Excerpt from Chapter 26 Mr Robinson, Harry Truman and Tom Dewey
The first voting tabulations showed Dewey and the Republicans winning. As more and more results came in, the contest appeared not to be as big a landslide as the experts had predicted. Because of the time difference in the country, New York and the eastern election, results were the first completed and tabulated. The director of security for the president of the United States of America left the Truman campaign headquarters and flew to be with the new president. Our Philco radio reported Dewey in the lead, but for some strange reason, the lead was not as large as most people thought it would be.About ten o’clock, news came of the Chicago Tribune’s headline, “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.” As the vote count crossed into the Midwestern part of the country, the race began to tighten. It was painfully apparent to my father and his friends that the Southern Democrats were not all for the arrogant governor of New York. Some experts had predicted that Dixie would go Republican for the first time ever. The radio announcer said that many Democratic hopefuls were beginning to make a quiet noise.I stayed up longer than normal that night wondering what Mr. Robinson was doing. By my bedtime, there wasn't much noise in our living room. Several of the people at our home decided that it was getting late and they had better be starting home, where they would listen to the rest of the election results and get ready for work and the coal mine the following day.Evidently, they had sensed a bad smell with the election results. Something rotten was in the air for the overconfident Republicans. When the first results came in from the East and the big state of New York supported its favorite son (though just barely), a great deal of happy noise was made at our home. However, when the voting tabulation moved west and a different count was coming through, the victory noise quieted down considerably.The votes count from the Midwest nearly tied the score, and Dixie’s never ran the way my dad and his friends and the experts had predicted. The election count needed to go only halfway across the country to determine a winner. Ohio held the key. The Buckeye State must have listened to Truman; they probably never read Dewey’s book. Ohio voted for the underdog. The western part of the country turned out to be as big a surprise as Dixie was.The blue-collar working industrials, farmers, and concerned citizens of Ohio had voted Democratic and had helped run President Truman’s final electoral vote count up to 303. Governor Dewey, the mistaken favorite, had received only 189 electoral votes. The voters of the Buckeye state threw their support to the piano playing, Bourbon drinking, poker playing gritty Midwesterner. The surprised and embarrassed head of security made a quick dash to catch a plane to Missouri. The nation was collectively shocked to see Truman elected by such a wide margin. Before I went to sleep, I heard the radio being turned off. My father and his two friends who were still at our home had lost most of the spirit of celebration. They seemed to be completely disgusted and in a “let’s don’t discuss it now” mode. I heard a couple of cars start up and drive off rather abruptly before I dozed off.When I got up early the following morning, two bags of popcorn, a dish of gingerbread, and seven unused glasses were lined up on the dining room table. I never found the bottle of wine. My father obviously had not slept well that night. He was all hunched over with his head near the radio speaker. He said nothing and listened intently to the election news all by himself. The Philco reported Truman and the Democrats as big winners. They had taken control of Congress and had a majority in both the Senate and the House. They won twenty of the thirty-two available governor’s seats.The Democrats had won big, and it was another disastrous election year for the Republicans. The Chicago Daily Tribune’s headlines, “Dewey Defeats Truman” proved to be embarrassingly wrong. The respected news paper people scrambled to collect the 150,000 flawed papers they had circulated. George Gallup, who had started his opinion poll three years earlier, said that he just didn't know what had happened.I felt sorry for my dad, but I was anxious to get to school and act like I had known all along that my man, Harry S. Truman, would easily win. I planned on walking back and forth past Mr. Robinson’s office until he spotted me. I tried hard to think of a way to reward my few supporters in history class.There was much talk on the school bus and at school about the outcome of the election. Students and faculty alike were buzzing all day about the results and the big upset; nearly everyone was surprised that Dewey had lost. Mr. Robinson must have come in late that day. I paced around in front of his office every chance I got, just trying to get him to see me. For some strange reason, I missed him every time. Finally, three o’clock came and with it my favorite class and teacher. I had to struggle to keep quiet. This time, the teacher came into the ninth-grade quiet history class shaking his head slowly.Mr. Robinson looked like he had been up all night and had been heavily sedated with sad pills; he resembled my father. He gently dropped his grade book on his desk and held out both arms when he looked my way. I put my hands out in a self-confident I-told-you-so manner and said nothing. There was no reason to boast, and I was as surprised as everyone else. However, in a victory like that, I really wanted to stand on my desktop and sing, “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah for the Truman triumph!” I was barely able to control my boasting. I needed to howl. The awful heartburns I had suffered in class were finally cooled down. They were coming through in my favor, they were paying off 15-1 big time, and I felt like a huge winner. It was another victory for Little David. A decision came to me like a religious vision: Stay in school, and, maybe, someday get into politics.
