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?