History Essay

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United States Election of 1948
The United States presidential election of 1948 was held on the second of November in which Republican Thomas Dewey lost to Democrat Harry Truman. This election remains significant in history since it is considered by most historical scholars as one of the greatest election upset ever experienced in the history of the United States. Virtually all predictions indicated that Republican Thomas Dewey would defeat the then President Harry Truman. However and to the surprise of many, Truman won his fifth consecutive win for the Democratic Party in the United States presidential elections and overcame a three-party split in his own party (Shi et al, 1020). The congressional elections of 1948 also saw the Democrats regain control of both the houses of Congress. As a result, the election of Truman confirmed that the Democratic Party would be the country’s majority party, a status they retained up to 1952.
Issues that dominated the campaign
Several issues dominated the campaign leading to the election of 1948. The main issues, however, were reported by the New York Times as domestic issues. Other issues that also played a key role included the rising cost of living, high taxes, corruption, civil rights, and economy, among others (Shi et al, 1024). Another issue that was key in the election primaries was the fact that a majority of the public opinion polls indicated that the Republicans had a higher chance of recapturing the white house.

Why Truman won
One of the major reasons why Truman won was his civil rights platform which won him majorities among black voters all over the country. Earlier on, he had also defeated several attempts to drop him from running for the presidential ticket but he still won in the presidential nomination. Truman’s win was overwhelming since he not only lost in New York, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania which were Democrat strongholds but also barely won Illinois, Ohio, and California.
Work Cited
Shi, David E., and George Brown Tindall. America: A narrative history. WW Norton & Company, 2016.