1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America - Political History Book for US History Enthusiasts, Perfect for Classroom Studies & American Politics Discussions

David Pietrusza recreates his role as a master story teller. I first encountered Pietrusza in his book about the 1920 election where there were many intrigues, the election campaign not being one of them as Warren Harding won easily. As with the book about the 1920 election Pietrusza weaves in other aspects of the 1948 campaign that help shape that election to include civil rights, discontent within the Democratic Party, attempts to recruit Dwight Eisenhower into the campaign, Communist infiltration into the government and Henry Wallace's campaign. Several obscured politicians were no longer obscured after 1948 to include Hubert Humphrey, John Kennedy, Joseph McCarthy, and Richard Nixon.In "1948" Pietrusza tells the story of how an unpopular president could possibly win re-election against a determined opposition party who had not won a presidential election in twenty years. He traces the split within the Democratic Party that resulted in Strom Thurmond running as a Dixiecrat to save the south from having civil rights forced upon them. He traces another split within the Democratic Party as Henry Wallace ran as a Populist candidate. Wallace could have been president but the Democrats that he was to leftist and turned elsewhere when Franklin Roosevelt left the door open for them to do so at the 1944 convention. Truman is now hailed as a great president who told things as they were and was not afraid of who he made angry. He is hailed as one of the great presidents of the 20th century. But he was unpopular and Pietrusza points out that he earned that unpopularity.But the Republican Party ran a timid campaign so as to not lose. They controlled Congress and he Administration used their control of both houses of Congress as a campaign stick with which to defeat them. Governor Dewey of New York was heavily favored but ran a very dignified campaign that essentially bored everybody. His running mate, Earl Warren of California, did not really want to be Vice President and was probably one of the happier politicians to lose a campaign. Pietrusza records it all.The two splinter campaigns of Wallace and Thurmond also got much covereage by Pietrusza. Wallace, of course, was bitter over how he lost out on being Roosevelt's successor and thought he could make a big dint in the electorate -- not necessarily win -- and deprive Truman of re-election. Thurmond and Dixiecrats had no illusion of winning either but thought if they could carry enough southern states they could throw the election to the House and force the Democrats to back off their civil rights ambitions.There was one curious reference to one of Dewey's staff members that was never explained. In the photo section, Pietrusza referenced Elliott V. Bell as the "architect of the disaster". However, Bell is mentioned only two or three times in the book and what exactly he did that killed what could have been a winning campaign was never explained. Dewey ran a dull campaign for which Bell may be partially responsible but maybe other campaign staffers could also share the blame. Pietrusza never explained why Bell could be singled out.Overall, an excellent account of hte 1948 election. Pietrusza does not take sides and explains the dynamics of the campaign and why Truman beat the odds.