1948 U.S. presidential election

The U.S. presidential election held on November 2, 1948, in which Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey.

Harry S. Truman: The 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. The incumbent whose late campaign rallies helped secure an unexpected victory.
Whistlestop train tour: A political campaign tour in which a candidate travels by train and addresses crowds at brief stops. Truman used hundreds of train stops to reach voters directly.
80th United States Congress: The U.S. Congress that met from 1947 to 1949 under Republican control in both chambers. Its clashes with Truman supplied a central issue in his campaign.
Southern strategy: A political strategy of appealing to white Southern voters, especially through opposition to federal civil-rights measures. The 1948 split foreshadowed later shifts in Southern party allegiance.
Thomas E. Dewey: An American politician who served as governor of New York and the Republican presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948. The widely favored Republican nominee whom Truman defeated.
Fair Deal: Harry S. Truman’s domestic policy program, proposing expanded social welfare and civil rights measures. Its proposals gave Truman a policy contrast with the Republican Congress.
Taft–Hartley Act: A 1947 U.S. labor law that restricted union practices and amended the National Labor Relations Act. Truman’s veto and the Republican Congress’s override sharpened labor divisions.
Civil Rights Act of 1957: A federal law that created a Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department and a federal voting-rights commission. Truman’s civil-rights agenda and the 1948 platform formed part of the longer federal debate preceding it.
Strom Thurmond: An American politician who ran for president in 1948 as the States' Rights Democratic Party candidate. His segregationist campaign split Southern Democrats and won four states.
1948 Democratic National Convention: The convention in Philadelphia that nominated Harry S. Truman and adopted a civil-rights platform plank. Its civil-rights plank triggered a Southern walkout and Thurmond’s third-party bid.

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J. Presper EckertRelated: A UNIVAC I broadcast prediction of Truman’s victory made the system famous.