FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944

FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944 PDF

Author: David M. Jordan

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2011-09-02

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 0253005620

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“A lucid, highly engrossing account of a fateful but little chronicled episode in American presidential politics . . . featuring a large cast of personalities.” —Richard Kluger, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Simple Justice Although the presidential election of 1944 placed FDR in the White House for an unprecedented fourth term, historical memory of the election itself has been overshadowed by the war, Roosevelt’s health and his death the following April, Truman’s ascendancy, and the decision to drop the atomic bomb. Today most people assume that FDR’s reelection was assured. Yet, as David M. Jordan’s engrossing account reveals, neither the outcome of the campaign nor even the choice of candidates was assured. Just a week before Election Day, pollster George Gallup thought a small shift in votes in a few key states would award the election to Thomas E. Dewey. Though the Democrats urged voters not to “change horses in midstream,” the Republicans countered that the war would be won “quicker with Dewey and Bricker.” With its insider tales and accounts of party politics and campaigning for votes in the shadow of war and an uncertain future, FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944 “deserves a place alongside Theodore White’s histories of how high and low character, fierce ambition, and dumb luck play their part in the nation’s choice of its chief executive” (Richard Kluger). “Jordan tells the story of the 1944 presidential election, and he tells it very well . . . a clearly written, well-researched narrative.” —Journal of American History

Politics as Usual

Politics as Usual PDF

Author: Michael Davis

Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press

Published: 2014-10-15

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1501757415

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The presidential election of 1944, which unfolded against the backdrop of the World War II, was the first since 1864—and one of only a few in all of US history—to take place while the nation was at war. After a brief primary season, the Republican Party settled upon New York governor Thomas E. Dewey, the former district attorney and popular special prosecutor of Legs Diamond and Lucky Luciano, as its nominee for president of the United States. The Democratic nominee for president, meanwhile, was the three-term incumbent, sixty-two year-old Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Sensitive to the wartime setting of the election, both Roosevelt and Dewey briefly adopted dignified and low-key electoral strategies early in their campaigns. Within a few months however, "politics as usual" returned as the campaign degenerated into a vigorously fought, chaotic, unpredictable, and highly competitive contest. While Politics as Usual is a comprehensive study of the campaign, Davis focuses attention on the loser, Dewey, and shows how he emerged as a central figure for the Republican Party. Davis examines the political landscape in the United States in the early 1940s, including the state of the two parties, and the rhetoric and strategies employed by both the Dewey and Roosevelt campaigns. He details the survival of partisanship in World War II America and the often overlooked role of Dewey—who sought to rebuild the Republican Party "to be worthy of national trust"—as party leader at such a critical time. Although Dewey fell short of victory, Dewey kept his party unified, helped steer it away from isolationist influences, and rebuilt it to fit into (and to be a relevant alternative within) the post-World War II, New Deal order.

Politics as Usual

Politics as Usual PDF

Author: Michael A. Davis

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13:

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This dissertation examines the U.S. wartime presidential campaign of 1944. In 1944, the United States was at war with the Axis Powers of World War II, and Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, already serving an unprecedented third term as President of the United States, was seeking a fourth. Roosevelt was a very able politician and-combined with his successful performance as wartime commander-in-chief-- waged an effective, and ultimately successful, reelection campaign. Republicans, meanwhile, rallied behind New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Dewey emerged as leader of the GOP at a critical time. Since the coming of the Great Depression -for which Republicans were blamed-the party had suffered a series of political setbacks. Republicans were demoralized, and by the early 1940s, divided into two general national factions: Robert Taft conservatives and Wendell WiIlkie "liberals." Believing his party's chances of victory over the skilled and wily commander-in-chief to be slim, Dewey nevertheless committed himself to wage a competent and centrist campaign, to hold the Republican Party together, and to transform it into a relevant alternative within the postwar New Deal political order. Often overlooked by historians, the low-key and "uninteresting" Dewey was an institutional preserver, opening the door to a Dwight Eisenhower presidency, and the "Modem Republicanism" of the 1950s. Unlike Taft (and Herbert Hoover before him), Dewey (and Eisenhower after him) tacitly condoned the basic New Deal reform structure. Though set against a backdrop of global war, the 1944 campaign was also an old-fashioned, free-swinging, partisan affair-including stump speeches, rallies and parades, radio and newspaper advertising, harsh rhetoric, and a near record voter turnout on Election Day. As an ordinary event in an extraordinary time, the 1944 campaign was a testimony to the strength of American democracy.

Final Victory

Final Victory PDF

Author: Stanley Weintraub

Publisher: Da Capo Press, Incorporated

Published: 2012-07-03

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0306821133

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A compelling narrative about FDR, preoccupied with winning the war and his deteriorating health, and the hard-fought presidential election for an unprecedented fourth term

Final Victory

Final Victory PDF

Author: Stanley Weintraub

Publisher: Da Capo Press

Published: 2012-07-03

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0306821125

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When the wartime 1944 presidential election campaign geared up late that spring, Franklin D. Roosevelt had already occupied the White House years longer than any other president. Sensing likely weakness, the Republicans mounted an energetic and expensive campaign, hitting hard at FDR's liberal domestic policies and the war's ongoing cost. Despite gravely deteriorating health, FDR and his feisty running mate, the unexpected Harry Truman, campaigned vigorously against young governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York and old-line Ohio governor John Bricker. Roosevelt's charm and wit, as well as the military successes in Europe and the Pacific, contributed to his sweeping electoral victory. But the hard-fought campaign would soon take its toll on America's only four-term president. Preeminent historian and biographer Stanley Weintraub recaptures FDR's striking “last campaign” and the year's momentous events, from the rainy city streets where Roosevelt, his legs paralyzed by polio since 1922, rode in an open car, to the battlefronts where the commander-in-chief's forces were closing in on Hitler and Hirohito. The tale is unforgettable.

The Hidden Campaign

The Hidden Campaign PDF

Author: Hugh E. Evans

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-07-08

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1315499045

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In early 1944, with the outcome of World War II by no means certain, many in the United States felt that FDR, as wartime Commander-in-Chief, was an indispensable part of prosecuting the war to a victorious conclusion. Yet although only 62, Roosevelt was mortally ill with congestive heart disease - a fact that was carefully shielded from the American public prior to the election of 1944. In a media environment where we get more details about politicians' health than we sometimes prefer, it is hard to imagine how a paper as authoriative as The New York Times could describe FDR's death as "sudden and unexpected" on its front page. Dr. Hugh Evans looks at the issue of Roosevelt's health not only from a medical ethics perspective, but also with a keen eye for the political and media considerations that led to the decision to run and not disclose the extent of Roosevelt's illness.

Choosing Truman

Choosing Truman PDF

Author: Robert H. Ferrell

Publisher: University of Missouri Press

Published: 2013-05-31

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 0826272983

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As Franklin D. Roosevelt's health deteriorated in the months leading up to the Democratic National Convention of 1944, Democratic leaders confronted a dire situation. Given the inevitability of the president's death during a fourth term, the choice of a running mate for FDR was of profound importance. The Democrats needed a man they could trust. They needed Harry S. Truman. Robert Ferrell tells an engrossing tale of ruthless ambition, secret meetings, and party politics. Roosevelt emerges as a manipulative leader whose desire to retain power led to a blatant disregard for the loyalty of his subordinates and the aspirations of his vice presidential hopefuls. Startling in its conclusions, impeccable in its research, Choosing Truman is an engrossing, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the nation's thirty-third president.

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