For those of you not familiar with the photo above, or my use of it, here is an explanation. If you look closely at the photo I used on the main page, it is a doctored version of the real photo, playing on the assumption by some that big corporations always get their way over the little guy.
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Truman won an upset victory The election of 1948 seemed certain to bring victory to the Republicans. United and confident, they faced a sharply divided Democratic Party. A group of liberal Democrats had already left the party and formed the Progressive Party. Another group, made up of Southern Democrats who opposed a strong civil rights program, organized the Dixiecrat Party. The Republicans nominated Dewey for President, and chose Governor Earl Warren of California as his running mate. Every public opinion poll predicted that Dewey would win a landslide victory. But, with an extraordinary show of fighting spirit, Truman made the experts look ridiculous. He traveled 31,000 miles (49,900 kilometers) by train in a "whistle-stop" campaign and made more than 350 speeches. He attacked what he termed the "do nothing" Republican Congress, calling it "the worst in my memory." Truman received a warm response with his simple language, earthy humor, and pluck. He also shrewdly appealed to the groups that had strongly supported Franklin D. Roosevelt--labor, farmers, liberals, minorities, and many middle-class consumers. In one of the biggest upsets in political history, Truman won 28 states. Dewey won 16 and Thurmond, 4. Truman won with less than 50 percent of the total popular vote. The Chicago Daily Tribune was so confident that Dewey would win, they ran the headline that Truman is displaying in the photo above. |