Harry S. Truman giving a speech to his supporters in Hampton, Virginia.
The 1948 American presidential election was the most hotly contested presidential election in American history. The five main candidates were incumbent President Harry S. Truman of the Democratic Party, Thomas E. Dewey of the Republican Party, who had previously ran against Truman in 1944, Henry A. Wallace of the Progressive Party, Richard Russell Jr. of the States' Rights Party, and Earl Browder of the Communist Party.
Harry S. Truman oversaw the American war effort during World War Two, and America's loss in that war greatly harmed his public image. His association with former President Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., who many blamed for America's lack of readiness for the conflict, didn't help matters either. Despite this, some believed that Truman stood a chance, and this would later lead to the infamous "Truman Defeats Dewey" headline from the Chicago Daily Tribune, which was held up by Dewey following his victory in the election. Truman was the last presidential candidate of the Democrats, as the party would decline greatly in the years following this election.
A colorized photo of Dewey giving a speech during his campaign tour in California.
During his presidential run, Dewey aggressively criticized Truman's poor handling of the war effort, and made foreign policy one of the primary issues of his campaign. He railed against the signing of the Akagi Accords and believed that America must have a stronger role in the international stage in order to fight off the influence of Germany and Japan. Dewey's message hit home to many Americans, including returning WW2 veterans who were bitter over America's loss in the war. This is seen as one of the main factors in Dewey's victory. Ironically, Dewey and Truman would later be two of the main people responsible for the merging of the Democratic and Republican Parties following this election, as both men believed this could ensure future stability for the United States.
A gathering of Henry Wallace's supporters during the 1948 Progressive Party Convention.
Henry Wallace, a known progressive political figure from Iowa, rose to prominence as the newly-founded Progressive Party's presidential candidate. Like Dewey, Wallace called for a more interventionist foreign policy against Germany and Japan, whom he called "the greatest evils that taint God's earth" during one of his speeches, but would also advocate for an end to Jim Crow in the South, major economic reform in the US, agricultural reform, and aid to the Russian people. While he did attract many black voters with his pro-civil rights stance, he was considered too radical to many in the government and rumors of communist sympathies in Wallace's inner circle alienated many voters in the North and Mid-West. The Progressive Party would later reform into the National Progressive Front, which ran Wallace's running mate, Glen H. Taylor, as their candidate in the 1952 election, where they performed slightly better. Later on, the National Progressive Front would become the center-left wing of the NPP, and Wallace became one of the party’s significant leftist figures.
Richard Russell Jr. standing alongside his supporters in Mississippi.
After Truman decided to desegregate the US military during WW2, many Southern Democrats abandoned the party and established a political party of their own, known as the States' Rights Party. Their chosen candidate was Richard Russell Jr., the Senator of Georgia. Though Russell would find much support in the Deep South, the party's support of segregation alienated other voters, and Russell would find little support in other areas of the country. This was the only presidential election the States' Rights party participated in, as the party would later merge with Patton's Patriotic Party, who ran the as their presidential candidate in 1952, where their focus on revanchism earned them the Pacific states in that election.
Earl Browder accepting the Communist Party's nomination for the presidential race.
Originally, many in the Communist Party wanted to endorse Henry Wallace in this election, but others saw Wallace as too moderate and hoped to preserve the socialist cause after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 40s. Earl Browder, who had previously been the party's candidate in the 1940 election, was chosen once more as the party's presidential candidate. Browder did perform significantly better than previous candidates of the Communist Party, winning the states of Oklahoma and Kansas, despite 3 Oklahoma electors and 6 Kansas electors choosing to support Dewey. Aside from that, Browder found little support anywhere else, as many Americans found little interest in communism. After 1948, the Communist Party once again fell into political obscurity, and they wouldn't run a candidate in the next election, deciding instead to endorse Glen H. Taylor's presidential campaign. Many members of the Communist Party would later defect to the NPP, where they would make up much of the party’s far-left wing.