{"product_id":"1948-harry-truman-s-improbable-victory-and-the-year-that-transformed-america","title":"1948: Harry Truman s Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America","description":"\u003cp\u003eIndelibly, we recall the iconic newsphoto: jubilant underdog Harry Truman brandishing his copy of the Chicago Tribune proclaiming  DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.  But far, far more exists to 1948 s election that a single inglorious headline and a stunning upset victory. Awardwinning author David Pietrusza goes beyond the headlines to reveal backstage events and to place in context a downtothewire donnybrook fought against the background of an erupting Cold War, the Berlin Airlift, and the birth of Israel, a postwar America facing exploding storms over civil rights, and domestic communism.It s a war for the soul of the Democratic Party with accidental president Harry Truman pitted against his embittered leftwing predecessor as vice president, Henry Wallace, and stormy young South Carolina segregationist Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond. On the GOP side, it s a fourway battle between coldasice New Yorker Tom Dewey, Minnesota upstart Harold Stassen, the stodgy but brilliant Ohio conservative Robert Taft, and the imperious but aged Douglas MacArthur.But Americans really want  none of the above.  They do, however,  like IKE,  but Dwight Eisenhower stubbornly resists draft movements in both parties to runat least, that year.It s an election year featuring a uniquely stellar supporting cast. Alger Hiss, Whitaker Chambers and Richard Nixon. Civil rights crusader Hubert Humphrey. GOP VP choice Earl Warren. Henry Wallace activists Paul Robeson, Lillian Hellman, and Pete Seeger. A passel of FDR kinincluding Eleanordisgusted with HST. Wisconsin s Joe McCarthy, Clark Clifford, William O. Douglas, George C. Marshall, John Foster Dulles, Adlai Stevenson, Drew Pearson,  Landslide Lyndon  Johnson, H. L. Mencken, Harold Ickes, Clare and Henry Luce, the  DoNothing  80th Congress, Curtis LeMay, Ronald Reagan, and, last, but not least, NBC s forever embarrassed H. V. Kaltenborn.David Pietrusza achieves for 1948 s presidential race what he previously did in 1960: LBJ vs JFK vs Nixonof which Library Journal (starred review) said  raises the bar with his winning and provocative chronicle. . . . Highly recommended.  Pietrusza again brings history to life, spellbinding readers with tales of the highest drama while simultaneously presenting the issues, personalities, and controversies of this pivotal era with laserlike clarity.With 2012 s crucial presidential election approaching, 1948 transforms the way readers see modern American history.Just a taste of what s inside David Pietrusza s riveting 1948: Harry Truman s Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America s Role in the World Vitriolic Westbrook Pegler s expos of Henry Wallace s secret  Guru  letters. Why the NAACP fired 80old civil rights pioneer W. E. B. DuBois. Why a disgusted Nina Warren voted for HSTand against Tom Dewey and her own husband Earl. How A. Philip Randolph s threatened  March on Washington  integrated the army. J. Strom Thurmond: Segregationist white knightwith an illegitimate black daughter. The groundbreaking Oregon radio debate that settled a presidential nomination. How  Bull  Connor arrested Henry Wallace s running mateand nearly arrested Wallace himself. The Case of the Missing President: HST s election night vanishing act.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brand: Union Square Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47334619578613,"sku":"SONG140276748X","price":11.53,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/5804\/8501\/files\/91RUlH0rC3L_b2f8a14f-8204-4549-93ff-eb96003c353a.jpg?v=1763970368","url":"https:\/\/ergodebooks.com\/products\/1948-harry-truman-s-improbable-victory-and-the-year-that-transformed-america","provider":"Ergodebooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}