The press was mortified by its failure. Richard Strout, in the New Republic, described the election as a "personal humiliation," but added that it "gave a glowing and wonderful sense that the American people can’t be ticketed by polls, know their own mind, and picked the rather unlikely but courageous figure of Truman to carry on its banner."

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in American History magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

The president was willing to be magnanimous in victory. The day after his stunning win, the president received a telegram from the Washington Post inviting him to attend a banquet at which the entire Post staff, dressed in sackcloth and ashes, would "eat crow," while the President, attired in white tie, would be served turkey. Truman wrote that, instead, "We should all get together now and make a country in which everybody can eat turkey whenever he pleases."

Michael D. Haydock is a freelance writer from Poughkeepsie, New York. His article about the sinking of the battleship Maine appeared in the February 1998 issue of American History.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to