A Fourth Term, with the War Still Under Way

On 7 November 1944, Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Thomas E. Dewey and won an unprecedented fourth term as president. The election took place during World War II, with the United States and its Allies making gains against the Axis powers. Roosevelt had already served three terms; no president before him had been elected to a fourth.

The contest asked voters to weigh wartime leadership against a change in direction. Dewey, the Republican governor of New York, argued for a smaller government and criticized the New Deal. He also questioned whether Roosevelt remained fit for the demands of office. Roosevelt had serious health problems, which were kept from the public, but he presented himself as the candidate who would finish the war and help shape the peace that followed.

Roosevelt had initially said he lacked the time and inclination to campaign in the usual partisan way. As Dewey gained ground in October, Roosevelt changed course. He gave political speeches and toured major metropolitan areas in New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. At times, he rode in an open car in the rain, countering rumors about his health with a very visible campaign. Dewey, meanwhile, called the administration a group of “tired and quarrelsome old men.”

The Democratic ticket paired Roosevelt with Harry S. Truman, a senator from Missouri, rather than Henry A. Wallace, the sitting vice president. Party leaders had favored Truman as a more acceptable successor, given concerns about Roosevelt’s health. The vice-presidential choice made the stakes of succession plain, even as the campaign’s central question remained who could best manage the war and secure a lasting peace.

Roosevelt won 432 electoral votes to Dewey’s 99, carrying 36 states. Dewey won 12, including Ohio, but not his own state of New York. It was Roosevelt’s weakest showing across his four presidential victories, though the result was decisive. The election left the wartime president in office as the conflict continued. For the country, continuity had won; the unfinished business of victory and peace still lay ahead.