National Affairs: The Exception

Philadelphia, stubborn and alone, bucked the tide. Once the home of unreconstructed Republicanism, it became, the only important area where the Democrats made big gains in 1952. Harry Truman had carried it by a mere 7,000 in 1948; Adlai Stevenson swept it by 160,000. There were several reasons for this: the heavily Democratic Jewish and Negro vote held firm; there were few defections from the Irish Democratic vote. More important, Philadelphians had thrown out their corrupt and senile city-Republican machine in 1951, and for the first time, the controlled river wards were in the hands of Democrats.