UNITED STATES PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 1944

The 'United States presidential election of 1944' took place while the United States was preoccupied with fighting World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) had been in office longer than any other president, but remained popular. Unlike 1940, there was little doubt that Roosevelt would run for another term as the Democratic candidate. His Republican opponent in 1944 was New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Dewey made an energetic campaign, but there was little doubt, in the midst of a world war, that FDR would win a record fourth term.

Contents

Nominations

Democratic Party Nomination

Republican Party Nomination

General election

The Fall Campaign

Results

Results by state

Further reading

Miscellanea

See also

External links

Navigation

Nominations

Democratic Party Nomination

Roosevelt was a popular, war-time incumbent and faced little formal opposition. Although a growing number of the party's conservatives - especially in the South - were increasingly skeptical of Roosevelt's economic and social policies, few of them dared to publicly oppose Roosevelt, and he was renominated easily.
The balloting went thusly:

★ President Franklin Roosevelt 1086

★ Harry F. Byrd 87

★ James A. Farley 1
Although the party's conservatives could not stop FDR from winning the nomination, the obvious physical decline in the President's appearance, as well as rumors of private health problems - led many delegates and party leaders to strongly oppose Henry Wallace. Wallace, who was FDR's second Vice-President, was regarded by most conservatives as being too left-wing and personally eccentric to be second in line to the Presidency. Numerous party leaders privately told Roosevelt that they would fight Wallace's renomination, and they proposed Missouri Senator Harry Truman, a moderate who had become well-known as the chairman of a Senate wartime investigating committee, as FDR's new running mate. Roosevelt, who personally liked Wallace and knew little about Truman, reluctantly agreed to accept Truman as his running mate. Even so, many liberal delegates refused to abandon Wallace, and they cast their votes for him on the first ballot. However, enough large Northern, Midwestern, and Southern states supported Truman to give him the victory on the second ballot.
The balloting (source: Richard C. Bain & Judith H. Parris, ''Convention Decisions and Voting Records'' (Washington DC: The Brookings Institution, 1973), pp. 266-267.

vice-presidential vote

ballot	1	2 (before shifts)	2 (after shifts)
Harry S. Truman MO	319.5	477.5	1,031
Henry A. Wallace IA	429.5	473	105
John H. Bankhead II AL	98	23.5	0
Scott W. Lucas IL	61	58	0
Alben W. Barkley KY	49.5	40	6
J. Melville Broughton NC	43	30	0
Paul V. McNutt IN	31	28	1
Prentice Cooper TN	26	26	26
Scattering	118.5	20	7

President Roosevelt was making a trip to the South Pacific in order to discuss military strategy with General Douglas MacArthur, and thus didn't attend the convention. This was the last time that a presidential nominee failed to attend a national convention during the 20th century.

Republican Party Nomination

Republican Candidates

★ Riley A. Bender, businessman from Illinois

★ John W. Bricker, Governor of Ohio

★ Thomas E. Dewey, Governor of New York and candidate for the 1940 nomination

★ Douglas MacArthur, 4-star General and Commander of Allied Forces in the South-West Pacific from Wisconsin

★ Harold E. Stassen, former Governor of Minnesota

★ Robert A. Taft, U.S. senator and candidate for the 1940 nomination from Ohio

★ Wendell L. Willkie, businessman and 1940 presidential nominee from Indiana
As 1944 began the frontrunners for the Republican nomination appeared to be Wendell Willkie, the party's 1940 candidate; Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, the leader of the party's conservatives; and New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, who had risen to national fame as the prosecutor of numerous mafia figures, most notably Lucky Luciano, the organized-crime boss of New York City. However, Taft surprised many by announcing that he was not a candidate; instead he voiced his support for fellow Ohio Senator John Bricker, another conservative. In the key Wisconsin primary Dewey crushed both Willkie and General Douglas MacArthur, thus forcing Willkie to withdraw as a candidate. At the 1944 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Dewey easily overcame the candidacy of Bricker and was nominated on the first ballot. Dewey then chose Bricker as his running mate; Bricker was nominated by acclamation.

