The Biden Legacy: Going for Broke
We all want to be remembered for something
One of the most iconic elections in American history was the election of 1948 where the incumbent, Harry S. Truman, ran against his Republican challenger, Thomas Dewey. Truman had come to the presidency only three years earlier upon the death of Franklin Roosevelt in 1945.
Truman’s push for civil rights cost him support in the segregated South where the Dixiecrats put their support behind Strom Thurmond in the hope of winning enough electoral votes to win concessions from Truman. In the months leading up to the election, polls consistently showed Dewey defeating Truman so much so that both pollsters and newspaper editors stated it was “impossible” for Truman to win, or that a Dewey victory was “all but assured.”
Of course, things turned out quite differently. Truman did win and went on to serve another four years in the White House. The photograph of Truman holding the erroneous Chicago Tribune with the headline “Dewey Defeats Truman” stands as a caution to anyone becoming too confident of victory.
One possible Biden legacy: “Fightin’ Joe Biden”
Joe Biden is fighting for his political life as I write this. Coming off a disastrous debate, relentless pressure from the media and some…
