Harry S. Truman on election night 1948, holding up a copy of the Chicago Daily
Tribune declaring ‘’Dewey Defeats Truman.”

On November 3, 1948, the Chicago Tribune jumps the gun and
mistakenly declares New York Governor Thomas Dewey the
winner of his presidential race with incumbent Harry S. Truman.

Many of America’s major newspapers had predicted a Dewey
victory early on in the campaign. A New York Times article
editorialized that “if Truman is nominated, he will be forced
to wage the loneliest campaign in recent history.” Perhaps
not surprisingly then, Truman chose not to use the press as
a vehicle for getting his message across. Instead, in July
1948, he embarked on an ambitious 22,000-mile “whistle
stop” railroad and automobile campaign tour.