1948 United States presidential election in Oklahoma

Last updated October 05, 2024

The 1948 United States presidential election in Oklahoma took place on November 2, 1948. All forty-eight states were part of the 1948 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Incumbent Democratic President Harry S. Truman won Oklahoma by a landslide 25.5 percentage points.^[1] This made Oklahoma the fourth most Democratic state in the nation, and 21 percent more Democratic than the nation as a whole. This makes it the third best performance (after Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1932 and 1936 landslides) of any Democratic nominee in the state.^[2]

Background

Up to this election, Oklahoma was a reliably Democratic state, with the party winning all but two of the first eleven presidential elections in the state. However, like other states in this Solid South, Oklahoma has since become a Republican bastion. In Dwight D. Eisenhower's landslide elections of 1952 and 1956, Adlai Stevenson II lost every antebellum free-soil or postbellum state, however Oklahoma remained more Democratic than the nation as a whole.^[2] In 1960, John F. Kennedy lost most postbellum states, including Oklahoma, due to anti-Catholic sentiment.^[3] In 1964, Lyndon Johnson became the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state,^[4] with only Jimmy Carter in 1976 subsequently reaching even 45% of the vote, and no Democrat after 2000 reaching 35% of the vote or even winning a single county in the state.^[5]

Results

1948 United States presidential election in Oklahoma^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Harry S. Truman (incumbent)	452,782	62.75%	10
	Republican	Thomas E. Dewey	268,817	37.25%	0
Totals			721,599	100.0%	10
Voter turnout (Voting age)			52.5%^[6]

Results by county

County	Harry S. Truman Democratic		Thomas Edmund Dewey Republican		Total votes cast^[7]
County	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast^[7]
Adair	3,067	56.03%	2,407	43.97%	5,474
Alfalfa	1,838	39.93%	2,765	60.07%	4,603
Atoka	3,104	75.03%	1,033	24.97%	4,137
Beaver	1,596	52.92%	1,420	47.08%	3,016
Beckham	4,544	77.62%	1,310	22.38%	5,854
Blaine	2,595	47.79%	2,835	52.21%	5,430
Bryan	7,748	85.01%	1,366	14.99%	9,114
Caddo	8,110	68.13%	3,793	31.87%	11,903
Canadian	5,568	59.89%	3,729	40.11%	9,297
Carter	9,474	81.52%	2,147	18.48%	11,621
Cherokee	4,249	60.41%	2,785	39.59%	7,034
Choctaw	4,750	82.09%	1,036	17.91%	5,786
Cimarron	894	57.90%	650	42.10%	1,544
Cleveland	6,556	64.10%	3,671	35.90%	10,227
Coal	2,124	82.07%	464	17.93%	2,588
Comanche	7,955	74.06%	2,787	25.94%	10,742
Cotton	2,613	77.98%	738	22.02%	3,351
Craig	4,182	59.84%	2,807	40.16%	6,989
Creek	9,198	58.47%	6,532	41.53%	15,730
Custer	4,618	64.26%	2,568	35.74%	7,186
Delaware	3,157	57.40%	2,343	42.60%	5,500
Dewey	2,049	57.83%	1,494	42.17%	3,543
Ellis	1,420	48.27%	1,522	51.73%	2,942
Garfield	8,217	44.25%	10,352	55.75%	18,569
Garvin	6,779	80.13%	1,681	19.87%	8,460
Grady	8,136	73.84%	2,882	26.16%	11,018
Grant	2,126	46.25%	2,471	53.75%	4,597
Greer	3,044	81.02%	713	18.98%	3,757
Harmon	2,340	89.79%	266	10.21%	2,606
Harper	1,281	51.20%	1,221	48.80%	2,502
Haskell	3,206	69.76%	1,390	30.24%	4,596
Hughes	5,492	76.62%	1,676	23.38%	7,168
Jackson	5,450	85.52%	923	14.48%	6,373
Jefferson	3,326	85.68%	556	14.32%	3,882
Johnston	2,936	83.41%	584	16.59%	3,520
Kay	10,119	52.98%	8,982	47.02%	19,101
Kingfisher	2,488	45.91%	2,931	54.09%	5,419
Kiowa	4,263	73.59%	1,530	26.41%	5,793
Latimer	2,536	73.40%	919	26.60%	3,455
Le Flore	6,786	70.64%	2,821	29.36%	9,607
Lincoln	4,913	55.76%	3,898	44.24%	8,811
Logan	4,109	51.84%	3,817	48.16%	7,926
Love	2,191	89.80%	249	10.20%	2,440
Major	1,227	33.22%	2,467	66.78%	3,694
Marshall	2,455	83.96%	469	16.04%	2,924
Mayes	4,201	59.55%	2,854	40.45%	7,055
McClain	3,451	79.17%	908	20.83%	4,359
McCurtain	6,223	85.08%	1,091	14.92%	7,314
McIntosh	3,674	71.81%	1,442	28.19%	5,116
Murray	3,054	79.28%	798	20.72%	3,852
Muskogee	13,860	67.77%	6,592	32.23%	20,452
Noble	2,770	53.27%	2,430	46.73%	5,200
Nowata	2,688	55.92%	2,119	44.08%	4,807
Okfuskee	3,335	67.25%	1,624	32.75%	4,959
Oklahoma	59,954	59.89%	40,161	40.11%	100,115
Okmulgee	10,467	70.56%	4,368	29.44%	14,835
Osage	7,156	64.43%	3,951	35.57%	11,107
Ottawa	7,243	62.73%	4,304	37.27%	11,547
Pawnee	2,721	50.65%	2,651	49.35%	5,372
Payne	7,390	56.03%	5,799	43.97%	13,189
Pittsburg	9,576	76.80%	2,893	23.20%	12,469
Pontotoc	7,750	77.20%	2,289	22.80%	10,039
Pottawatomie	10,220	68.22%	4,760	31.78%	14,980
Pushmataha	2,977	79.05%	789	20.95%	3,766
Roger Mills	2,176	81.04%	509	18.96%	2,685
Rogers	4,197	59.57%	2,849	40.43%	7,046
Seminole	8,122	70.35%	3,423	29.65%	11,545
Sequoyah	4,449	68.17%	2,077	31.83%	6,526
Stephens	6,702	77.83%	1,909	22.17%	8,611
Texas	2,693	61.64%	1,676	38.36%	4,369
Tillman	4,071	79.37%	1,058	20.63%	5,129
Tulsa	38,548	47.33%	42,892	52.67%	81,440
Wagoner	3,389	55.97%	2,666	44.03%	6,055
Washington	5,508	47.71%	6,036	52.29%	11,544
Washita	4,326	72.55%	1,637	27.45%	5,963
Woods	2,882	50.10%	2,871	49.90%	5,753
Woodward	2,180	47.69%	2,391	52.31%	4,571
Totals	452,782	62.75%	268,817	37.25%	721,599

