1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America

4920. 1948 Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America's Role in the World, by David Pietrusza (read 9 May 2012) I read this author's book on the 1960 election on 25 Nov 2008 and enjoyed it so much that when I saw he had a book on the 1948 election I knew I had to read it. It is almost as enjoyable as the book on the 1960 election, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I enjoyed living the political year 1948, since during most of that year I looked forward to the November election with fearful gloom. As I read this book I knew that no matter how desperate things looked November would be a giddily great time. I think the author pays a bit more attention to the Wallace candidacy than necessary, but I have no other show more complaint about what he covers in the book. There are a few minor errors I noted: On page 90 he says Harold Stassen was the youngest governor ever, but he is wrong--there was a Governor of Michigan, Stevens T. Mason, who was elected when 24 and re-elected when 26, and California's J. Neely Johnson was elected governor in 1855 when he was 30. Stassen was 31 when elected governor of Minnesota in 1938. (The fourth youngest governor ever was Bill Clinton--32 when elected governor in 1978.) And on page 220 the author says the Barkley-Chandler primary contest was in 1936 but it was, as even I remembered, in 1938. And on page 247 he refers to Senator Chad Gurney but he should have known it was Senator Chan Gurney he meant. I suppose the book is not as elegantly written as some political histories but it was sure great reading of that amazing year. show less