Upset of the Century - Take 2
In the runup to the 1948 Democratic Convention, Harry Truman was running for President for the first time, having succeeded FDR in 1945.
Truman was not the favorite to win.
www.trumanlibrary.gov/...
"In early 1948, Harry Truman prepared to run for President in his own right. Few people gave him any chance of reaching his goal. The economic difficulties of reconversion and popular perceptions of him as unrefined and blunt had hurt his popularity. His inconsistencies on the Palestine issue contributed to a sense that he wasn't up to his job. The Republican Congress had rejected almost all of his proposals for domestic reform. And it wasn't yet clear that his foreign policy initiatives in Europe would succeed"
The Palestine/Israel conflict was controversial in 1948, as it remains today. Truman was the first world leader to recognize Israel.
www.trumanlibrary.gov/...
U.S. President Harry Truman was the first world leader to officially recognize Israel as a legitimate Jewish state on May 14, 1948, only eleven minutes after its creation. His decision came after much discussion and advice from the White House staff who had differing viewpoints. Some advisors felt that creating a Jewish state was the only proper response to the holocaust and would benefit American interests. Others took the opposite view, concerned about that the creation of a Jewish state would create more conflict in an already tumultuous region.
As today with Biden, support for Truman inside his own party was disintegrating.
www.trumanlibrary.gov/...
To make matters worse, support within his own party was disintegrating. Southern Democrats became enraged when he began supporting civil rights for African Americans. Led by South Carolina governor (and later U.S. Senator) Strom Thurmond, the Southerners broke away and established the States' Rights Party, also known as the "Dixiecrat" faction. Truman was attacked by the left wing of his party because of his policy towards the Soviets, which they regarded as aggressive and provocative. Franklin Roosevelt's former Vice President Henry Wallace and his followers established the Progressive Party.
But - Truman, like Biden, was a fighter unwilling to take the easy road.
www.trumanlibrary.gov/...
Down in the polls and under fire within his own party, Truman alone remained confident of his victory. On the morning after the election, Americans rose to news of the most surprising comeback in presidential election history. In Missouri, Truman learned of his victory at 4:00am, when a Secret Service agent woke him. Later that day 40,000 people jammed the town square in Independence to salute their native son.
How did Truman turn this around? Sounds familiar.
www.trumanlibrary.gov/...
How did he do it? The election was a cliffhanger; the President won without getting a majority of the popular vote, pulling together just enough of the old New Deal coalition to squeak through. His civil rights program attracted black and liberal voters. Farmers rewarded his backing of price supports and other benefits. Labor backed his attacks on the Republican's anti-union record. Urban machines delivered the cities. And despite the defection of the "Dixiecrats," he still held on to several Southern states. Truman's upset was the highlight of a Democratic sweep, as the party won back control of Congress as well.
Truman went on his famous Whistlestop Tour - visiting dozens of states from Sept 6 through election day in 1948.
By Tom Fish · geo.fish · Fish Eye - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=112465294
We all know how it turned out….
It's time for Biden and the Democrats to repeat the 1948 Whistlestop Tour in 2024. Maybe a train would be too hard with security, but maybe a Runway Tour and do it on airports - nothing fancy - no big crowds required - but getting out in front of the people and Give 'em Hell!
Here is my amateur Photoshop of what could
be…..