1948 United States Presidential Election (Century of the Common Man)

The 1948 United States Presidential Election was the 41st Quadrennial Presidential Election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 1948. Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey, the Governor of New York, won the election, defeating the Democratic nominee, incumbent President Henry A. Wallace, as well as the Dixiecrats' nominee Governor Benjamin T. Laney in one of the closest elections in American history.

Wallace had ascended to the presidency in April 1945 after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Defeating a fierce campaign from the conservative wing of the party to drop him from the ticket, Wallace managed to narrowly secure the presidential nomination at the 1948 Democratic National Convention. The President's staunch embrace of civil rights caused a walk-out by several Southern delegates, who launched a third-party "Dixiecrat" ticket, headed by Governor Benjamin T. Laney of Arkansas. The Dixiecrats hoped to win enough electoral votes to force a contingent election in the House of Representatives, where they could extract concessions from either Dewey or Wallace in exchange for their support. Dewey, who was the leader of his party's liberal eastern establishment and had been the 1944 Republican presidential nominee, defeated Senator Robert A. Taft and other challengers at the 1948 Republican National Convention. Additionally, this was the first election to feature nationally broadcasted debates, as Dewey famously debated Harold Stassen during the Republican primary.

Governor Dewey was widely considered to be the favorite to win going into the 1948 election cycle, as President Henry A. Wallace's term in office had been mired by controversy, political failure, and low approval ratings. In fact, many political analysts went so far as to predict an electoral landslide in Dewey's favor, reminiscent of Franklin D. Roosevelt's victory 4 years earlier. Despite his shortcomings, President Wallace proved to be a shockingly competent campaigner, playing up his honesty and integrity, his background as a farmer, and portraying himself as an outsider contending with the Republican controlled congress, which he deemed the "do-nothing congress".