Counties that flipped Republican to Democratic

Analysis

The Progressive Party obtained the necessary 5,000 signatures to appear on the ballot in two days.^[8] Gerald L. K. Smith filed a lawsuit in an attempt to remove the party from the ballot. The state election board rejected Wallace's electors stating that the Progressives were not a political party as the Oklahoma Secretary of State had not approved their non-communist affidavit prior to the filing deadline. The secretary of state was not allowed to accept these affidavits until May 2 while the filing deadline was April 30. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled five to two against the Progressives in Cooper v. Cartwright. The Progressives appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, but John Abt dropped the lawsuit due to the "difficulty of getting grounds for a federal suit".^[9]

Truman won all but 10 counties in the state; of the 10, only Grant has voted Democratic since. This is the last occasion in which the contiguous counties of Texas, Beaver, Harper and Woods – which now form one of the most conservative regions in the nation – have voted Democratic, as well as the last time that Kay County has.^[5] As a result, this is also the last time that a Democrat has swept every county in the Oklahoma Panhandle. This is also the most recent election in which Oklahoma voted for a different candidate than neighboring Kansas.

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References

1 2 "1948 Presidential General Election Results – Oklahoma". uselectionatlas.org.
1 2 Counting the Votes; Oklahoma
↑ Menendez, Albert J.; The Religious Factor in the 1960 Presidential Election: An Analysis of the Kennedy Victory over Anti-Catholic Prejudice; pp. 79, 117 ISBN 0786460377
↑ Gust, Steve (October 6, 2012). "Oklahoma student who attended Democratic National Convention anticipates lifetime in politics". The Oklahoman . Retrieved November 9, 2016.
1 2 Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
↑ Gans, Curtis and Mulling, Matthew; Voter Turnout in the United States, 1788-2009, p. 481 ISBN 9781604265958
↑ Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; pp. 363-364 ISBN 0405077114
↑ Schmidt 1960, p. 130.
↑ Schmidt 1960, pp. 138–139.

Works cited

Schmidt, Karl (1960). Henry A. Wallace: Quixotic Crusade 1948. Syracuse University Press.

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[Atlas-1] 1 2 "1948 Presidential General Election Results – Oklahoma". uselectionatlas.org.

[Counting-2] 1 2 Counting the Votes; Oklahoma

[3] Menendez, Albert J.; The Religious Factor in the 1960 Presidential Election: An Analysis of the Kennedy Victory over Anti-Catholic Prejudice; pp. 79, 117 ISBN 0786460377

[4] Gust, Steve (October 6, 2012). "Oklahoma student who attended Democratic National Convention anticipates lifetime in politics". The Oklahoman . Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[How-5] 1 2 Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016

[6] Gans, Curtis and Mulling, Matthew; Voter Turnout in the United States, 1788-2009, p. 481 ISBN 9781604265958

[7] Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; pp. 363-364 ISBN 0405077114

[FOOTNOTESchmidt1960130-8] Schmidt 1960, p. 130.

[FOOTNOTESchmidt1960138–139-9] Schmidt 1960, pp. 138–139.

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