In this presidential election year, historian and journalist A.J. Baime has given America a winner ... breezy, easy-to-read English ... then came Election Day. Baime covers it in a chapter with prose to delight in.
... Baime's lively and insightful account of the second-most shocking presidential upset in modern history, delivers the best-reasoned and most revealing examination to date of that memorable mid-century election ... Baime gives more credit where credit was due, and in doing so more effectively unravels the mystery of how Truman’s stunning upset came about ... Baime’s richly textured, fast-moving narrative vividly captures the stories of the race’s potential spoilers, the staunch segregationist Thurmond and the socialist-leaning Wallace ... While Baime hints at some notable parallels to the 2016 election, for the most part his narrative portrays a time far removed from our own.
... well-paced ... Baime avoids passing judgment on any of the four principal candidates. The approach allows readers to form their own opinions while soaking up the politics of another era — intensely competitive but relatively civil, when television was in its infancy, nominating conventions were high drama, and presidential aspirants relied on long, sweaty train rides through towns and farms, making their case to thousands of voters at dusty whistle stops ... At stake in 1948, according to Baime, was America’s soul, but his account is also a rendering of the deep fissures in American life ... Baime, who has written a previous book on Truman, skillfully leads readers to conclude what he surely had in mind from the outset: In an election, substance matters, as does courage and decency, and Truman displayed them all in 1948.
Well written and supremely researched, Dewey Defeats Truman identifies the key issues, the major personalities involved, and how they played out in the lead-up to the 1948 presidential election. While A. J. Baime starts off with a comparison to today’s issues, the book is strictly historical and laser-focused on the march to November 1948 ... A bit loose initially, the narrative tightens up with each turn of the page ... It is well worth the read!
... fascinating ... Pundits and pollsters predicted a Dewey sweep, but key states fell into the Truman column, leading to his victory and the famous faulty newspaper headline. In retrospect,1948 election issues still echo in the 2020 election season. Includes a few photographs and an extensive bibliography.
An absorbing chronicle of the months leading up to the extraordinary 1948 presidential election ... [an] insightful look at the players and issues that dominated the campaign ... Without downplaying the seriousness of the postwar problems confronting the new president, the author pays particular attention to how they affected his chances for election given his opponents on both the left and the right ... Baime engagingly chronicles how Truman campaigned vigorously and creatively ... Even readers familiar with Truman’s presidency will be engaged by the story of the campaign that came before.
... a spirited rundown of Truman’s come-from-behind 1948 victory over Republican challenger Thomas Dewey to win his first full term in office ... Readers looking for parallels to the current political climate will find plenty, including Baime’s contention that Republicans, Democrats, and the FBI all suspected Russia of attempting to influence the 1948 election, but by-and-large he treads familiar ground. Nevertheless, political history buffs will enjoy this colorful treatment of an oft-told story.
