Elections in the United States: 1944
The 1944 elections in the United States were significant, occurring during World War II and amidst various domestic issues. The Democratic Party, led by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, aimed to maintain their support while addressing concerns about the war and economic inflation. Roosevelt faced little opposition within his party and chose Senator Harry S. Truman as his running mate after Vice President Henry A. Wallace was seen as too liberal. The Republican Party nominated Thomas Dewey, the popular Governor of New York, who sought to capitalize on anxieties surrounding the war and Roosevelt’s health.
On Election Day, Roosevelt and Truman won with 53.4% of the popular vote against Dewey and running mate John W. Bricker, who garnered 45.9%. This election marked Roosevelt’s narrowest victory in his four terms, with the electoral vote heavily favoring him at 432 to 99. The results reflected a clear division in regional support, as Roosevelt performed well in the South and East, while Dewey found success in the Midwest. Ultimately, Roosevelt’s administration faced key challenges in the final months of the war, with Truman succeeding him after Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, leading the U.S. through significant post-war developments.
Elections in the United States: 1944
The Event Presidential and congressional elections that saw President Roosevelt again reelected
Date November 7, 1944
Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term, running against Republican Thomas E. Dewey, the governor of New York.
In the 1942 midterm elections, the Republican Party gained forty-seven seats in the House of Representatives and ten seats in the Senate. Those gains were not enough to gain control of either chamber, but they gave the Republicans hope for victory in the 1944 presidential election. Although many domestic issues needed to be resolved, the primary issue of concern was the country’s involvement in World War II. In addition to raising concerns about the war, the Republican Party accused the Roosevelt administration of inefficiency and blamed the Democrats for the increased prices of food and overall inflation of prices. Conservatives hoped to bring an end to New Deal programs, and Democrats focused on winning the war and responding to labor union pressures.
The 1944 elections resulted in the Democrats gaining twenty seats in the House of Representatives and the Republicans losing eighteen. The Democrats thus maintained control of the House. The Democrats lost one seat in the Senate to the Republicans, maintaining a large majority.
The Presidential Candidates
Roosevelt faced little opposition from within the Democratic Party in his bid to be the party’s candidate. At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, only ninety delegates voted against his nomination. Vice president Henry A. Wallace, however, was perceived as too liberal and did not receive the southern vote at the Democratic convention. Roosevelt was forced to pick a new vice president and chose Harry S. Truman, a senator from Missouri. He selected Truman primarily because of his exemplary service in World War I, his voting record in the Senate, and the fact that Missouri was traditionally a swing state, so that a vice presidential candidate from that state might be the deciding factor in its presidential vote. Furthermore, Truman had served as the chairman of the Senate War Investigation Committee, which sought to reduce corruption and waste found in government contracts.
The Republican Party had numerous contenders for the presidential nomination. Wendell Wilkie, the Republican candidate in the 1940 election, quickly withdrew from the primaries after a poor showing in Wisconsin. Wilkie approved of many of Roosevelt’s wartime programs, and that opened the path for Thomas Dewey to receive the nomination. Other contenders were wartime hero General Douglas MacArthur, former governor of Minnesota Harold E. Stassen, and Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio. MacArthur frequently spoke out against communism and many of the New Deal plans. Having proved himself as a special prosecutor and a district attorney, Dewey had been considered for the party nomination in 1940. He was elected governor of New York in 1942 and was popular throughout the state. His eventual nomination in 1944 reflected his strong voter base and the fact that he would most likely win the forty-seven electoral votes of New York, the most any state could offer.
At the Republican Convention, Dewey received all but one of the delegate votes. At forty-two years of age, he was the youngest man ever to win the Republican nomination and also the first to be born in the twentieth century. Dewey attempted to use his youth to his advantage and gain support of the younger voters. He was a full twenty years younger than Roosevelt and offered a stark contrast between his youthful energy and the declining health of Roosevelt. For his running mate, Dewey hoped to solidify the support of the conservative Republicans with his selection of Ohio’s Governor Bricker. With the support of the Republican Party, Dewey and Bricker tried to influence voters by drawing their attention to anxiety about the war and resentment over domestic issues.
Coming into the elections, Roosevelt had proved to the American public his ability to serve during the twelve years of his presidential administration. The Republican Party and the press, however, questioned his health and continued ability to serve as president. Photographs circulated that showed Roosevelt looking old and ill. He ran a strong campaign nevertheless and was able to withstand or counter rumors about him.
