The 1948 election is considered one of, if not, the greatest election in American history. What made this so essential was how President Harry S. Truman had the odds against him when facing Thomas E. Dewey, but eventually won in the end with some repercussions. One of them being the split in the Democratic party, due to social issues. However, his victory marked the fifth consecutive win for the Democratic party in a presidential election. As a result of the 1948 election, the democrats would regain control of both houses of Congress. Therefore, Truman’s election confirmed the status of the Democrats as the nation’s majority party, a status they would retain until 1952 [1]. During World War II, after Franklin D. Roosevelt died in his fourth …show more content…
Truman also prompted the Marshall Plan, which provided significant amounts of U.S. aid to the corrupt economies of Western Europe and also vetoed the Taft-Hartley Labor act. This act helped expand federal control over labor quarrels and allowed the government to force a hiatus if a strike was considered horrendous to national security or well being [3]. Truman also intervened with American troops in the conflict between North Korea and South Korea and also supported the creation of the state of Israel in the Middle East. In short, Truman’s foreign policy created some of the basic principles and commitments that marked American foreign policy for the rest of the 20th century …show more content…
Truman’s 4.4% election margin reflected with the pre-election polls predicting a Dewey victory ranging between 5% to 15% points [4]. After the election, analysts attributed the polls’ failure largely to completing their surveys too early. The polls themselves helped Truman’s late victory to overcome Dewey when press reports of their surveys showing Dewey ahead fueled the Democrats to mount late efforts to increase turnout, and made the Republicans overconfident. The election was also marked by Truman’s divisions in the Democratic party over civil rights and the Administration’s policy directed at containing Communism [4]. Another split was led by more liberal democrats, who objected to the president’s confrontational policies toward Communism and organized the progressive party, with its presidential choice Henry Wallace [4]. Wallace’s arguments, however, found only a limited audience in the Cold War America of the late 1940s. In the 1948 election, he garnered less than 3% of the vote. Two years later, Wallace left the Progressive Party after it condemned his statement in support of the United States and United Nations intervention in Korea. In 1952, he wrote an article, “Why I Was Wrong,” in which he stated that his defense of the Soviet Union was a misconception [8]. His criticism of the American cold war policies kept the spirit of debate and dissent alive during the Red
The 1928 United States presidential election was a significant moment in American political history, and one that marked the end of an era in American politics. The election pitted Republican Herbert Hoover against Democrat Al Smith, both of whom were seen as strong leaders and potential presidential candidates prior to the campaign. Despite their strengths, however, both Hoover and Smith faced significant challenges during the campaign that made their path to the presidency difficult. For the Republicans, the election was largely framed around the prosperity and growth of the 1920s, with Hoover positioning himself as the candidate best equipped to continue this trend.
This is what set this election apart from others. Theodore Roosevelt was determined to be a candidate, despite William Taft winning the Republican nominee, and so he created his own Republican based party, known as the “Bull Moose Party.” Another name for this party is the Progressive Party. Since Taft had his Republican Party also, the Republican votes were split between the two.
Back in 1932, The Great Depression was ramping up in its early years, the 18th amendment was still in effect, and the presidential elections were underway. The Election of 1932 was between two opponents, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover. Franklin D. Roosevelt was of the Democrat party, while Herbert Hoover was a part of the Republican party. This was a major election due to the country’s destabilized state, and its high unemployment rate needed to be solved. The Election of 1932 let the government have a bigger influence in the daily lives of the people.
The Democratic-Republican party won the election, and the Federalist party crumbled after this. This election was significant for the time, as it marked the first peaceful transition
The election of Franklin Roosevelt was held on November 8th, 1932, in which the Democrat Roosevelt defeated his opponent, Republican Herbert Hoover. During the term of Roosevelt’s presidency many events occurred and acts were put into place. Roosevelt was elected to improve the living conditions since the Great Depression was occurring during his presidency. His goal was to stabilize the economy and create more jobs to pull the Americans out of the Great Depression. There were two foremost events that occurred during his presidency, the New Deal legislation, and Roosevelt’s Bank Holiday.
1912 was a crazy year as far as presidential elections go. For one, there were four candidates voters were forced to choose from, rather than the usual Democrat or Republican. The incumbent, William Howard Taft, was challenged by former president Theodore Roosevelt in the Republican primaries, but even after losing nine out of twelve state primary elections, he still received his party’s nomination. The slight motivated Roosevelt to break off from the Republicans and campaign under his own Progressive, or “Bull Moose,” Party. For the Democrats, Woodrow Wilson, former president of Princeton University and Governor of New Jersey, was nominated after 46 contentious votes in their convention.
