In 1948, New York Governor Thomas Dewey easily defeated President Harry Truman in an electoral margin of 307 to 185, with Strom Thurmond gobbling up 39 votes in the South. New York Mayor Wendell Willkie of the Liberal Party and his running mate Henry Wallace took 7.2% of the popular vote by attacking Truman from the left on civil rights and foreign policy, but they garnered 0 electoral votes. Many historians say that there was no way Truman could have won a full term: he had overseen a post-war recession, a painful strike wave, and the three way division of the Democratic vote between himself, Thurmond, and Willkie. On top of that he was a poor speaker who never really emerged from the shadow of his popular predecessor. But are these historians right? Was there any possible way Truman could have won in 1948?
 
OOC: Yes, this is my second attempt at a "Dewey Defeats Truman" DBWI. The POD is that Willkie never contracts his fatal throat infection and in 1945 runs on the Liberal ticket for New York Mayor as expected. In an attempt to realize Roosevelt's dream of a Liberal Party that takes voters from both Democrats and Republicans, Willkie runs for President with former VP Henry Wallace as his running mate. Unlike Wallace whose connections to the far left diminished his support as a presidential candidate, Willkie is able to sap enough liberal votes away from Truman to hand key states and therefore the election to Dewey (However, Wallace is nonetheless a detrimental presence as running mate and the Liberal ticket sees its support cut in half by election day). Additionally, upon his entry into the race Willkie takes support from liberal Republicans as well as Democrats. This upsets general election polling - particularly in Dewey's home state of New York where he loses his massive lead over Truman - and convinces Dewey's advisers to allow the Governor to run the kind of aggressive campaign he wanted to in OTL. This results in Dewey regaining and then maintaining his lead in the race and he wins handily. In the end, Willkie dies of a massive heart attack only weeks after the election and by 1950 the Liberal Party collapses at the national level.
 
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