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1952 Legacy Truman Day Harry S Truman Building Truman Dam and Reservoir Harry S. Truman Scholarship Truman Sports Complex U.S. Postage stamps Related Give ' em Hell, Harry ( 1975 play and film ) Truman ( 1995 film ) Family Bess Wallace Truman ( wife ) Margaret Truman ( daughter ) John Anderson Truman ( father ) Martha Ellen Young Truman ( mother ) Clifton Truman Daniel ( grandson ) ← Franklin D. Roosevelt Dwight D. Eisenhower → Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_presidential_election,_1948&oldid=828114338 '' Categories : History of the United States ( 1945 -- 64 ) Presidency of Harry S. Truman United States presidential election, 1948 November 1948 events Hidden categories : Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from December 2014 Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL Use mdy dates from November 2013 Pages using deprecated image syntax Elections using electoral votes Articles with hAudio microformats All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from July 2014 Pages using bar box without float left or float right Articles with Encyclopædia Britannica links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Español فارسی Français 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Kiswahili Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Simple English Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська 中文 12 more Edit links This page was last edited on 28 February 2018, at 17 : 18. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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Question: who was elected president of the united states in 1948
Answer: Harry S. Truman