The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election
Author:
Genres: History, Nonfiction
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genres: History, Nonfiction
Book Type: Paperback
This is a book about a presidential campaign. Booooring! Right? Actually, not. The first couple of chapters did start slow, but as the book progressed it became very interesting.
The 1948 campaign was supposedly the last old-fashioned campaign. While TV did play a part, that medium was in its infancy. By 1952, TV began to play a major role in elections, and like TV itself, everything had to be "dumbed down" to be viewed properly. After all, TV is the "chewing gum for the mind" medium. And, as TV reached large audiences, this was basically the last campaign where a candidate could regularly say something to one audience and then tell another audience in the next state something totally different. Their statements would, for the most part, only be covered in local papers.
In addition to Democrat Harry Truman and Republican Thomas Dewey, there was also former vice-president Henry Wallace running as the presidential candidate for the Progressive, or "Third Party," and white supremacist Strom Thurmond as the candidate for the Dixiecrats, not truly a separate party, but a break-away from the Democrats.
There were also seven other 'parties' in the presidential race, which are only very briefly covered in the book. But it was interesting to see one was a Prohibition Party and another, believe it or not, a Vegetarian Party.
Another aspect discussed is the role of polls in this election, and how the companies conducting those polls learned from their mistakes in this election.
And, oh yes, campaign financing is discussed, and things haven't changed all that much. For example, the expenses for Thurmond's campaign tour to one northern state was reported as $341, when it actually cost thousands more. Illegal campaign contributions are nothing new.
Name-calling and hateful accusations were not uncommon in this campaign. For example, the Dixiecrats so hated Truman's proposed civil rights platform they ensured the Truman-Barkley ticket wasn't even listed on the Mississippi ballot. If you wanted to vote for them in that state, you had to write their names in. And Henry Wallace had eggs, vegetables and garbage thrown at him in several southern states. I also learned it was Henry Wallace's vice-presidential running mate who first said, "I am not leaving the Democratic Party, it left me."
If you have an interest in politics, or even just American culture, you will enjoy this book.
The 1948 campaign was supposedly the last old-fashioned campaign. While TV did play a part, that medium was in its infancy. By 1952, TV began to play a major role in elections, and like TV itself, everything had to be "dumbed down" to be viewed properly. After all, TV is the "chewing gum for the mind" medium. And, as TV reached large audiences, this was basically the last campaign where a candidate could regularly say something to one audience and then tell another audience in the next state something totally different. Their statements would, for the most part, only be covered in local papers.
In addition to Democrat Harry Truman and Republican Thomas Dewey, there was also former vice-president Henry Wallace running as the presidential candidate for the Progressive, or "Third Party," and white supremacist Strom Thurmond as the candidate for the Dixiecrats, not truly a separate party, but a break-away from the Democrats.
There were also seven other 'parties' in the presidential race, which are only very briefly covered in the book. But it was interesting to see one was a Prohibition Party and another, believe it or not, a Vegetarian Party.
Another aspect discussed is the role of polls in this election, and how the companies conducting those polls learned from their mistakes in this election.
And, oh yes, campaign financing is discussed, and things haven't changed all that much. For example, the expenses for Thurmond's campaign tour to one northern state was reported as $341, when it actually cost thousands more. Illegal campaign contributions are nothing new.
Name-calling and hateful accusations were not uncommon in this campaign. For example, the Dixiecrats so hated Truman's proposed civil rights platform they ensured the Truman-Barkley ticket wasn't even listed on the Mississippi ballot. If you wanted to vote for them in that state, you had to write their names in. And Henry Wallace had eggs, vegetables and garbage thrown at him in several southern states. I also learned it was Henry Wallace's vice-presidential running mate who first said, "I am not leaving the Democratic Party, it left me."
If you have an interest in politics, or even just American culture, you will enjoy this book.
