| From the Award-Winning Author of 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents |
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| Coming in April 2011 from Union Square Press |
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Indelibly, we recall the iconic newsphoto: jubilant underdog Harry Truman brandishing his copy of
the Chicago Tribune proclaiming “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.” But far, far more exists to
1948’s election that a single inglorious headline and a stunning upset victory. Award-winning author
David Pietrusza goes beyond the headlines to reveal backstage events and to place in context a
down-to-the-wire donnybrook fought against the background of an erupting Cold War, the Berlin
Airlift, and the birth of Israel, a post-war America facing exploding storms over civil rights, and
domestic communism.
It’s a war for the soul of the Democratic Party with accidental president Harry Truman pitted
against his embittered leftwing predecessor as vice president, Henry Wallace, and stormy young
South Carolina segregationist Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond. On the GOP side, it’s a four-way battle
between cold-as-ice New Yorker Tom Dewey, Minnesota upstart Harold Stassen, the stodgy but
brilliant Ohio conservative Robert Taft, and the imperious but aged Douglas MacArthur.
But Americans really want “none of the above.” They do, however, “like IKE,” but Dwight
Eisenhower stubbornly resists draft movements in both parties to run—at least, that year.
It’s an election year featuring a uniquely stellar supporting cast. Alger Hiss, Whitaker Chambers
and Richard Nixon. Civil rights crusader Hubert Humphrey. GOP VP choice Earl Warren. Henry
Wallace activists Paul Robeson, Lillian Hellman, and Pete Seeger. A passel of FDR kin—including
Eleanor—disgusted with HST. Wisconsin’s Joe McCarthy, Clark Clifford, William O. Douglas,
George C. Marshall, John Foster Dulles, Adlai Stevenson, Drew Pearson, “Landslide Lyndon”
Johnson, H. L. Mencken, Harold Ickes, Clare and Henry Luce, the “Do-Nothing” 80th Congress,
Curtis LeMay, Ronald Reagan, and, last, but not least, NBC’s forever embarrassed H. V.
Kaltenborn.
David Pietrusza achieves for 1948’s presidential race what he previously did in 1960: LBJ vs JFK
vs Nixon—of which Library Journal (starred review) said “raises the bar with his winning and
provocative chronicle. . . . Highly recommended." Pietrusza again brings history to life, spellbinding
readers with tales of the highest drama while simultaneously presenting the issues, personalities, and
controversies of this pivotal era with laser-like clarity.
With 2012’s presidential election approaching, 1948 transforms the way readers see modern
American history.
Just a taste of what’s inside David Pietrusza’s riveting 1948: Harry Truman’s improbable
Victory and the Year that Transformed America's Role in the World—
David Pietrusza is the author of 1960—LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That
Forged Three Presidencies; 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents; Rothstein: The Life, Times
and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series; and Judge and Jury:
The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. His body of historical work has
garnered media attention from such outlets as The New York Times, Newsweek, US News &
World Reports, the Washington Post, NPR, C-SPAN, MSNBC, SERIUS-XM, The Fox News
Channel, Bloomberg Radio, the New York Daily News, The New York Post, the Jerusalem
Post, The New York Law Journal, The New York Sun, the Denver Post, the Weekly Standard,
the Washington Times, The Seattle Times, The Raleigh News & Observer, and the Tucson Sun.
the Chicago Tribune proclaiming “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.” But far, far more exists to
1948’s election that a single inglorious headline and a stunning upset victory. Award-winning author
David Pietrusza goes beyond the headlines to reveal backstage events and to place in context a
down-to-the-wire donnybrook fought against the background of an erupting Cold War, the Berlin
Airlift, and the birth of Israel, a post-war America facing exploding storms over civil rights, and
domestic communism.
It’s a war for the soul of the Democratic Party with accidental president Harry Truman pitted
against his embittered leftwing predecessor as vice president, Henry Wallace, and stormy young
South Carolina segregationist Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond. On the GOP side, it’s a four-way battle
between cold-as-ice New Yorker Tom Dewey, Minnesota upstart Harold Stassen, the stodgy but
brilliant Ohio conservative Robert Taft, and the imperious but aged Douglas MacArthur.
But Americans really want “none of the above.” They do, however, “like IKE,” but Dwight
Eisenhower stubbornly resists draft movements in both parties to run—at least, that year.
It’s an election year featuring a uniquely stellar supporting cast. Alger Hiss, Whitaker Chambers
and Richard Nixon. Civil rights crusader Hubert Humphrey. GOP VP choice Earl Warren. Henry
Wallace activists Paul Robeson, Lillian Hellman, and Pete Seeger. A passel of FDR kin—including
Eleanor—disgusted with HST. Wisconsin’s Joe McCarthy, Clark Clifford, William O. Douglas,
George C. Marshall, John Foster Dulles, Adlai Stevenson, Drew Pearson, “Landslide Lyndon”
Johnson, H. L. Mencken, Harold Ickes, Clare and Henry Luce, the “Do-Nothing” 80th Congress,
Curtis LeMay, Ronald Reagan, and, last, but not least, NBC’s forever embarrassed H. V.
Kaltenborn.
David Pietrusza achieves for 1948’s presidential race what he previously did in 1960: LBJ vs JFK
vs Nixon—of which Library Journal (starred review) said “raises the bar with his winning and
provocative chronicle. . . . Highly recommended." Pietrusza again brings history to life, spellbinding
readers with tales of the highest drama while simultaneously presenting the issues, personalities, and
controversies of this pivotal era with laser-like clarity.
With 2012’s presidential election approaching, 1948 transforms the way readers see modern
American history.
Just a taste of what’s inside David Pietrusza’s riveting 1948: Harry Truman’s improbable
Victory and the Year that Transformed America's Role in the World—
- Vitriolic Westbrook Pegler’s exposé of Henry Wallace’s secret “Guru” letters.
- Why the NAACP fired eighty-year-old civil rights pioneer W. E. B. DuBois.
- Why a disgusted Nina Warren voted for HST—and against Tom Dewey and her own
husband Earl. - How A. Philip Randolph’s threatened “March on Washington” integrated the army.
- Strom Thurmond: Segregationist white knight—with an illegitimate black daughter.
- The ground-breaking Oregon radio debate that settled a presidential nomination.
- How “Bull” Connor arrested Henry Wallace’s running mate—and nearly arrested Wallace
himself. - The Case of the Missing President: HST’s election night vanishing act.
David Pietrusza is the author of 1960—LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That
Forged Three Presidencies; 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents; Rothstein: The Life, Times
and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series; and Judge and Jury:
The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. His body of historical work has
garnered media attention from such outlets as The New York Times, Newsweek, US News &
World Reports, the Washington Post, NPR, C-SPAN, MSNBC, SERIUS-XM, The Fox News
Channel, Bloomberg Radio, the New York Daily News, The New York Post, the Jerusalem
Post, The New York Law Journal, The New York Sun, the Denver Post, the Weekly Standard,
the Washington Times, The Seattle Times, The Raleigh News & Observer, and the Tucson Sun.
