United States presidential election in New York, 1948

United States presidential election in New York, 1948

November 2, 1948

Nominee Thomas E. Dewey Harry S. Truman Henry Wallace Party Republican Democratic Progressive Home state New York Missouri Iowa Running mate Earl Warren Alben W. Barkley Glen Taylor Electoral vote 47 0 0 Popular vote 2,841,163 2,780,204 509,559 Percentage 45.99% 45.01% 8.25%

County Results   Truman—50-60%   Truman—<50%   Dewey—<50%   Dewey—50-60%   Dewey—60-70%   Dewey—70-80%

President before election Harry S. Truman Democratic Elected President Harry S. Truman Democratic

President Harry S. Truman, shortly after being elected, smiles as he holds up a copy of the Chicago Tribune issue predicting his electoral defeat. November 3, 1948.

The 1948 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 2, 1948. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1948 United States presidential election. New York voters chose 47 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the President and Vice President.

New York was won by local Republican Governor Thomas E. Dewey, who was running against incumbent Democratic President Harry S. Truman. Dewey ran with California Governor Earl Warren for Vice President, and Truman ran with Kentucky Senator Alben W. Barkley. Dewey took 45.99% of the vote to Truman's 45.01%, a margin of 0.99%. Progressive Party candidate Henry Wallace, a former Democratic Vice President who ran to the left of Truman and was nominated by the local American Labor Party, finished a strong third with 8.25%.

New York weighed in for this election as 1% more third party than the national average, and less Democratic and Republican than the national average, despite New York being Governor Dewey's home state.

The presidential election of 1948 was a very multi-partisan election for New York, with more than 8% of the electorate casting votes for Third Parties.^[1] In typical form for the time, the highly populated urban centers of New York City, Buffalo, and Albany, voted primarily Democratic, while most of the smaller counties in New York turned out for Dewey as the Republican candidate.

Henry Wallace's relatively strong third party support as a Progressive candidate was concentrated in the New York City area; in the 3 Democratic boroughs of New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx), Wallace took percentages in the double digits. Truman's bleeding of left-wing support to Wallace in New York City contributed to his narrow loss of the state to Dewey, after New York had voted Democratic for Franklin Roosevelt in the preceding four elections.

Dewey won the election in New York by a narrow margin of less than 1 point, despite it being his home state. Historical commentators have discussed that a major problem with the Dewey campaign was Dewey's almost crippling aloofness to the issues of the day. Commentators suggest any Dewey speech could be boiled down to the following: "Agriculture is important. Our rivers are full of fish. You cannot have freedom without liberty. Our future lies ahead."^[2] Many Republicans voters claimed feeling a difficulty identifying with the largely distant and enigmatic candidate. Truman, alternatively, ran a very aggressive campaign, which he focused on fighting communism, furthering the social programs established under the FDR administration, and expansion of civil rights.

The election of 1948 also greatly helped to solidify the new face of the Democratic Party as being more oriented toward human rights as backed by the Federal Government, than to State's rights, as was previously established during the Civil War. Truman's avocation of civil rights, particularly those of African Americans, alienated him from many southern Democrats and caused the first cracks to show in the Democratic dominance of the Deep South, which added ammunition to the growth of the Dixiecrat movement in the Deep South, though the movement enjoyed little success in New York. Rather, the leading third party candidate in New York during this tumultuous election year was former United States Vice President and new Progressive Party poster child Henry Wallace, who gained over 8% of the vote in the state.

The most populous state in the country at the time, this was the first presidential election since 1916 where New York did not back the winning candidate. Truman is also the last Democrat to win a presidential election without New York.

Results

United States presidential election in New York, 1948
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Thomas E. Dewey	2,841,163	45.99%	47
	Democratic	Harry S. Truman	2,557,642	41.40%	0
	Liberal	Harry S. Truman	222,562	3.60%	0
	Total	Harry S. Truman	2,780,204	45.01%	0
	American Labor (Progressive)	Henry A. Wallace	509,559	8.25%	0
	Socialist	Norman Thomas	40,879	0.66%	0
	Socialist Labor	Edward Teichert	2,729	0.04%	0
	Socialist Workers	Farrell Dobbs	2,675	0.04%	0
	Write-ins		128	<0.01%	0
Totals			6,177,337	100.0%	47

Results by county

NOTE: Only votes for Dewey, Truman, and Wallace are currently displayed in Full.

