Page 49 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

DEFEATS TRUMAN"
38
Lemuel
SOURCE: Sydney W. Head, Christopher Sterling, and "DEWEY B. Schofield, Broad-
casting in America: A Survey of Electronic Media, seventh edition, 1994.
Joseph A. Russomanno

"DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN" is perhaps the most remembered headline
in the history of political communication. It was the banner across the top of
the front page of the Chicago Tribune the morning after the 1948 election. Like
most of the press and the pollsters, the Tribune got it wrong. In a stunning
turnaround, incumbent Harry Truman upset Republican candidate Thomas
Dewey. Only three weeks before the election, polls were showing an easy win
for the popular governor of New York. Newsweek surveyed political writers for
its October 11 issue and reported that every single one of them believed that
Dewey would win. While Dewey coasted, Truman barnstormed the country in
a "give 'em hell, Harry" whistle-stop campaign. His main themes were "the
do-nothing eightieth Congress" and the "one-party press." The latter referred
to the fact that most major newspapers endorsed Dewey and predicted an elec-
toral sweep. Ten days before the election, Life magazine ran a picture of Dewey
that identified him simply as "the next president of the United States." On
election night, despite Truman's mounting lead in the popular vote, NBC com-
mentator Hans Von Kaltenborn predicted the tide would turn as votes from
traditional Republican strongholds were tabulated. When the Tribune went to
press, Truman was leading in the popular vote, but it was not until 8:30 Wednes-
day morning that the electoral vote count put Truman over the top. In a post-
mortem, stunned pollsters, publishers, and political columnists acknowledged
they had failed to see the surge of excitement for Truman in the final weeks of
the campaign. The last Gallup Poll, released shortly before Election Day, ac-
tually was taken several weeks earlier. As a triumphal presidential train traveled
through St. Louis on its way back to Washington from Truman's hometown in
Independence, Missouri, the president stepped out on the rear platform, where
someone handed him a copy of the Chicago Tribune with its erroneous headline.
Smiling broadly, Truman held it up for what would become one of the most
famous photographs in campaign history. (See also One-Party Press.)

SOURCE: David McCullough, Truman, 1992.
Churchill L. Roberts

DIFFUSION. Information does not usually reach everybody immediately. Stud-
ies of diffusion show that there are varied patterns. People tend to find out about
major news events first from television and do so within a few hours of the
event. Thus, one study found that when the space shuttle Challenger exploded,
58 percent knew about it within 15 minutes, and 85 percent within an hour.
Most found out from television.
On the other hand, a study of diffusion of news of a fraternity house fire on