Dewey formally opens campaign with pledge to unify U.S. 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Sep 20 1948)


Video: 'Republican Campaign for President 1948' (Sept. 20, 1948, at 0:13)

(Saturday, September 18, 1948, scheduled for 8:00 p.m. CDT; during the United States presidential election, 1948 campaign) — Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of New York formally opened his campaign as the Republican nomineee for President tonight in Des Moines, Iowa, with a pledge that his administration, if he is elected, will be devoted to restoring unity to the American people.

Addressing a capacity crowd of 8,000 in the Drake University fieldhouse, Dewey charged by implication that President Harry S. Truman was attempting to set one class against another to pit section against section.