Dear Historian, I’ve got a problem - can the past help me? From Hillary, USA

Dear Historian, I’ve got a problem - can the past help me?

I’m a politician fighting a lengthy, costly and very close fought election in the USA. The thing is that, well, I was ahead and doing really well but now it looks like things are slipping away. Can history give me any comfort?

Yours, Hillary

Dear Hillary,

Don’t despair. Whilst it may seem bad there are plenty of examples from history that can give you confidence.

Take Harry S Truman’s campaign of 1948. No one gave him a chance of defeating well thought of New York governor Thomas E Dewey. There were rifts in Truman’s own party with southern democrats splitting off to form their own Dixiecrat faction in protest at the incumbent President’s stronger stance on civil rights. The divided Democrats seemed like a lost cause and the campaign struggled for money as a result (sound familiar, Hilary?). Even on election night it was all doom and gloom. One newspaper, The Chicago Daily Tribune, even printed a front page that proclaimed ‘Dewey beats Truman’. Nevertheless, the miracle happened and Truman swept home, winning over 24m popular votes and 301 electoral college votes. So don’t despair Hilary, it ain’t over til its over.

Yours,

The Historian