ABSTRACT
In July 1948, despondent and gloomy delegates to the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating convention gathered in Philadelphia. The party was about to break apart; few thought President Harry Truman stood a chance against the Republican candidate, the popular New York governor Thomas E. Dewey, and his even more popular running mate, California governor Earl Warren. Making matters worse, the delegates were stuck in an un-airconditioned auditorium, in the stifling summer heat, baking under the hot television lights, wiping their brows, cranky, irritated, and dejected.
