Video: 'TRUMAN WINS IN UPSET - 1948'
(Tuesday, November 2, 1948; during the United States presidential election, 1948) — Democratic U.S. President Harry S. Truman of Missouri, who had succeeded to the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, won election in his own right today, defeating Republican nominee Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York in one of the greatest election upsets in American history.
Defying predictions of his defeat, Truman and his running mate, Senator Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky, defeated Dewey and his running mate, Governor Earl Warren of California, 49.55-45.07% in the national popular vote, which would result in a 303-189 victory in the Electoral College.
The States’ Rights Democratic ticket of Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Governor Fielding L. Wright Mississippi won 39 electoral votes in the South and got 2.41% of the popular vote.
And the Progressive Party ticket of former Vice President Henry A. Wallace of Iowa and Senator Glen H. Taylor of Idaho finished fourth with zero electoral votes and 2.37% of the popular vote.
Truman and Barkley would be sworn in for four-year terms on January 20, 1949.
Video: 'American Experience Truman 2' (Nov. 2, 1948, at 49:57)
Video: 'Election Returns - November 3, 1948' (recording begins at 11:10 a.m. EST, Nov. 3, 1948)
Video: 'CNN - Race for the White House 4/6 Truman vs. Dewey'
