1948 United States Presidential Election (Stars and Stripes Forever)

The 1948 United States Presidential Election was the 41st Quadrennial Presidential Election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 1948. The Republican ticket of General Douglas MacArthur and Senator Robert Taft defeated incumbent Democratic President Harry Truman, in what is considered one of the greatest political upsets in American history.

Truman had ascended to the presidency in April 1945 after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Defeating attempts to drop him from the ticket, Truman won the presidential nomination at the 1948 Democratic National Convention. The Democratic convention's civil rights plank caused a walk-out by several Southern delegates, who launched a third-party "Dixiecrat" ticket led by Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. 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 MacArthur or Truman in exchange for their support. Truman also faced a challenge from his party in the form of former Vice President Henry A. Wallace, who launched the Progressive Party and challenged Truman's confrontational Cold War policies. MacArthur, extremely popular for his win of the Pacific theater of World War II was faced with a fierce battle from Governor Thomas Dewey. However, MacArthur energized his supporters in new ways, and selected Senator Robert A Taft as his running mate.

MacArthur ran a tough campaign, helping to energize Republicans. He also was strongly against the New Deal, but chose to limit his negative talk of it. Truman also ran a hard campaign, but failed to gain enough midwestern support. MacArthur heavily criticized Truman, running a massive campaign under the slogan of "Win With Mac."

Despite the three-way split in the Democratic Party, many official predictions had MacArthur losing hugely, as Truman was Vice President to a popular president. Instead, MacArthur defied all expectations by winning in a landslide victory. Republicans also maintained control of both chambers of Congress. Thus, the election affirmed the status of the Republican Party as America's majority party.