President Harry S. Truman and the 1948 Election

Well before the election, President Truman's General Counsel, Clark Clifford, prepared a 43-page memorandum on the strategy Truman and the Democratic Party should pursue in 1948, assuming the Republican nominee would be Thomas Dewey.

The memorandum acknowledged the fragile peace between the different factions of the Democratic Party, and laid down instructions for the campaign to follow. These included attacking the Republican-controlled Congress and strongly identifying as a liberal.

At the Democratic National Convention, Truman attacked the Republicans, promising to call Congress back into session to pass legislation to curb inflation, build housing, and ensure civil rights - all planks of both the Republican and Democratic Party platforms.

Truman's first campaign stop took place in Detroit, Michigan on Labor Day. He reminded the labor union groups of his veto of the Taft-Hartley Act, legislation that restricted union's bargaining power.

When Truman spoke to crowds out west, such as this one in Denver, Colorado, he spoke about Democratic proposals for land and water usage and conservation, public power, and housing issues.

In between his longer speeches off the train, Truman frequently stopped in small towns along the train route to give short speeches. These speeches usually mentioned some local issue or politician, the "do-nothing" Congress, and an encouragement to go vote.

Truman's wife and daughter also traveled on some of the campaign stops, and would put in an appearance with the President on the back of the train. Truman would always introduce his wife Bess as "The Boss," and his daughter Margaret as "The Boss's Boss." Truman stopped in San Antonio and met with Congressman and Senatorial candidate (and future President) Lyndon B. Johnson.

With less than a month to go in the campaign, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt finally reached out to President Truman to express her support for his candidacy. Privately, Mrs. Roosevelt expressed her lack of enthusiasm for Truman, as she did not feel he was a strong liberal.

Despite Truman's apparent success on the campaign trail, many newspaper and radio editorials and commentators felt that Republican Thomas Dewey was sure to win.

On October 13, as the Presidential train traveled through Minnesota, Truman asked his aide, George Elsey, to take down some numbers. Truman calculated, in terms of Electoral College votes, how many the Democrats (White), Republicans (Black), and "Dixiecrats" (Red) would get. Truman still counted on winning.

President Truman returned home to Independence to vote on November 2, 1948. Truman woke up at his usual early hour, went for a walk, then walked down the street from his home to his polling place.

After arriving at the hotel, Truman took a Turkish bath, had a ham sandwich and a glass of milk for dinner, listened to some of the election returns, and then went to bed.

A couple of times during the night, his Secret Servicemen woke him up to let him know more of the returns. When it became clear that President Truman won, they woke him up and drove him back to the Muehlebach Hotel, election headquarters in Kansas City.

Later that night, on November 3, Truman spoke on the steps of the Courthouse in Independence. He said, "I can't tell you how very much I appreciate this turnout to celebrate a victory--not my victory, but a victory of the
Democratic Party for the people."

Crowds gathered in front of the White House to see and greet the Truman family upon their arrival in Washington, D.C.

President Truman and the Truman family rode from Union Station to the White House in a motorcade with Vice President-Elect Alben Barkley.

Truman wrote this note, which he never sent, to pollster Elmo Roper, who tried to explain how the polls got the election results wrong. Truman wrote, "Candidates make election contests, not pole [sic] takers or press comments...".