Election Day Results
On election day, Roosevelt and Truman won with 53.4 percent of the popular vote, compared with 45.9 percent for Dewey and Bricker, representing an advantage of nearly 3.5 million votes. This was the narrowest victory of Roosevelt’s four terms. The electoral vote favored Roosevelt 432 to 99; he needed only 266 electors to win. Roosevelt carried the entire South, most of the West Coast, and the eastern seaboard. His support came primarily from the New Deal coalition, labor unions, and absentee ballots from military personnel serving overseas. Dewey did well in the Midwest, winning in Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and both North and South Dakota. He also won in Maine, Vermont, Colorado, and Wyoming. Other candidates were Norman M. Thomas of the Socialist Party and Claude A. Watson of the Prohibition Party. Thomas ran unsuccessfully as the Socialist presidential candidate in 1940, 1944, and 1948. In 1944, he received slightly more than 79,000 votes, primarily from New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Watson had previously run as the vice presidential candidate for the Prohibition Party in 1936 and ran again as the presidential candidate in 1948. He received more than 74,000 votes in 1944, garnering support primarily from California and Indiana.
Impact
Roosevelt and Truman presided over an eventful administration. Roosevelt oversaw the Yalta Conference of world leaders from February 4 to February 11, 1945. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage two months later, on April 12, and did not live to see the end of World War II.
When Truman took office following Roosevelt’s death, he faced the continued pressures of World War II, though victory in Europe seemed assured. Germany offered unconditional surrender on May 8. From July 17 to August 2, Truman met with the leaders of Great Britain and the Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference. With Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, British prime ministerWinston Churchill, and Churchill’s successor, Clement Richard Attlee (whose election to the post was announced on July 26), he formulated plans to punish Germany for its aggressive actions. The conference also established policies for postwar order, settled issues of peace treaties, and made plans to counter the effects of the war.
After Japan refused the terms of unconditional surrender, Truman ordered that an atomic bomb be dropped on Hiroshima on August 6. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
Truman’s administration also aided Turkey and Greece, both of which suffered from internal strife, providing funds to them in 1947 in an effort to contain communism. On March 12, 1947, Truman introduced the Truman Doctrine in a speech to Congress. The doctrine, based on the ideas of George Kennan (who had served as the deputy head of the U.S. mission in Moscow), outlined a policy for dealing with the Soviet Union and preventing the spread of communism to other countries. He pledged, in a policy of containment of communism, that the United States would provide political, military, and economic assistance to nations threatened by totalitarian forces, either internal or external.
Bibliography
Elston, Heidi. Harry S. Truman. Edina, Minn.: ABDO Publishing, 2009. As the vice presidential candidate, Truman played a critical role in the 1944 presidential election. This book examines Truman’s life and impact on world events.
Evans, Hugh E. The Hidden Campaign: FDR’s Health and the 1944 Election. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2002. Discusses the impact of the presidency on Roosevelt’s health and how his poor health affected the election. Argues that Roosevelt was in no physical condition to run for president in 1944.
Ferrell, Robert H. Choosing Truman: The Democratic Convention of 1944. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1994. Ferrell provides a detailed analysis of the 1944 Democratic Convention and the events that led to Truman receiving the vice presidential nomination.
Israel, Fred L. Student’s Atlas of American Presidential Elections, 1789 to 1996. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1997. Israel offers a brief look at the candidates, issues, and results of each presidential election for more than two centuries.
McCullough, David. Truman. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. Traces the life of Harry S. Truman from his youth in Independence, Missouri, to his time in the White House and beyond.
Mieczkowski, Yanek. The Routledge Historical Atlas of Presidential Elections. New York: Routledge, 2001. Coverage of all presidential elections from 1789 to 2000. Includes more than 70 maps and illustrations to facilitate interpretation of the data.
Morris-Lipsman, Arlene. Presidential Races: The Battle for Power in the United States. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2008. This book is filled with images from presidential campaigns, information about each race, and an explanation of how presidential races changed over the years.
Smith, Jean Edward. FDR. New York: Random House, 2007. More than half of the book deals with Roosevelt’s four presidencies. Discusses his personal life in depth and evaluates his decisions as president. Though sympathetic to Roosevelt, Smith does not hesitate to discuss his flaws and questionable actions.
Truman, Harry S. Dear Bess: The Letters from Harry to Bess Truman, 1910-1959. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1998. A collection of more than six hundred letters that Truman wrote to his wife, Bess, chronicling the events in their lives.