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A Super upset, 60 years later
Last night's delicious Super Bowl, perhaps the biggest upset in American football history, reminded me of another famous upset that has its 60th anniversary this November: the presidential election of 1948. Harry Truman, much like the Giants, was dismissed as a sure loser by all, and I mean all, of the professional pollsters, journalists, and editors that year. The slick, elite Thomas Dewey had an "undefeated" air about him and was ready to coast right along to the prize. But Truman fought with heart and pulled off a decisive, astonishing victory.
From David McCullough's outstanding Truman
[Truman] had won against the greatest odds in the annals of presidential politics. Not one polling organization had been correct in its forecast. Not a single radio commentator or newspaper columnist, or any of the hundreds of reporters who covered the campaign, had called it right. Every expert had been proven wrong, and as was said, "a great roar of laughter arose from the land." The people had made fools of those supposedly in the know. Of all amazing things, Harry Truman had turned out to be the only one who knew what he was talking about.