General election

The Fall Campaign

The Republicans campaigned against the New Deal, seeking a smaller government and less-regulated economy as the end of the war seemed in sight. Nonetheless Roosevelt's continuing popularity was the main theme of the campaign. To quiet rumors of his poor health, Roosevelt insisted on making a vigorous campaign swing in October, and rode in an open car through city streets. A high point of the campaign occurred when Roosevelt, speaking to a meeting of labor union leaders, gave a speech carried on national radio in which he ridiculed Republican claims that his administration was corrupt and wasteful with tax money. He particularly ridiculed a GOP claim that he had sent a US Navy warship to pick up his Scottish terrier Fala in Alaska, noting that "Fala was furious" at such rumors. The speech was met with loud laughter and applause from the labor leaders. In response, Dewey gave a blistering partisan speech in Oklahoma City a few days later on national radio, in which he accused Roosevelt of being "indispensable" to corrupt big-city Democratic organizations and American Communists; he also referred to members of FDR's cabinet as a "motley crew". However, American battlefield successes in Europe and the Pacific during the campaign, such as the liberation of Paris in August 1944 and the successful Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines in October 1944, made Roosevelt unbeatable.
In the election on November 7, 1944, Roosevelt scored a comfortable victory over Dewey. Roosevelt took 36 states for 432 electoral votes, while Dewey won 12 states and 99 electoral votes (266 were needed to win). In the popular vote Roosevelt won 25,612,916 votes to Dewey's 22,017,929. Dewey did better against Roosevelt than any of FDR's four Republican opponents, and he did have the personal satisfaction of beating Roosevelt in FDR's hometown of Hyde Park, New York, and of winning Truman's hometown of Independence, Missouri. Dewey would again be the Republican presidential nominee in 1948 and would again lose.
The 1944 Presidential race was the last time both major-party nominees were from New York. This could happen again in 2008 if Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton are the major-party nominees.

Results

'Source (Popular Vote):'
'Source (Electoral Vote):'

