1944 United States presidential election

1944 United States presidential election

← 1940 November 7, 1944 1948 →

531 members of the Electoral College
266 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout55.9%[1] Decrease 6.6 pp
 
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%

1944 United States presidential election in California1944 United States presidential election in Oregon1944 United States presidential election in Washington (state)1944 United States presidential election in Idaho1944 United States presidential election in Nevada1944 United States presidential election in Utah1944 United States presidential election in Arizona1944 United States presidential election in Montana1944 United States presidential election in Wyoming1944 United States presidential election in Colorado1944 United States presidential election in New Mexico1944 United States presidential election in North Dakota1944 United States presidential election in South Dakota1944 United States presidential election in Nebraska1944 United States presidential election in Kansas1944 United States presidential election in Oklahoma1944 United States presidential election in Texas1944 United States presidential election in Minnesota1944 United States presidential election in Iowa1944 United States presidential election in Missouri1944 United States presidential election in Arkansas1944 United States presidential election in Louisiana1944 United States presidential election in Wisconsin1944 United States presidential election in Illinois1944 United States presidential election in Michigan1944 United States presidential election in Indiana1944 United States presidential election in Ohio1944 United States presidential election in Kentucky1944 United States presidential election in Tennessee1944 United States presidential election in Mississippi1944 United States presidential election in Alabama1944 United States presidential election in Georgia1944 United States presidential election in Florida1944 United States presidential election in South Carolina1944 United States presidential election in North Carolina1944 United States presidential election in Virginia1944 United States presidential election in West Virginia1944 United States presidential election in Maryland1944 United States presidential election in Delaware1944 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania1944 United States presidential election in New Jersey1944 United States presidential election in New York1944 United States presidential election in Connecticut1944 United States presidential election in Rhode Island1944 United States presidential election in Vermont1944 United States presidential election in New Hampshire1944 United States presidential election in Maine1944 United States presidential election in Massachusetts1944 United States presidential election in Maryland1944 United States presidential election in Delaware1944 United States presidential election in New Jersey1944 United States presidential election in Connecticut1944 United States presidential election in Rhode Island1944 United States presidential election in Massachusetts1944 United States presidential election in Vermont1944 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes those won by Roosevelt/Truman, red denotes states won by Dewey/Bricker. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

President before election

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

Elected President

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic

The 1944 United States presidential election was the 40th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 7, 1944. The election took place during World War II, which ended the following year. Incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey to win an unprecedented fourth term. It was also the fifth (and second consecutive) presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1860, 1904, 1920, 1940, and 2016.

Roosevelt had become the first president to win a third term with his victory in the 1940 presidential election, with little doubt that he would seek a fourth term. Unlike in 1940, Roosevelt faced little opposition within his own party, and he easily won the presidential nomination of the 1944 Democratic National Convention. Concerned that Roosevelt's ill health would mean the vice president would likely become president, the convention dropped Roosevelt's vice president Henry A. Wallace in favor of Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri.[2] Governor Dewey of New York emerged as the front-runner for the Republican nomination after his victory in the Wisconsin primary, and he defeated conservative Governor John W. Bricker at the 1944 Republican National Convention.

As World War II was going well for the United States and the Allies, Roosevelt remained popular despite his long tenure. Dewey campaigned against the New Deal and for a smaller government, but was ultimately unsuccessful in convincing the country to change course. The election was closer than Roosevelt's other presidential campaigns, but Roosevelt still won by a 7.5 percentage point margin in the popular vote and by a wide margin in the Electoral College. Rumors of Roosevelt's ill health, although somewhat dispelled by his vigorous campaigning, proved to be prescient; Roosevelt died less than three months into his fourth term and was succeeded by Truman.

  1. ^ "Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections". The American Presidency Project. UC Santa Barbara.
  2. ^ Smith, Jean Edward (2007). FDR. New York: Random House. pp. 617–619. ISBN 978-1-4000-6121-1. OCLC 71350593.