The 1948 United States general election was held on November 2. Harry S Truman was elected to his first full term as president. Meanwhile, the Democrats

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 regained control of the Senate and increased their majority in the House of Representatives.

President

In what is considered by most historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

s as the greatest election upset in American history

History of the United States

The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The...

, Harry S Truman defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey. Going into Election Day, virtually every prediction (with or without public opinion polls) indicated that Truman would lose. He also won overcoming a three-way split in his own party.

United States Senate

The Democrats gained nine seats in the Senate, enough to give them control of the chamber over the Republicans. Truman had campaigned against an "obstructionist" Congress that had blocked many of his initiatives, and in addition the U.S. economy recovered from the postwar recession of 1946-1947 by election day.

United States House of Representatives

The Democrats also had a net gain of 75 seats in the House, giving them a large new majority.