Stump Speeches
Before the advent of broadcast and recording technology, presidents conveyed information and stimulated popular support by giving speeches in person. Of course, the number of people able to experience directly such presidential performances was limited.
Political cartoon, drawn by Clifford Berryman, Washington Star, 1948
Stump speaking is often a major part of a president’s re-election campaign. In 1948, on a train called the Presidential Special, Harry Truman took to the rails to salvage a campaign many people thought he could not win. Truman’s whistle-stop tour—356 speeches in 35 days over 31,000 miles to perhaps 15 million people—provided great material for editorial cartoonists and was a major factor in his re-election.
