What do you think?
Rate this book
The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election
It was the last presidential campaign in which Americans truly had a choice across the ideological spectrum, from the far Right to the far Left. And the winner, according to pundits and pollsters alike, would be the Republican standard-bearer, Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York. After sixteen years of Democratic rule, Americans seemed tired of the party and, in particular, of the somewhat inept incumbent, Harry Truman. Furthermore, Truman's chances appeared doomed by the growing strength of Henry Wallace's left-wing Progressive Party and Strom Thurmond's right-wing States' Rights Party, both drawing upon traditional Democratic constituencies.
Zachary Karabell tells the fascinating story of all four campaigns. We see how Truman's staff developed a superb reelection plan that ignored the South and concentrated on the farm vote — a scheme that would give birth to Truman's historic "whistle-stop" tour of the nation's heartland. We learn how Dewey nearly lost the GOP nomination to Harold Stassen and how, in the last weeks, his gentlemanly campaign fell victim to complacency, owing to the candidate's wide lead in the polls. We meet Wallace, the naive, disaffected former vice president who — preaching racial equality, economic justice, and accommodation with the Soviet Union — took a tour through the South accompanied by black aides, and was pelted with fruit for his pains. And we witness how Thurmond led the white supremacist Dixiecrats in a walkout of the Democratic convention and contested the election throughout the South.
In 1948, the United States was on the cusp of changes that would transform the political landscape forever. Television was still an infant technology, a newfangled toy that many predicted would be a passing fad, unable to compete with radio. Karabell argues that 1948 was the last time a presidential race would be dominated by radio and print media, and the last time progressive and far-Left viewpoints were openly debated and covered in the mainstream press, before the Cold War consensus placed an entire spectrum of political views beyond the pale.
Finally, Karabell shows why the polls were totally wrong, and how in the end Truman indulged in questionable political tactics to win the presidency. And he explains why this victory came at great cost to Truman's second term and to the country, paving the way for a Republican backlash and the virulent anti-Communist crusades of the 1950s.
This vivid narrative is political history at its most absorbing. And it is a cautionary tale that is highly relevant to the quandaries of presidential politics at the beginning of a new century.
Zachary Karabell tells the fascinating story of all four campaigns. We see how Truman's staff developed a superb reelection plan that ignored the South and concentrated on the farm vote — a scheme that would give birth to Truman's historic "whistle-stop" tour of the nation's heartland. We learn how Dewey nearly lost the GOP nomination to Harold Stassen and how, in the last weeks, his gentlemanly campaign fell victim to complacency, owing to the candidate's wide lead in the polls. We meet Wallace, the naive, disaffected former vice president who — preaching racial equality, economic justice, and accommodation with the Soviet Union — took a tour through the South accompanied by black aides, and was pelted with fruit for his pains. And we witness how Thurmond led the white supremacist Dixiecrats in a walkout of the Democratic convention and contested the election throughout the South.
In 1948, the United States was on the cusp of changes that would transform the political landscape forever. Television was still an infant technology, a newfangled toy that many predicted would be a passing fad, unable to compete with radio. Karabell argues that 1948 was the last time a presidential race would be dominated by radio and print media, and the last time progressive and far-Left viewpoints were openly debated and covered in the mainstream press, before the Cold War consensus placed an entire spectrum of political views beyond the pale.
Finally, Karabell shows why the polls were totally wrong, and how in the end Truman indulged in questionable political tactics to win the presidency. And he explains why this victory came at great cost to Truman's second term and to the country, paving the way for a Republican backlash and the virulent anti-Communist crusades of the 1950s.
This vivid narrative is political history at its most absorbing. And it is a cautionary tale that is highly relevant to the quandaries of presidential politics at the beginning of a new century.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 4, 2000
10 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Zachary Karabell
25 books38 followersZachary Karabell is a New York-born author, columnist and investor who previously served as Head of Global Strategies at Envestnet, a publicly traded financial services firm. He currently hosts the podcast “What Could Go Right?” and analyzes economic and political trends as president of River Twice Research.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 2, 2008
Excellent account of an epochal election, 1948, the "last campaign" of the old machine era of American politics before the mass media took over.
September 5, 2011
Compelling and informative, it's everything a student of political history wants from a book.
August 25, 2024
Thorough if a bit dry treatment of the 1948 campaign that was perhaps the biggest unexpected presidential win until 2016. Covers the two major and two major/minor candidates, their strategies and their travels. “Last campaign” refers to the last presidential campaign without major television use and last unpackaged candidate, Truman.
May 25, 2022
4.0 / 5.0
Excellent Treatment of Truman's Win as Last Campaign that was a Campaign about issues.
Discussion of upset is minimal and dynamics of 4 major campaigns fascinate.
Excellent Treatment of Truman's Win as Last Campaign that was a Campaign about issues.
Discussion of upset is minimal and dynamics of 4 major campaigns fascinate.
March 13, 2014
As someone who loves political campaigns and especially presidential campaigns, this is a great chronicle of the exciting 1948 presidential race. This campaign had it all! Harry Truman - the embattled incumbent, Thomas Dewey - the presumptive champion according to the pundits and pollsters, Henry Wallace - the former VP, leftist and sometime mystic standard bearer of the Progressive Party, and of course the debonair Southerner and champion of states rights (read anti-civil rights) and leader of the break-away Dixiecrat Democrats. Truman should have been the big loser as he was being mauled from all sides and no one gave him a chance to win ....except Harry Truman and his inner circle. The book shows how Dewey took the air out of the ball and ran the most cautious campaign of perhaps any major party candidate in the 20th century. How the South was a much more complicated region than we give it credit for especially in the 40's and how Thurmond was able to commandeer some of the states in the south and how Wallace was the darling of the American left ....early on in the campaign and how his campaign imploded. All in all , a fast read and some amazing comparisons are made to today's campaigns and how this campaign was truly the last of its kind and the harbinger of campaigns to come.
October 9, 2008
This would have benefited from being longer. The material was interesting, but aside from *one sentence* acknowledging the existance of the NAACP there was a gaping absence of anything on the actions/reactions of black Americans in the North or South to Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrats, Truman's civil rights legislation, the election in general... Weird.
Also, some of the stories needed to be fleshed out, and the pacing needed help - he handled writing about someone's sandwich (lots about menus in this book) in the same brief manner as Dewey's marching with caveman impersonators, as Truman's fight with James Roosevelt, and so on. I would have appreciate more on that (the cavemen).
Also, some of the stories needed to be fleshed out, and the pacing needed help - he handled writing about someone's sandwich (lots about menus in this book) in the same brief manner as Dewey's marching with caveman impersonators, as Truman's fight with James Roosevelt, and so on. I would have appreciate more on that (the cavemen).
October 23, 2007
I was hoping someone would write a Theodore White style book about this weird election, and here it is. It will definitely make you wistful for the days when you had a choice between ideologically disparate candidates.
January 30, 2010
I read this book after hearing a C-SPAN interview with the author. The story is an intriguing inspection of modern politics and the influence media (TV) has had upon the public's views. A good read, especially before an election.
February 13, 2008
Fascinating history of Truman's campaign and history of American immediately post WWII
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews