1948 Democratic National Convention

1948 Democratic National Convention
1948 presidential election
Nominees
Truman and Barkley
Convention
Date(s)July 12–15, 1948
CityPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
VenuePhiladelphia Convention Hall
Candidates
Presidential nomineeHarry S. Truman of Missouri
Vice-presidential nomineeAlben W. Barkley of Kentucky
‹ 1944 · 1952 ›

The 1948 Democratic National Convention was held at Philadelphia Convention Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 12 to July 15, 1948, and resulted in the nominations of President Harry S. Truman for a full term and Senator Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky for vice president in the 1948 presidential election.

One of the decisive factors in convening both major party conventions in Philadelphia that year was that the eastern Pennsylvania area was part of the newly developing broadcast television market. In 1947, TV stations in New York City, Washington and Philadelphia were connected by a coaxial cable. By the summer of 1948 two of the three new television networks, NBC and CBS, had the ability to telecast along the east coast live gavel-to-gavel coverage of both conventions. In television's early days, live broadcasts were not routinely recorded, but a few minutes of Kinescope film of the conventions has survived.[1]

  1. ^ Simmons, Amy V. (August 5, 2016). "The first televised Democratic Convention, 70 years later: An unplanned delegate remembers". Philadelphia Sun. Retrieved August 6, 2016.