Wednesday
The morning radio had to admit it had been wrong all year
Every poll, every commentator and one very famous front page had given it to Dewey. Truman went to bed in Excelsior Springs, woke up president, and came out to Independence to say so.
Opening the day…
The night of
Overnight ET
The networks had spent the evening of the 2nd waiting to confirm what the polling had told them for months. Kaltenborn kept explaining, through the night, why Truman's lead was temporary. Ohio came in after eight in the morning and the arithmetic stopped being arguable. Dewey conceded at eleven.
Daytime ET
NBC carried Truman's remarks at the victory celebration in Independence, holding up the Chicago Tribune's DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN on the way through. This is the recording the day is remembered by, and it survives because a local celebration was worth a network line.
Evening ET
Report to the Nation on CBS, Philco Radio Time with Crosby and Bergen, the serials. Election-night radio had just had its most humbling twenty-four hours, and the evening schedule went out unchanged — the last presidential election before television took the night away from them.
Where this comes from
