TIM MAGUIRE

"Dewey Defeats Truman" was an erroneous banner headline on
the front page of the early editions of the Chicago Daily Tribune
(later Chicago Tribune) on November 3, 1948, the day after
incumbent United States president Harry S. Truman won an
upset victory over his opponent, Governor Thomas E. Dewey
of New York, in the 1948 presidential election.

It was one of the greatest upsets in presidential election history
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Thomas Edmund Dewey (1902 – 1971)

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is calling on former President
George W. Bush (below) to endorse Vice President Kamala
Harris.

On September 26, 1960, for the first time in U.S. history, a
debate between major party presidential candidates was
broadcast on live television.

The presidential hopefuls, John F. Kennedy, a Democratic
senator of Massachusetts, and Richard M. Nixon, the vice
president of the United States, met in a Chicago studio to
discuss U.S. domestic matters.

Kennedy emerged the apparent winner from this first of
four televised debates.

Lyndon B. Johnson was nominated to run for the presidency at
the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

His running mate would be Hubert H. Humphrey. Former Vice
President Johnson had assumed the reigns of government in
November 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated.

Upon assuming office, he inherited a commitment to Vietnam
where Kennedy had sent military advisors to support the South Vietnamese government in Saigon.

Following the Tonkin Gulf incident earlier in August when
North Vietnamese torpedo boats reportedly attacked U.S.
destroyers, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
empowering Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel
an armed attack against the forces of the United States and to
prevent further aggression.”

In Los Angeles, California, Senator John F. Kennedy of
Massachusetts was nominated for the presidency by the
Democratic Party Convention, defeating Senator Lyndon
B. Johnson of Texas. The next day, Johnson was named
Kennedy’s running mate by a unanimous vote of the
convention.

Four months later, on November 8, Kennedy won 49.7
percent of the popular vote in one of the closest elections
for president in U.S. history, surpassing by a fraction the
49.6 percent received by Vice President Richard M. Nixon,
a Republican.