in 1948, with republicans split left and right, truman boldly called congress into a special session and sent it a load of liberal legislation consistent with the dewey platform and dared them to act on it, knowing that the conservative republicans would block action. truman then attacked the republican "do-nothing congress" as a whipping boy for all of the nation's problems. truman stunned dewey and the republicans in the election with a plurality of just over twenty-four million popular votes (out of nearly 49 million cast), but a decisive 303–189 victory in the electoral college.