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>