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Good question. I only wish I had asked more questions back then.

Here's what I do know:
It had nothing to do with the Korean War which started in 1950...Or China which turned communist in 1949. In '47-'48, my classmates who were all from ardent Demoncratic families spewed their sneering derision against Truman. Here is only one of the frequent cracks against him that was often repeated was; "What does the S stand for in Harry S Truman? It stands for shi*". Keep in mind here that vulgar comments were not as commonplace as they are today and it was also rare to denigrate politicians as is done today.

Even though we lived where Republicans were rare birds, our families thought Dewey was a straight shooter because of his reputation for fighting crime.