1944 United States presidential election

1944 United States presidential election

November 7, 1944
531electoral votesof theElectoral College 266 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	55.9%6.6pp
Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Thomas E. Dewey Party Democratic Republican Home state New York New York Running mate Harry S. Truman John W. Bricker Electoral vote 432 99 States carried 36 12 Popular vote 25,612,916 22,017,929 Percentage 53.4% 45.9%
Presidential election results map.Bluedenotes those won by Roosevelt/Truman,reddenotes states won by Dewey/Bricker. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
Presidentbefore election Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic ElectedPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic

The1944 United States presidential electionwas the 40th election in thehistoryof theUnited States.It happened on November 7, 1944.IncumbentPresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt(FDR) won overRepublicanThomas E. Deweyin the general election. In theElectoral College,Roosevelt won 432 votes while Dewey won 99.Roosevelt, aDemocrat,won an unprecedentedfourthtermas president.

Theelectionwas held during the latter part ofWorld War II.By this time thewarwas going well for theUnited Statesand itsAllies.Roosevelt had already served longer than any other president, but remainedpopular.Unlike in1940,there was little doubt that he would run for another term as theDemocraticcandidate, as his health was failing. Dewey, theGovernor of New York,campaignedagainst theNew Dealand for a smallergovernment.But he could not convince thecountryto change course. Roosevelt'saidescovered up the fact the president was in poorhealth.Roosevelt would die in office three months after starting his fourth term.His Vice President,Harry S. Truman,would serve out the remainder of his term of office.

The campaign

The Republicans campaigned against the New Deal. They wanted a smaller government and less-regulatedeconomy.Roosevelt's continuing popularity was the main theme of his campaign. To quiet rumors of his poor health, Roosevelt insisted on making a vigorous campaign trip in October and rode in an open car through city streets. A high point of the campaign occurred when Roosevelt gave a speech on national radio where he ridiculed Republican claims that his administration was corrupt and wasteful with tax money. He particularlyridiculeda Republican claim that he had sent aUS Navywarshipto pick up hisScottish TerrierFala inAlaska.He added that "Fala was furious" at suchrumors.The speech was met with loud laughter and applause. In response, Dewey gave a blistering partisan speech inOklahoma City,Oklahoma,a few days later on national radio. He accused Roosevelt of being "indispensable" to corrupt big-city Democratic organizations and American Communists. Dewey also referred to members of Roosevelt's cabinet as a "motley crew". However, the allies had severalbattlefieldsuccesses inEuropeand thePacificduring the campaign. These included theliberation of Parisin August 1944 and the successfulBattle of Leyte Gulfin thePhilippinesin October 1944.These were Roosevelt's greatestassetsin his campaign.

Results

• Roosevelt and hisvice-presidentialcandidate Harry S. Truman won a total of 25,612,916votesin the Popular vote (53.39%).They won a total of 432 Electorial votes (81.4%)
• Dewey and his vice-presidential candidate John Bricker received 22,017,929 votes in the Popular vote (45.89%).They received a total of 99 Electoral votes (18.6%).

The 1944 presidential election was amilestonein Americanpoliticsfor two reasons. It was the first time a candidate for president was born in the20th century.It was the last time Democrats carried every state in thesouthern United States.The election had at least one other long-reaching effect. It led to the 1951 passing of theTwenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution.Itprohibitsanyone from serving more than two terms as president of the United States.