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Miracle of '48: Harry Truman's Major Campaign Speeches & Selected Whistle -Stops
Miracle of ’48: Harry Truman’s Major Campaign Speeches and Selected Whistle-stops is the first published collection of the public addresses Harry Truman made as he crisscrossed the United States from New York City to Los Angeles to Independence, Missouri in 1948. Edited by veteran political journalist Steve Neal, and complemented by a foreword from presidential historian Robert V. Remini, this volume captures the infectious spirit and determination of Truman’s message to the American people.
In an era when policy issues were paramount and televised debates were a thing of the future, Truman boldly stated his case directly to the American people, and they responded. “Senator Barkley and I will win this election and make these Republicans like it,” he declared in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “Don’t you forget that. We will do that because they are wrong and we are right.”
From the start of his “non-political” western tour in Crestline, Ohio, through his victory celebration in his hometown of Independence, the plainspoken Truman waged the good fight against all odds, never mixing his words or apologizing for his aggressively honest tactics. In blaming the GOP for a decline in farm prices, he alleged that the 80th Congress had “stuck a pitchfork in the farmer’s backs.” Truman is now regarded as among our greatest presidents and the populist message of his ’48 campaign is still as compelling and relevant today as it was over half a century ago.
“The political history of the United States reveals many unusual developments,” General Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote Truman after the 1948 election, “but certainly at no point does it record a greater accomplishment than yours, that can be traced so clearly to the stark courage and fighting heart of one man.”
In an era when policy issues were paramount and televised debates were a thing of the future, Truman boldly stated his case directly to the American people, and they responded. “Senator Barkley and I will win this election and make these Republicans like it,” he declared in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “Don’t you forget that. We will do that because they are wrong and we are right.”
From the start of his “non-political” western tour in Crestline, Ohio, through his victory celebration in his hometown of Independence, the plainspoken Truman waged the good fight against all odds, never mixing his words or apologizing for his aggressively honest tactics. In blaming the GOP for a decline in farm prices, he alleged that the 80th Congress had “stuck a pitchfork in the farmer’s backs.” Truman is now regarded as among our greatest presidents and the populist message of his ’48 campaign is still as compelling and relevant today as it was over half a century ago.
“The political history of the United States reveals many unusual developments,” General Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote Truman after the 1948 election, “but certainly at no point does it record a greater accomplishment than yours, that can be traced so clearly to the stark courage and fighting heart of one man.”
216 pages, Hardcover
First published October 10, 2003
5 people want to read
About the author
Steve Neal
34 books2 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
Born in 1949, Steve Neal earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University. During his career in journalism, he worked for a number of newspapers, most notably as a political columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Born in 1949, Steve Neal earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University. During his career in journalism, he worked for a number of newspapers, most notably as a political columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.
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August 27, 2020
Probably President Truman will be always be thought of for two things: He dropped two atomic bombs to end WW2 and he was re-elected in 1948 when few people thought he had a ghost of a change.
This short book provides some insight about how we won. Truman traveled to lots of towns (some of them small) to give speeches about what the people should vote for him. Our parents and grand parents came to the train station to see and hear the President. He spoke from the back of the train. One of the values of this read is that politics once was close and personal.
The book also gives us what bothered voters in 1948. It’s very different from what we pay attention to in the 2020 campaign.
On page 47, we read from Truman: “Now, if the president doesn’t get out and inform the people on what the issues are, then he is not doing his duty; and that is why I took this trip, that is why I went out through the West and Southwest and the central part of the country, in order that people might understand just what the issues are.”
That may be the best take away today for reading this book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review