Results by state

		Franklin Roosevelt Democratic			Thomas Dewey Republican			Other			State Total
State	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#
Alabama	11	198,918	81.3	11	44,540	18.2	-	1,285	0.5	-	244,743	AL
Arizona	4	80,926	58.8	4	56,287	40.9	-	421	0.3	-	137,634	AZ
Arkansas	9	148,965	70.0	9	63,551	29.8	-	438	0.2	-	212,954	AR
California	25	1,988,564	56.5	25	1,512,965	43.0	-	19,346	0.6	-	3,520,875	CA
Colorado	6	234,331	46.4	-	268,731	53.2	6	1,977	0.4	-	505,039	CO
Connecticut	8	435,146	52.3	8	390,527	46.9	-	6,317	0.8	-	831,990	CT
Delaware	3	68,166	54.4	3	56,747	45.2	-	448	0.4	-	125,361	DE
Florida	8	339,377	70.3	8	143,215	29.7	-	''not on ballot''			482,592	FL
Georgia	12	268,187	81.7	12	59,880	18.3	-	42	0.0	-	328,109	GA
Idaho	4	107,399	51.6	4	100,137	48.1	-	785	0.4	-	208,321	ID
Illinois	28	2,079,479	51.5	28	1,939,314	48.1	-	17,268	0.4	-	4,036,031	IL
Indiana	13	781,403	46.7	-	875,891	52.4	13	14,797	0.9	-	1,672,091	IN
Iowa	10	499,876	47.5	-	547,267	52.0	10	5,456	0.5	-	1,052,599	IA
Kansas	8	287,458	39.2	-	442,096	60.3	8	4,222	0.6	-	733,776	KS
Kentucky	11	472,589	54.5	11	392,448	45.2	-	2,884	0.3	-	867,921	KY
Louisiana	10	281,564	80.6	10	67,750	19.4	-	69	0.0	-	349,383	LA
Maine	5	140,631	47.5	-	155,434	52.4	5	335	0.1	-	296,400	ME
Maryland	8	315,490	51.9	8	292,949	48.2	-	''not on ballot''			608,439	MD
Massachusetts	16	1,035,296	52.8	16	921,350	47.0	-	4,019	0.2	-	1,960,665	MA
Michigan	19	1,106,899	50.2	19	1,084,423	49.2	-	13,901	0.6	-	2,205,223	MI
Minnesota	11	589,864	52.4	11	527,416	46.9	-	8,249	0.7	-	1,125,529	MN
Mississippi	9	168,479	93.6	9	11,601	6.4	-	''not on ballot''			180,080	MS
Missouri	15	807,804	51.4	15	761,524	48.4	-	3,146	0.2	-	1,572,474	MO
Montana	4	112,556	54.3	4	93,163	44.9	-	1,636	0.8	-	207,355	MT
Nebraska	6	233,246	41.4	-	329,880	58.9	6	''not on ballot''			563,126	NE
Nevada	3	29,623	54.6	3	24,611	45.4	-	''not on ballot''			54,234	NV
New Hampshire	4	119,663	52.1	4	109,916	47.9	-	46	0.0	-	229,625	NH
New Jersey	16	987,874	50.3	16	961,335	49.0	-	14,552	0.7	-	1,963,761	NJ
New Mexico	3	81,389	53.4	3	70,688	46.4	-	148	0.1	-	152,225	NM
New York	47	3,304,238	52.3	47	2,987,647	47.3	-	24,905	0.4	-	6,316,790	NY
North Carolina	14	527,399	66.7	14	263,155	33.3	-	''not on ballot''			790,554	NC
North Dakota	4	100,144	45.5	-	118,535	53.8	4	1,492	0.7	-	220,171	ND
Ohio	25	1,570,763	49.8	-	1,582,293	50.2	25	''not on ballot''			3,153,056	OH
Oklahoma	10	401,549	55.6	10	319,424	44.2	-	1,663	0.2	-	722,636	OK
Oregon	6	248,635	51.8	6	225,365	46.9	-	6,147	1.3	-	480,147	OR
Pennsylvania	35	1,940,479	51.1	35	1,835,054	48.4	-	19,260	0.5	-	3,794,793	PA
Rhode Island	4	175,356	58.6	4	123,487	41.3	-	433	0.1	-	299,276	RI
South Carolina	8	90,601	87.6	8	4,610	4.5	-	8,164	7.9	-	103,375	SC
South Dakota	4	96,711	41.7	-	135,365	58.3	4	''not on ballot''			232,076	SD
Tennessee	12	308,707	60.5	12	200,311	39.2	-	1,674	0.3	-	510,692	TN
Texas	23	821,605	71.4	23	191,425	16.6	-	137,301	11.9	-	1,150,331	TX
Utah	4	150,088	60.9	4	97,891	39.4	-	340	0.1	-	248,319	UT
Vermont	3	53,820	42.9	-	71,527	57.1	3	14	0.0	-	125,361	VT
Virginia	11	242,276	62.4	11	145,243	37.4	-	966	0.3	-	388,485	VA
Washington	8	486,774	56.8	8	361,689	42.2	-	7,865	0.9	-	856,328	WA
West Virginia	8	392,777	54.9	8	322,819	45.1	-	''not on ballot''			715,596	WV
Wisconsin	12	650,413	48.6	-	674,532	50.4	12	14,207	1.1	-	1,339,152	WI
Wyoming	3	49,419	48.8	-	51,921	51.2	3	''not on ballot''			101,340	WY
TOTALS:	531	25,612,916	53.4	432	22,017,929	45.9	99	346,218	0.7	-	47,977,063
TO WIN:	266

Further reading

★ Cantril, Hadley and Mildred Strunk, eds.; ''Public Opinion, 1935-1946'' (1951), massive compilation of many public opinion polls from USA
Gallup, George Horace, ed. ''The Gallup Poll; Public Opinion, 1935-1971'' 3 vol (1972) esp vol 1; summarizes results of each poll as reported to newspapers

Miscellanea

★ The 1944 election would be the last election in which a Democratic presidential candidate carried every state in the South.

★ The 1944 election was the first since Grover Cleveland's re-election in 1892 in which the bellwether state of Ohio backed a losing candidate.

See also

★ President of the United States

★ United States Senate elections, 1944

★ Homefront-United States-World War II

★ ''Hell-Bent for Election'', animated Roosevelt campaign film

External links

★ 1944 popular vote by counties

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