First Family Stories: Remembering Rosalynn Carter | November 21, 2023
First Family Stories
By Clifton Truman Daniel
“Remembering Rosalynn Carter”
I DID NOT KNOW ROSALYNN CARTER WELL. We met only once, in 2019, when I was invited to give a talk during the annual meeting of the Carter Political Items Collectors in Plains, Georgia. Even so, I felt her presence throughout the town.
Plains, her home, to which she and Jimmy Carter returned after leaving the White House, was—and is—so small that Lillian Carter, Rosalynn’s future mother-in-law, helped deliver her on the day she was born. Years later, when Jimmy Carter first asked her on a date, she turned him down. Then she “ran around with everyone else in Plains,” as he put it, before accepting his invitation.
This Day in History: Dewey Defeats Truman | November 2, 2023
THIS DAY IN HISTORY – 75th Anniversary
THE 1948 ELECTION AND THE BATTLE FOR AMERICA’S SOUL
FEATURING A.J. BAIME
On the 75th anniversary of the 1948 election, join us online for a rollicking rundown of Truman’s come-from-behind victory over Republican challenger Thomas Dewey to win his first full term in office.
ON NOVEMBER 2, 1948, a politically divided nation went to the polls to elect a president, but the outcome was all but certain: Thomas Dewey was going to trounce Harry Truman.
Now, on the 75th anniversary of that great upset, New York Times best-selling author A.J. Baime joins us for a livestream event focused on one of the greatest election stories of all times.
On the eve of the 1948 election, America was a fractured country. Racism was rampant, foreign relations were fraught, and political parties were more divided than ever. Americans were certain that President Harry S. Truman’s political career was over. “The ballots haven’t been counted,” noted political columnist Fred Othman, “but there seems to be no further need for holding up an affectional farewell to Harry Truman.” Truman’s own staff did not believe he could win. Nor did his wife, Bess. The only man in the world confident that Truman would win was Mr. Truman himself. And win he did.
1948 was a fight for the soul of a nation. Drawing on his thrilling account, Dewey Defeats Truman, A.J. Baime sheds light on one of the most action-packed six months in American history. Truman more than triumphs; he oversees watershed events—the passing of the Marshall Plan, the acknowledgement of Israel as a new state, the careful attention to the origins of the Cold War, and the desegregation of the military.
Not only did Truman win the election, he succeeded in guiding his country forward at a critical time with high stakes and haunting parallels to the modern day.
WATCH VIDEO
THIS DAY IN HISTORY — MORE TO EXPLORE
CURATED CAMPAIGN CONTENT
FAVORITE ARTIFACT
Dewey Vs. Truman
Executive Director Alex Burden shares his favorite campaign-related artifact, what it meant in 1948, and what it means to him today.
(2 minute read)
INSIDE THE MUSEUM
Upset of the Century
Step into the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum with Cassie Pikarsky, director of strategic initiatives, for a fast-paced tour of the Whistle Stop Gallery. All aboard!
Watch the Video
(2 minute watch)
FIRST FAMILY STORIES
By Clifton Truman Daniel
“The first story my mother told me about the 1948 presidential campaign had nothing to do with tactics, crowds, or the upset victory…”
Continue Reading
(4 minute read)
TRUMAN TRIVIA
The 1948 Election
Can you outwit Harold Ivan Smith, author of Almost Everything Worth Knowing about Harry S. Truman? These 10 trivia questions will test your knowledge of the historic 1948 presidential election.
Take the Quiz
(3 minute read)
WHISTLE STOP
Making History in Harlem
In the final days before the 1948 presidential election, Truman made a campaign appearance in Harlem, marking the first time a U.S. president had visited the symbolic capital of Black America.
Read the President’s Address
(5 minute read)
THIS DAY IN HISTORY — DIGITAL ARCHIVE
CAMPAIGN CLIMAX
PHOTO ARCHIVE: On November 2, 1948, radio journalists monitor incoming popular vote ballot totals for the presidential election. Credit: Getty/Bettmann
ON THE EVE of the 1948 election, the polls and pundits were calling the election for the Republican nominee, Thomas Dewey. Harry Truman decided to address the American people one final time.
The President spoke at 9:37 p.m. from his home in Independence, Missouri. He was introduced by his running mate, Senator Alben W. Barkley, who said:
“No man called suddenly to the Presidency of this Nation ever faced a greater task. Whether this task involved our internal economy or the delicate and dangerous course of international relations, it called for the exercise of patience, tolerance, firmness, foresight, and courage. . . .This quiet, modest, patient, courageous, God-fearing, determined man in war and the aftermath of war, at home and abroad, has brought strength to our economy, expansion and permanence to our influence, and hope to hopeless men and women throughout the world.”
Click the icon below to listen to the original sound recording of Truman’s 1948 election-eve appeal to American voters.
Listen to President Truman’s Election-Eve Radio Address
(12 minute listen)
WRITING HIS MEMOIRS, President Truman recalled his November 1 radio address and the tense hours before the polls opened on Election Day:
“This was my final appeal to the voters . . . . I warned the nation that their vote would not be just for one man or another, but would affect every person and family for years to come. With this, I was through. There was nothing to do but wait for the results.”
OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS: Click an image above to read President Truman’s handwritten recollections.
PHOTO ARCHIVE: President Truman, holding his ballot, steps out of the voting booth at the Memorial Building, voting place of the 7th Precinct of Blue Township in Independence, Missouri. (TrumanLibrary.gov)
VICTORY AND THE CROW-EATERS
PRESIDENT TRUMAN RECOUNTS the 1948 election, and describes how he spent the night awaiting the results in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. This motion picture clip is from the Truman Library’s Screen Gems Collection, consisting of outtakes created during the production of the film series Decision: The Conflicts of Harry S. Truman, which aired on television in 1964 and 1965 and earned the former president the honor of “Outstanding Television Personality of 1964.”
Watch the Motion Picture (1.5 min.)
WELCOME HOME
From the Crow-Eaters
When President Truman returned to Washington, D.C. he drove past the Wall Street Journal. A sign declared: “Welcome Home from the Crow-Eaters.” Truman told his Secret Service team: “Take that down; I don’t want anyone to eat crow!”
AMERICA’S JUST WILD
About Harry
In a photograph that is reminiscent of the 1945 image of Harry Truman and Lauren Bacall, an unidentified woman at the election victory celebration, hopped atop a piano to share her joy at the election’s outcome.
“THANK YOU VERY MUCH INDEED FOR THIS CELEBRATION, WHICH IS NOT FOR ME. IT IS FOR THE WHOLE COUNTRY. IT IS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD.”
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First Family Stories: Truman Defeats Dewey | November 1, 2023
First Family Stories
By Clifton Truman Daniel
“Truman Defeats Dewey”
THE FIRST STORY my mother told me about the 1948 presidential campaign had nothing to do with tactics, crowds, or the upset victory.
The Ferdinand Magellan presidential railcar was outfitted with a speedometer connected to the engine, so folks in back could see how fast they were going. Mom and Grandpa were in the lounge one afternoon, reading, when Mom noticed Grandpa glancing up repeatedly at the speedometer, which was climbing. 80. 82. 85 . . . Finally, he said to an aide, “Tell the engineer to slow down.”
