*The Historical Scenario Commission greatly updated this scenario, and it can be downloaded here: United States – 1948 v.2.0
The end of World War II transitions into a Cold War. Domestically, the country fears Communist influence inside of the country. Internationally, the country fears the only other superpower remaining in the world: The Soviet Union. Truman also has many other problems. His popularity is very low and he faces a much more confident Republican Party, which has not held the presidency since Herbert Hoover. The president also must deal with his own party, which is breaking apart at the seams.
For the Democrats in 1948, the party establishment sticks with Truman, as he has the power of incumbency. However, a “Dump Truman” ticket is forming around the moderate Southerner Claude Pepper. Conservative Southerners, unwilling to accept Pepper, support Richard Russell.
The Republicans field their usual candidates–Thomas Dewey for the moderates, Robert Taft for the conservatives and Harold Stassen for the liberals. Other usual candidates include Arthur Vandenberg, Earl Warren and Everett Dirksen. General Douglas MacArthur also has many supporters. Overall, Thomas Dewey, who was the 1944 nominee, is seen as the clear front-runner, as he has presidential campaign experience, and because he has the best shot of unifying the party.
Progressive democrats, who feel Truman is not liberal enough, rally behind Henry Wallace’s Progressive Party. However, the party is hampered by supposed ties to the Communist Party.
Conservative democrats with neo-Confederate sympathies flock to Strom Thurmond’s Dixiecrat or States’ Rights Democrat Party.
This scenario allows for many what-if elections:
- Both parties made attempts at catering to Eisenhower to get him to run for president. What if he had run (as a Republican) in 1948, instead of 1952?
- Conservative John Bricker and moderate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr had supporters wishing them to run. What if they had?
- What if Henry Wallace and Strom Thurmond had not run as 3rd parties, but ran as Democrats against Truman in the primaries?
- What if Harry F. Byrd of Virginia was the Southern option for Democrats?
- What if Cordell Hull, FDR’s brilliant Secretary of State, ran for the presidency? He was both a Southerner and someone respected by those who respected FDR.
- What if FDR has not died in office in 1945 and, despite terrible health, attempted a 5th term in office to ensure that his proposed 2nd Bill of Rights (The Economic Bill of Rights) was pushed through Congress?
Feedback, along with any suggestions to remedy any problems, is desired.
Yes!!! So excited for ’52 ’56 Your Scenarios are the best <3 <3 <3
Great scenario for one of America’s most fascinating elections. Brief suggestion (I know I can do this for myself, I just mean for the benefit of others): maybe boost Truman’s stamina to a 4, or even a 5? One of the things that won him that election was his whistle stop barnstorming tours across the country. He went from speech to speech all day for weeks on end. Might be something worth considering if you add an update. Regardless, great job with all of these; they’re really fantastic.
Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, good point on Truman
These are amazing! Love them
Great work! Can’t wait for 52!
Hi great work with your scenarios!
I would add Eisenhower to the Democratic side as well as back then it was very much unclear wether he would run as a Democrat or a Republican.
And I think it would be interesting to add Eleanor Roosevelt just for fun:)
Eisenhower as a Democrat will be in an update.
Phil – There’s a book where Eisenhower runs against Eleanor in 1952
Nick – sounds interesting 🙂 can you tell me the title?
http://www.amazon.com/Eleanor-vs-Ike-Robin-Gerber/dp/0061373214/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431713548&sr=8-1&keywords=eleanor+vs+ike
Just played through 1948 as General Mccarthur-started off with 4% in the primaries, ended up winning 34 states and got Dewey as my VP to get through the convention nice and clean. Momentum kept rising as I played the communism card again and again. Smashed election night with 63% of the vote.
Poor old Truman came third with just 30 Electoral votes. Best game ever!!!
I think that it would be fun for a what-if with Gen. George Patton. He would have been the Trump of his day.
Yeah, that’s a good point. He’d be more extreme than Douglas MacArthur. Maybe I’ll add him.
Just wanted to mention, the “Stand up for America: Wallace for President” button is for George Wallace in 1968. Not Henry A. Wallace in 1948.
The Democratic Party shouldn’t be on the ballot in Alabama because they were refused a spot on the ballot.
Played as Cordell Hull for Dem primaries, started off at 4% support, now at 68.9%. It is amazing how by running many newspaper ads and then campaigning in almost every state can result in such a large surge
I think there needs to be a fix in this scenario, because when I clicked next turn, it showed this: TGameEngine::ProcessTurns () >Code = 5 Access violation at address 0049C405 in module ‘PI.exe’. Read of address 000000A0
@Alvin
How long did it take to go from 4% to 68.9%? This is something I’m trying to fix. Thanks.
@Alvin
That might be an issue with an event. Do you know the date you were on when this error happened?
@vcczar
I would say 2-3 months. I forgot to screenshot
I think Wallace has a VP bug whenever it tells me to select a VP after the primaries it only says Pick VP later
So when I start the Primaries as Thurmond and when I have to pick a VP there is no option, just “Pick VP Later”.
@gameguy and @tony
With Wallace and Thurmond, there is some weird error. The VP’s exist, and they’re set for those VP’s to be selected, but it still isn’t working. I’ll have this figured out at some point, but I won’t be updating 1948 for awhile, since I’m updating all the elections in chronological order. I’m currently on 1788, the first election, and this will be the final round of updates, barring any glitches.
Truman apparently offered to be the running mate to Dwight Eisenhower if he ran as a Democrat.
I found a fix for the Thurmond and Wallace running mate issue. What I did was duplicate Wallace and Thurmond and delete the original. I played as Thurmond and won 6 states and came in second place
The error with Thurmond and Wallace can be solved by changing ids. I mean, Wallace (Democratic Party), and Wallace (Progressive Party) have identical ids. I suggest having one of them as henry_wallace, and the other as wallace. Same with Thurmond. I tried something like that. It worked.