During World War I, soldiers were promised a ‘bonus payment’ to make up for wages lost while serving in the military- one dollar for each day served on U.S. soil and one dollar and twenty-five cents for every day served overseas. However, the Bonus would not be paid until 1945. Veterans initially agreed, based on the healthy state of the economy (Keaney 1). The Great Depression came and made thousands of veterans unemployed, like most Americans at the time. The veterans felt that their bonus should be paid early so that they could provide food and shelter for themselves and their families (Rank and File Committee 1).
country from religious, racial and ethnic groups. The coalition combined Catholics, southern Protestants, northern Jews and blacks from urban areas, labor union members, small farmers in the middle west and Plains states, and liberals and radicals. The Campaign and Election of 1940, Roosevelt decided to run a third term in office, breaking the tradition set by George Washington. Republicans chose Wendell L. Willkie of Indiana, FDR seemed strong even though he only campaigned from the White House.
Creation of Israel in 1948 Jews had to leave Israel in the first place because they were forced from their homes by the Roman Empire. When the Jews returned to Israel in 1948, Palestinians were still living there. The return of the Jews was a problem because it caused war to break out between the Arabs and Israelis. Wars between the two are still occurring today.
The presidential election of 1912 was America’s 32nd quadrennial presidential election. This presidential election featured Woodrow Wilson, William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, and Eugene Debs. Each candidate ran for a different unique political party. Woodrow Wilson ran as a democrat from New Jersey, Theodore Roosevelt ran for the progressive party, William H. Taft ran as a republican, and Eugene V. Debs ran as a socialist. In this election although it was a quadrennial the election is more focused on William Taft, Roosevelt, and Wilson.
During Theodore Roosevelts presidency, his interests were focused on foreign affairs. Roosevelt helped prevent Europe from controlling the rest of the western territories, like how Britain tried to control the early American colonies. The “Roosevelt Corollary” allowed the U.S to stay in control of the Western hemisphere. His addition to the Monroe Doctrine helped American imperialism rise and expand. At the turn of the 20th century, his addition helped shape the nation that it is today.
Once in office, Roosevelt maintained his pace of reform with his New Deal program while congressional Democrats continued to create solutions to problems plaguing the country in order to keep the voters from returning to the opposing party. The collection of election and voting behavior data, and party registration and preference polls referenced by Sundquist indicates that the millions of voters who shifted partisan support, as well as newly mobilized voters, were concentrated in the industrial cities of the North, primarily from the working class – Republican and Democrat (215-217). It was nearly a one-way movement in the cities. Sundquist argues, “The key variable in the 1930s was not leadership but the overwhelming intrinsic power of the Great Depression as a realigning issue” (210). The Democratic strength had stabilized as the New Deal Democratic party became even more issue-oriented, liberal, working-class-based, and inclusive of new ethnic
Senator Claude Pepper of Florida stood out as one of the most liberal members of the democrat party, and made an attempt to access the podium and put Wallace’s name in the nominations. This move was seen as one that would have led to a stampede of votes in favor of Wallace (Greenfield). Worried of Wallace’s imminent win, Philadelphia mayor, David Lawrence who had convened the gathering called for a vote to adjourn the election to another day (Greenfield). The voting was postponed to the next day, and things worked against Wallace. Greenfield states that conspiracies organized by the higher figures at the Democratic Party saw Wallace lose the vice president seat to Harry S. Truman who was considered to be a more neutral
When World War II ended, the United States rejoiced with what they assumed their victory would determine; total peace, the discontinuation of Communism, the return of all the dearly missed soldiers, and greater equality for all, especially in the workplace. Much to the dismay of many citizens at home during the war, these aspirations were not exactly what they expected. In the near short years right after the war, there was much prosperity and many were perfectly content, but in these years, many had difficult times with the changes that occurred after the war. With these rough times came many fears of the conditions of the country, but many of these fears were greatly calmed through the work of the President Eisenhower in the 1950s. In the
On January 6th, 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his eighth State of the Union address to Congress, known as the speech of the “Four Freedoms.” The purpose of this speech was to persuade Americans to shift their attention from the Axis threat to the British and allied troops in desperate need of support. During the time of this address, America was in a great state of isolationism. The majority of Americans sought to disassociate themselves from any foreign ties, including wars. “Policies to curb immigration quotas and increase tariffs on imported goods were implemented, and a series of Neutrality Acts passed in the 1930’s limited American arms and munitions assistance abroad” (“The Four Freedoms”1).