I found a map of an alternate United States presidential election that inspired me to make the following infobox. I attribute the map to User:Alexandre Leclerc under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. No changes were made to the image.
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The 1948
United States presidential election was the 32nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1948. Democratic Governor Strom Thurmond unseated incumbent Republican President Harold Stassen and defeated former President Henry A. Wallace, who ran under the banner of the Progressive Party.
Wallace served as president from 1937 to 1945 as a Republican, and Stassen succeeded him with his support. However, Stassen's actions as President displeased Wallace, and Wallace challenged Stassenfor the party nomination at the 1948 Republican National Convention. When Stassen and his conservative allies narrowly prevailed, Wallace rallied his progressive supporters and launched a third party bid. At the Democratic Convention, Thurmond won the presidential nomination on the 9th ballot, defeating Senate Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley and several other candidates with the support of James F. Byrnes and other conservative Democrats.
The general election was bitterly contested by Thurmond, Wallace, and Stassen. Wallace's platform called for sought desegregation, the establishment of a national health insurance system, an expansion of the welfare system, and the nationalization of the energy industry. Wallace also called for conciliation with the Räterepublik. Thurmond's platform called for banking reform and free trade. With little chance of victory, Stassen conducted a subdued campaign based on his own platform of "progressive conservatism".
Thurmond took advantage of the Republican split, winning 29 states and a large narrow majoritu of the electoral vote with just 39.6% of the popular vote, the lowest ever support for any President. Thurmond was the first Democrat to win a presidential election since 1916. Wallace finished second with 177 electoral votes and 32.4% of the popular vote. Stassen carried 25.1% of the national vote and won 104 electoral votes.
Republican President Henry A. Wallace had declined to run for re-election in 1944 in fulfillment of a pledge to the American people not to seek a third term. Wallace had tapped Governor of Minnesota Harold Stassen to become his successor, and Stassen defeated James F. Byrnes in the 1944 general election.
During Stassen's administration, a rift developed between Wallace and Stassen, and they became the leaders of the Republican Party's two wings: progressives led by Wallace and conservatives led by Stassen. By 1946, the split within the party was deep, and Wallace and Stassen turned against one another despite their personal friendship. That summer, Wallace began a national speaking tour in which he outlined his progressive philosophy, which he introduced in a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas on August 31. In the 1910 midterm elections, the Republicans lost 38 seats in the House of Representatives as the Democrats gained a majority for the first time since 1918. These results were a large defeat for the conservative wing of the party. Nevertheless, Wallace continued to reject calls to run for president into the year 1911. However, speculation continued, further harming Wallace and Stassen's relationship. After months of continually increasing support, Wallace changed his position, proclaiming in January 1948 that if the nomination "comes to me as a genuine public movement of course I will accept." On March 28, Wallace issued an ultimatum: if Republicans did not nominate him, he would run as an independent.
Stassen had support from the bulk of the Southern Republican organizations. Delegates from the former Confederate states supported Stassen by a 5 to 1 margin. These states had voted solidly Democratic in every presidential election since 1880, and Wallace objected that they were given one-quarter of the delegates when they would contribute nothing to a Republican victory.
The Republican Convention convened in Philadelphia from June 21 to 25. In the weeks leading up to the convention, many delegates remained uncommitted to a candidate, but by the time the convention formally opened, Stassen had won the support of almost every unbound delegate. Wallace accused Stassen of stealing votes and attempted to have delegates from Arizona, California, Texas, and Washington — all states in favor of Stassen— removed from the convention, but he was unsuccessful. The delegates chose Stassen supporter Joseph Martin to serve as chairman of the convention, a move that signaled that Stassen was likely to win the nomination.
Wallace broke with tradition and attended the convention in person, where he was welcomed with great support from voters.
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Despite Wallace's presence in Philadelphia and his attempts to disqualify Stassen supporters, the incumbent ticket of Stassen and Everett Dirksen was renominated on the first ballot. After losing the vote, Wallace announced the formation of a new party dedicated "to the service of all the people." This would later come to be known as the Progressive Party. Wallace announced that his party would hold its own convention in Philadelphia and that he would accept their nomination if offered.
Progressives reconvened in Philadelphia and endorsed the formation of a national
Progressive Party. At their convention from July 23-25, the new party chose Wallace as its presidential nominee and Senator Glen H. Taylor from Idaho as his vice presidential running mate. Most of progressive politicians remained in the Republican Party.
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The Democratic Convention was held in Philadelphia from July 12 to July 14. The delegates nominated Strom Thurmond, the Governor of South Carolina, as their presidential candidate and named Senate Majority Whip Scott Lucas as his running mate.
The 1912 presidential campaign was bitterly contested.
Wallace conducted a vigorous national campaign for the Progressive Party, denouncing the way the Republican nomination had been "stolen". Wallace rallied progressives with speeches denouncing the political establishment
The departure of the progressives left the conservative even more firmly in control of the Republican Party. Much of the Republican effort was designed to discredit Wallace as a dangerous radical and a Räterepublik spy, but this had little effect. Many of the nation's pro-Republican newspapers depicted Wallace as an egotist running only to spoil Stassen's chances and feed his vanity.
On November 2, Thurmond captured the presidency by carrying 287 electoral votes and 25 states.