In 1948, Harry S. Truman contested the presidency of the United States. Truman (pictured), a Democrat, ascended to the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. His pro–civil rights views were opposed by most of the Southern Democrats; when the Democratic National Convention adopted his civil rights plank, a large group of Southerners walked out. Truman selected Alben W. Barkley as his running mate. Campaigning against Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican candidate, Truman called the Republican-controlled 80th Congress a "do-nothing Congress". He conducted a whistle-stop tour giving speeches in different states. With the split of the Democratic Party, most of the polls predicted Truman to lose the election. On the election day, before the declaration of final results, an early edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune printed the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman", boldly anticipating Dewey's victory. Truman won the election in one of the greatest upset victories, receiving 303 electoral votes.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman_1948_presidential_campaign
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
In a boat on the River Thames from Oxford to Godstow, author Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell and her sisters a story that later formed the basis for his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland
1892:
Western Samoa changed the International Date Line, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a year with 367 days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Date_Line
1918:
World War I: Allied forces led by the Australian general John Monash won the Battle of Hamel, demonstrating the effectiveness of combined-arms techniques in trench warfare. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hamel
1982:
Four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped after they were stopped at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon by Lebanese Phalange forces; their fates remain unknown. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_kidnapping_of_Iranian_diplomats
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
Fourth of July: 1. (chiefly US) The national holiday of Independence Day in the United States, celebrated on the fourth day in July to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776. 2. (chiefly US) A cocktail containing one part grenadine syrup, one part vodka, and one part blue curaçao, reminiscent of the red, white, and blue colours of the United States flag, often poured in layers so that the colours do not mix when the drink is served. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Fourth_of_July
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Democracy is not a tearing down; it is a building up. It is not denial of the divine right of kings; it supplements that same with the assertion of the divine right of all men. It does not destroy; it fulfills. It is the consummation of all theories of government, the spirit of which all the nations of the earth must yield. It is the great constructive course of the ages. It is the alpha and omega of man's relation to man, the beginning and the end. There is, and can be, no more doubt of the triumphs of democracy in human affairs than there is of the triumph of gravitation in the physical world. The only question is how and when. Its foundation lays hold upon eternity. --Calvin Coolidge https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge