Dewey Defeats Truman: The 1948 Election and the Battle for America's Soul by A. J. Baime

Author:A. J. Baime
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2020-07-06T23:00:00+00:00

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On the morning of September 17, the Truman Special crossed into enemy territory. Like most heavily agricultural states, Iowa was firmly Republican. The state had gone to the GOP in all but three presidential elections dating back to 1856, and had landed squarely in Thomas Dewey’s column over FDR four years earlier. Iowa had a Republican governor, and all eight congressmen and both senators were Republicans. Still, in each town where Truman stopped, he found a crowd awaiting him to hear his “rip-snorting” impromptu speeches.

The president waved peeled ears of golden corn at farmers. Local marching bands honked out crowd favorites. Swarms of motorcycle police sporting American flags revved their engines. So soon after the war, patriotism was palpable at these rallies, and the hours moved by in a montage of red, white, and blue. “It is fascinating,” Margaret wrote in her diary on this day. “We made about six stops altogether, and we eat in between.” At the station in Des Moines, the Truman Special picked up the First Lady. Porters helped Mrs. Truman get her luggage aboard; Bess settled in for what would be her first and only national presidential campaign tour.

By the end of the first week, the reality of life aboard a traveling train began to set in. “Going across the country, I imagine we were the laughing stock of the nation,” recalled one Democratic Party official, John P. McEnery. “It was like a traveling circus,” according to columnist Richard Strout, who was aboard. “Nothing in the world is remotely like the atmosphere on one of these transcontinental campaign caravans,” the columnist Marquis Childs wrote of the Truman Special. “It is a perpetual public affairs forum, a gossipy smalltown sewing circle, a traveling rodeo, the mixture being unique and completely and unmistakably American.”

The Union Pacific railroad kitchen offered surprisingly tasty fare. The menu included an à la carte breakfast: bacon and eggs ($1.25), griddle cakes with syrup ($0.50), fillet of salt mackerel, club style ($1.85). At lunch and dinner, martini and Manhattan cocktails ($0.60) and beer ($0.40) accompanied chicken à la King ($2.05) or pan-fried fillet of fish with tartar sauce ($1.80), while the gem on the dessert menu was ice cream with caramel sauce ($0.30).

The Truman family and the president’s aides fell into a routine—as much as was possible, given that the schedule called for numerous whistle-stops at different times each day, from sunrise to well into the night. “The most important function was to take part in the daily policy meetings that took place to set the policy in the campaign,” recorded Clifford. “We met every day around the dining room table on his car sometimes at breakfast, sometimes at lunch, and sometimes off and on during the day.”

The advance team led by Oscar Chapman would be out in front of Truman’s train by a day or two, and this team would funnel back information via telephone or messenger. “As an advance man,” noted Chapman, “you first try to find out from

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