"Dewey Defeats Truman," or something like that....

After the sudden death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in April of 1945, shortly before the end of the European theater in World War II, vice president Harry S Truman had taken over the presidency. Truman's time in office filling out Roosevelt's term was very busy. Starting with Truman's first few weeks in office, Germany surrendered to end the European action in the war. Then by June, Truman traveled to Potsdam in Germany to meet with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin to discuss the terms for surrender for Japan and what to do with Eastern Europe and Germany. Then, in early August, Truman ordered the atomic bomb to be dropped on Japan, and after two successful bomb drops, Japan surrendered, ending World War II and setting off the Cold War. The economy at home struggled out of the gate after the war ended, with all the soldiers coming home looking for work. This is also the time period that the "baby boomers" were born, between 1946 and 1960. Heading into the 1948 presidential election, Truman was running against the "do-nothing" Republican congress that had been voted in during the 1946 mid term election, and trying to win the presidency in his own right. Opposing Truman was Thomas Dewey from New York, who had also run in the 1944 election. Coming up to election day, it was unclear who had the advantage, with Dewey campaigning that a Democrat had been president for too long and Truman promising to keep Roosevelt's policies in tact. On election day, it appeared that Dewey had pulled ahead and would win. The Chicago Tribune famously printed a newspaper headline for the next morning reading "Dewey Defeats Truman." However, by the time the west coast states were tallied, Truman had made a comeback, beating Dewey in the electoral college 303-189, with Strom Thurmond winning some southern states with the Dixiecrat party. Truman's second term would be dominated by the Korean War, beginning in 1950. Also, the Soviets successfully detonated an atomic bomb of their own in 1949. More bad news followed, when the entire eastern bloc of Europe fell to Communism, and China became communist in 1949 as well. For campaign items from this election, Dewey items are fairly common, especially word pins and single picture buttons. As for Truman, any jugate button is very rare and even single picture pins can be tough to find and expensive. About the cheapest of all Truman buttons is the one I have pictured, from his 1949 Inaugural. Some word pins are more reasonably priced. Truman items are rare and sought after by many collectors, which drives the price up. I have included a few Truman items, such as buttons and a 1949 inaugural program, as well as a couple Dewey buttons.