My Favorite What If?

As everyone knows, Harry S. Truman defeated Thomas Dewey in the famous "Dewey Defeats Truman" election.

Now, few realize that Dewey's running mate in 1948 was the governor of California, Earl Warren. Yes, that Earl Warren. The Earl Warren who was nominated to be Chief Justice by Eisenhower after he took office in 1953. (I can't remember off the top of my head whether it's 1953 or 1954 for the appointment; it was a recess appointment.)

But if Dewey is elected in 1948, I don't see any way that Eisenhower is the Republican nominee in 1952; and even so, Eisenhower would not have owed Warren a favor from the GOP convention, a favor that resulted in a promise to Warren of "the first vacancy on the Court." Even if Dewey lost in 1952, former V.P. Warren would not have been nominated Chief Justice by the incoming Democratic president . . . .

So if Truman loses in 1948, no "Super Chief," which probably means Brown v. Board of Education has a different outcome. Who knows what happens in the field of civil rights, with separate but equal probably surviving at least another decade as the law of the land. Even if Brown had little immediate impact on the ground, the decision still struck down the legal basis for segregation. The due process revolution probably doesn't take place, or, at least, not to the extent that it did. (In this context, I will add here that Eisenhower also appointed William Brennan. I doubt that would have happened, either.)

I have a lot to do today, but someone remind me sometime to write my Richard Russell elected president in 1952 "what if?" It's a real hoot. It ends with President Nelson Rockefeller sending the 101st Airborne into Mississippi.