The first voting tabulations showed Dewey and the Republicans winning. As more and more results came in, the contest appeared not to be as big a landslide as the experts had predicted. Because of the time difference in the country, New York and the eastern election, results were the first completed and tabulated. The director of security for the president of the United States of America left the Truman campaign headquarters and flew to be with the new president. Our Philco radio reported Dewey in the lead, but for some strange reason, the lead was not as large as most people thought it would be.About ten o’clock, news came of the Chicago Tribune’s headline, “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.” As the vote count crossed into the Midwestern part of the country, the race began to tighten. It was painfully apparent to my father and his friends that the Southern Democrats were not all for the arrogant governor of New York. Some experts had predicted that Dixie would go Republican for the first time ever. The radio announcer said that many Democratic hopefuls were beginning to make a quiet noise.I stayed up longer than normal that night wondering what Mr. Robinson was doing. By my bedtime, there wasn't much noise in our living room. Several of the people at our home decided that it was getting late and they had better be starting home, where they would listen to the rest of the election results and get ready for work and the coal mine the following day.Evidently, they had sensed a bad smell with the election results. Something rotten was in the air for the overconfident Republicans. When the first results came in from the East and the big state of New York supported its favorite son (though just barely), a great deal of happy noise was made at our home. However, when the voting tabulation moved west and a different count was coming through, the victory noise quieted down considerably.The votes count from the Midwest nearly tied the score, and Dixie’s never ran the way my dad and his friends and the experts had predicted. The election count needed to go only halfway across the country to determine a winner. Ohio held the key. The Buckeye State must have listened to Truman; they probably never read Dewey’s book. Ohio voted for the underdog. The western part of the country turned out to be as big a surprise as Dixie was.The blue-collar working industrials, farmers, and concerned citizens of Ohio had voted Democratic and had helped run President Truman’s final electoral vote count up to 303. Governor Dewey, the mistaken favorite, had received only 189 electoral votes. The voters of the Buckeye state threw their support to the piano playing, Bourbon drinking, poker playing gritty Midwesterner. The surprised and embarrassed head of security made a quick dash to catch a plane to Missouri. The nation was collectively shocked to see Truman elected by such a wide margin. Before I went to sleep, I heard the radio being turned off. My father and his two friends who were still at our home had lost most of the spirit of celebration. They seemed to be completely disgusted and in a “let’s don’t discuss it now” mode. I heard a couple of cars start up and drive off rather abruptly before I dozed off.When I got up early the following morning, two bags of popcorn, a dish of gingerbread, and seven unused glasses were lined up on the dining room table. I never found the bottle of wine. My father obviously had not slept well that night. He was all hunched over with his head near the radio speaker. He said nothing and listened intently to the election news all by himself. The Philco reported Truman and the Democrats as big winners. They had taken control of Congress and had a majority in both the Senate and the House. They won twenty of the thirty-two available governor’s seats.The Democrats had won big, and it was another disastrous election year for the Republicans. The Chicago Daily Tribune’s headlines, “Dewey Defeats Truman” proved to be embarrassingly wrong. The respected news paper people scrambled to collect the 150,000 flawed papers they had circulated. George Gallup, who had started his opinion poll three years earlier, said that he just didn't know what had happened.I felt sorry for my dad, but I was anxious to get to school and act like I had known all along that my man, Harry S. Truman, would easily win. I planned on walking back and forth past Mr. Robinson’s office until he spotted me. I tried hard to think of a way to reward my few supporters in history class.There was much talk on the school bus and at school about the outcome of the election. Students and faculty alike were buzzing all day about the results and the big upset; nearly everyone was surprised that Dewey had lost. Mr. Robinson must have come in late that day. I paced around in front of his office every chance I got, just trying to get him to see me. For some strange reason, I missed him every time. Finally, three o’clock came and with it my favorite class and teacher. I had to struggle to keep quiet. This time, the teacher came into the ninth-grade quiet history class shaking his head slowly.Mr. Robinson looked like he had been up all night and had been heavily sedated with sad pills; he resembled my father. He gently dropped his grade book on his desk and held out both arms when he looked my way. I put my hands out in a self-confident I-told-you-so manner and said nothing. There was no reason to boast, and I was as surprised as everyone else. However, in a victory like that, I really wanted to stand on my desktop and sing, “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah for the Truman triumph!” I was barely able to control my boasting. I needed to howl. The awful heartburns I had suffered in class were finally cooled down. They were coming through in my favor, they were paying off 15-1 big time, and I felt like a huge winner. It was another victory for Little David. A decision came to me like a religious vision: Stay in school, and, maybe, someday get into politics.
