1948: Upsets
Cleveland College Dewey supporters shared in the general confidence that Republican Thomas E. Dewey would defeat Democrat Harry S Truman. As reported in the student yearbook, “Upon Truman’s nomination, his backers went into obscurity as if they had done something shameful. The College Deweyites relaxed and waited for the inauguration.” Young Republicans shared, also, in surprise at Truman’s victory, “The Young Republicans’ first job as a post-election club was to make a house-to-house canvass of the city to find out what had hit them,” offered the yearbook’s analyst, Gene Hersh. In a local upset, Case students held their first mock political convention, while WRU’s was cancelled for lack of student interest.
Cleveland College of WRU had several active political clubs: Truman-for-President Club, Stassen Club, Taft Club, Dewey Club, Young Progressives of America, the Young Republicans, and the non-partisan American Veterans Committee.
Students at Case held their first mock political convention.
The WRU mock political convention was cancelled.
| Ohio Popular Vote | National Popular Vote | Electoral Vote |
| Harry S Truman (D) 1,452,791 (49.5%) Thomas E. Dewey (R) 1,445,684 (49.2%) Henry A. Wallace (Progressive) 37,487 (1.3%) | Harry S Truman (D) 24,105,587 (49.51%) Thomas E. Dewey (R) 21,970,017 (45.12%) J. Strom Thurmond (States’ Rights Democratic) 1,169,134 (2.4%) Henry A. Wallace (Progressive) 1,157,057 (2.38%) | Harry S Truman (D) 303 Thomas E. Dewey (R) 189 J. Strom Thurmond (States’ Rights Democratic) 39 |
Information was compiled by staff of the Case Western Reserve University Archives, September 2004.
