CARLATA BRADLEY

In one of the greatest upsets in presidential election
history, Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman
defeats his Republican challenger, Governor Thomas
E. Dewey of New York, by just over two million popular
votes.

       
In the days preceding the vote, political analysts and
polls were so behind Dewey that on election night,
long before all the votes were counted, the Chicago
Tribune published an early edition with the banner
headline above, “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.”          

Harry Truman (left) and his political rival Thomas Dewey.

On July 18, 1940, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who first took
office in 1933 as America’s 32nd president, was nominated
for an unprecedented third term.         

       
Roosevelt, a Democrat, would eventually be elected to a record
four terms in office, the only U.S. president to serve more than
two terms.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945)

George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army
during the Revolutionary War, was unanimously elected the
first president of the United States by all 69 presidential
electors who cast their votes.

John Adams of Massachusetts, who received 34 votes, was
elected vice president. The electors, who represented 10 of
the 11 states that had ratified the U.S. Constitution, were
chosen by popular vote, legislative appointment, or a
combination of both four weeks before the election.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

Kennedy ran for president in the 1960 presidential election. His
campaign gained momentum after the first televised presidential
debates in American history, and he was elected president,
narrowly defeating Republican opponent Richard Nixon, the
incumbent vice president.