Dewey Defeats Truman: the 1948 Election and the Battle for America's Soul

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. New. New Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020 New A J BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans His latest book, The Accidental President: Harry S Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World, was published in 2017 Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men's Journal He holds an MA in literature from NYU and currently lives in Granite Bay, California Visit A J at Facebookcom/ajbaime and Trumanbookcom

On the eve of the 1948 election, America was a fractured country Racism was rampant, foreign relations were fraught, and political parties were more divided than ever Americans were certain that President Harry S Truman's political career was over "The ballots haven't been counted," noted political columnist Fred Othman, "but there seems to be no further need for holding up an affectional farewell to Harry Truman" Truman's own staff did not believe he could win Nor did his wife, Bess The only man in the world confident that Truman would win was Mr Truman himself And win he did

1948 was a fight for the soul of a nation In Dewey Defeats Truman, A J Baime sheds light on one of the most action-packed six months in American history, as Truman not only triumphs, but oversees watershed events-the passing of the Marshall plan, the acknowledgement of Israel as a new state, the careful attention to the origins of the Cold War, and the first desegregation of the military

Not only did Truman win the election, he succeeded in guiding his country forward at a critical time with high stakes and haunting parallels to the modern day