County	Dewey%	Dewey#	Truman%	Truman#	Wallace%	Wallace#	Thomas%	Thomas#	Teichert%	Teichert#	Dobbs%	Dobbs#
Albany	42.74	59,965	53.76	75,419	3.49	4,903
Allegany	72.23	12,689	26.82	4,711	0.96	168
Bronx	27.80	173,044	54.17	337,129	17.15	106,762	0.75	4,649	0.06	387	0.06	384
Broome	60.93	43,110	36.26	25,654	2.82	1,992
Cattaraugus	60.24	18,246	37.27	11,289	2.48	752
Cayuga	56.55	19,017	42.58	14,317	0.87	293
Chautauqua	57.74	29,969	39.85	20,683	2.41	1,251
Chemung	61.87	22,754	36.30	13,352	1.83	673
Chenango	70.82	11,988	28.14	4,764	1.03	175
Clinton	49.22	9,694	47.50	9,357	3.28	646
Columbia	66.12	13,758	31.37	6,527	2.51	522
Cortland	68.48	10,433	30.28	4,614	1.24	189
Delaware	73.29	14,226	25.58	4,965	1.13	220
Dutchess	64.59	34,067	33.06	17,439	2.35	1,240
Erie	45.89	175,118	51.78	197,618	2.33	8,885
Essex	70.11	10,287	27.86	4,088	2.02	297
Franklin	55.36	8,993	41.85	6,799	2.79	454
Fulton	60.73	12,787	36.42	7,667	2.85	600
Genesee	62.97	12,650	34.96	7,024	2.07	415
Greene	66.70	10,566	31.28	4,955	2.03	321
Hamilton	71.81	2,000	26.71	744	1.47	41
Herkimer	51.96	14,688	44.49	12,577	3.54	1,002
Jefferson	46.00	19,661	30.83	13,176	0.96	412	18.10	7,734	1.25	535	2.85	1,222
Kings (Brooklyn)	30.76	330,494	53.98	579,922	15.26	163,896
Lewis	62.90	5,692	35.48	3,211	1.62	147
Livingston	62.83	11,310	35.60	6,409	1.57	282
Madison	68.62	13,413	30.37	5,937	1.01	198
Monroe	48.35	110,641	48.80	109,608	2.85	6,461
Montgomery	49.02	14,212	48.58	14,085	2.40	696
Nassau	70.10	184,284	26.81	70,492	3.09	8,121
New York (Manhattan)	32.75	241,752	51.52	380,310	14.43	106,509	1.18	8,685	0.07	488	0.07	493
Niagara	49.79	35,858	47.37	34,119	2.84	2,046
Oneida	48.02	46,775	49.64	48,332	2.33	2,269
Onondaga	54.21	84,370	42.60	66,295	3.19	4,971
Ontario	63.75	16,156	34.93	8,852	1.31	333
Orange	63.34	38,351	34.09	20,638	2.57	1,559
Orleans	69.28	9,566	29.03	4,009	1.69	233
Oswego	58.22	19,095	39.09	12,820	2.70	884
Otsego	66.81	15,437	31.05	7,174	2.14	495
Putnam	64.55	8,222	31.50	4,012	3.96	504
Queens	50.58	323,459	42.02	268,742	6.63	42,409	0.72	4,580	0.04	245	0.02	108
Rensselaer	56.93	40,375	40.14	28,468	2.93	2,080
Richmond (Staten Island)	54.06	39,539	41.62	30,442	3.80	2,779	0.48	349	0.02	16	0.01	9
Rockland	58.51	20,661	37.00	13,066	4.48	1,583
St. Lawrence	60.75	21,160	37.90	13,200	1.35	471
Saratoga	61.78	20,706	34.18	11,457	4.04	1,354
Schenectady	53.13	35,495	42.24	28,225	4.63	3,093
Schoharie	61.42	6,751	36.68	4,032	1.89	208
Schuyler	69.38	4,452	29.11	1,868	1.51	97
Seneca	58.22	7,266	39.24	4,897	2.55	318
Steuben	62.63	22,938	35.21	12,895	2.15	789
Suffolk	70.27	75,519	27.08	29,104	2.64	2,842
Sullivan	53.55	11,253	36.42	7,654	10.03	2,107
Tioga	70.42	8,673	27.48	3,385	2.09	258
Tompkins	68.27	13,719	28.47	5,721	3.26	656
Ulster	64.62	28,941	32.24	14,441	3.14	1,407
Warren	69.11	12,884	29.43	5,486	1.47	274
Washington	68.55	13,975	29.51	6,017	1.94	396
Wayne	69.66	16,167	29.08	6,749	1.25	291
Westchester	61.73	177,077	33.36	95,681	4.91	14,084
Wyoming	67.92	9,871	31.02	4,508	1.07	155
Yates	73.78	5,997	25.10	2,040	1.12	91
Totals	45.99	2,841,163	45.01	2,780,204	8.25	509,559	0.66	40,879	0.04	2,729	0.04%	2,675

See also

• Civil Rights Movement
• Presidency of Harry S. Truman
• The Cold War
• The Korean War

References

1. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
2. Donaldson, Gary A. (1999). Truman Defeats Dewey. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 173. ISBN 0-8131-2075-6. Quoting The Courier-Journal