In 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt chose Harry S. Truman to be his Vice President. On April 12, 1945, however, just 83 days into his fourth term, President Roosevelt died, making Harry Truman the 33rd President of the United States.
Truman was not a popular president. When he ran for reelection three years later, nobody gave him a chance. His opponent was Thomas Dewey, the wellliked governor from New York. All the polls predicted that Truman would lose by over 100 electoral votes. Newspapers and magazines were already calling the election weeks ahead of time.
On election night, Truman had resigned himself to his fate. He did not go to a party or gather with his supporters. He made himself a ham sandwich and a glass of milk, and sat down to listen to the election returns on the radio.
