Great Conventions: 1948 With Roger Mudd
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Robert Trout
Zachary Karabell
Thomas Dewey Jr
Roger Mudd
Don Hewitt
Ted Koppel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Documentary that looks back at 1948, when both the Republican and Democratic conventions were held in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. The program recounts the drama behind the conventions, the first ever covered by television. The Republicans came to Philadelphia in 1948 confident that they had a winner in New York Governor Thomas Dewey. Dewey, the 1944 nominee, had lost to FDR by barely 2 million votes. With the country at peace and an unpopular president in Harry Truman, they had little doubt that they would win in November. The Democrats also held their convention in Philadelphia that summer. There was little enthusiasm as very few Democrats thought President Truman had much of a shot. When the party split over civil rights, southern Democrats walked out and formed their own party, the Dixiecrats, nominating Strom Thurmond. To make matters worse, Henry Wallace took the liberal wing of the party with him and ran as a progressive. The results on Election Night would produce one of the great erroneous headlines of the 20th century.
