Distribution of votes in the 1948 US presidential election

The 1948 US presidential election was the first in sixteen years that did not have Franklin D. Roosevelt leading the ticket. The race was contested by incumbent President Harry S. Truman of the Democratic Party, who had ascended to the presidency following FDR's death in 1945, and Thomas E. Dewey of the Republican Party, who had also appeared on the 1944 ballot. Storm Thurmond and Henry A. Wallace made the largest impact out of any third party candidates. Thurmond represented the newly-formed States' Rights Party, which was made up of former Democrats who wanted to protect racial segregation in the South, and were disturbed by Truman's support of civil rights for ethnic minorities. Wallace had recently formed a new Progressive Party (not to be confused with Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party in the 1912 election) which facilitated the former Vice President's election campaign after his dismissal as Secretary of Commerce by President Truman in 1945.

The race for Eisenhower

Many Republican voters had put forward Dwight D. Eisenhower (the most popular General of the Second World War) as their candidate, and he was the favorite in the early stages of the race, despite the fact that Eisenhower had never shown interest in running for office. When he refused to accept the nomination, a close, three-way race ensued, with Dewey eventually emerging as the Republican candidate. In contrast to the Republicans, it was the Democratic Party's leadership who wished to put Eisenhower forward as their candidate, with President Truman secretly agreeing to run as Eisenhower's vice president. When Eisenhower refused to run, the Democratic leadership failed to find a suitable opponent, and reluctantly supported Truman for a second term.

Results

Dewey was the firm favorite to win the presidency, due to Truman's low approval ratings, however Truman was re-elected as President of the United States with just under fifty percent of the popular vote, and more than 57 percent of the electoral vote. Dewey receive 45 percent of the popular vote and 36 percent of the electoral votes, while the two most popular third party candidates received 2.4 percent of the popular vote. The difference between these two candidates, however, was that Strom Thurmond carried four states and took 7.3 percent of the the popular vote, and this was also the first time that Mississippi or Alabama did not vote for the Democratic Candidate since 1872, marking the end of the Democratic Party's grip on the southern states.