The Inauguration of Harry S. Truman

After the greatest comeback in US presidential campaign history.

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At the outset of the Presidential Election of 1948, Harry Truman’s popularity hovered below 40 percent.  He was given very little chance of overcoming such a large deficit and the presumptive winner was Republican Thomas Dewey. The campaign of 1948 was a study in contrasts. Dewey, as befitted a clear frontrunner, staged...

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The Inauguration of Harry S. Truman

After the greatest comeback in US presidential campaign history.

At the outset of the Presidential Election of 1948, Harry Truman’s popularity hovered below 40 percent.  He was given very little chance of overcoming such a large deficit and the presumptive winner was Republican Thomas Dewey. The campaign of 1948 was a study in contrasts. Dewey, as befitted a clear frontrunner, staged a very subdued campaign, hoping to assure victory by avoiding discussion of troublesome issues. Truman did the opposite, figuring that he had little to lose. He embarked on a 31,000-mile train trip across the nation and delivered hundreds of off-the-cuff speeches to crowds that often greeted the president with cries of “Give ’em Hell, Harry!” And Truman did.

He lambasted the “do-nothing, good-for-nothing” 80th Congress for its inaction and hoped that his opponent would be tarnished in the process. Truman raised the stakes by summoning a special session of Congress in July, proclaiming that he was offering the legislators an opportunity to enact some of the liberal planks they had proposed in the Republican platform. The results were meager, reinforcing the allegation that Congress did nothing. At his whistle-stop rallies, Truman spoke out on behalf of civil rights legislation, for repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act and in support of farm aid programs. By stressing these issues, the president helped to revive the old New Deal coalition of Southern blacks, labor unionists and farmers.?In November, the electorate responded to Truman’s appeals and provided him with the greatest political comeback victory in U.S. presidential history. An enduring image was provided the day after the election when a smiling Truman held aloft an early edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune that proclaimed, “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.”

An 11 by 14 inch black and white photograph of the Inauguration on January 20, 1949, picturing Truman on the Inaugural stand in front of the Capitol, taking the oath of office being administered by Chief Justice Fred Vinson, with Truman’s signature and inscription reading, “To Phil Regan with kindest regards Harry Truman.”

This photograph has been signed by other dignitaries flanking Truman on both sides: Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Justice William O. Douglas, Military Aide Harry H. Vaughan, Chief Justice Fred Vinson, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, Justice Stanley Reed, Senator Carl Hayden, and House Majority Leader John W. McCormack.

Signed Inaugural photographs before Nixon are unheard of; we have never seen another. This large one of Truman taking the Oath, also signed by the Chief Justice and other notables, may be unique.

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