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The 1944 United States presidential election was the 40th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 7, 1944. The election took place during the Fourth Great War, which ended a year and a half later. Former naval officer James Forrestal and his running mate, Member of the Assembly from Cabotia Mackenzie King of the Democratic Party defeated Republican Leverett Saltonstall, Populist Henry A. Wallace, and Socialist Earl Browder in the waning days of the conflict. Taking place after the capitulations of the Sovereign States of Columbia and the Empire of Alaska, the election saw the expanse of new territories that were yet to be admitted as states.
Incumbent president Alf Landon did not seek another term in office, citing a retirement from politics following the end of the war in Columbia. Vice president George W. Norris had additionally died in office, and his replacement, Arthur James, made only a limited attempt to seize the Republican nomination. As a result, Landon's secretary of state, former governor of Massachusetts Leverett Saltonstall, was victorious in the primary with the backing of party leadership. The Democratic Party, having not won an election for the last twenty years, ran a vigorous ticket with Forrestal, whose naval career spearheaded the way to his nomination, as opposed to various party members who had in the past advocated for isolationism. The Populists broke with the Republicans over Saltonstall's nomination, and instead nominated Iowa assemblyman Henry A. Wallace for president, with Wisconsin governor Hjalmar Petersen as his running mate. The Socialists ran another disputed campaign, and their nominee Earl Browder persistently feuded with his running mate, Benjamin Gitlow, over the issue of an alliance with Germany. Accusations, later proven true, that Browder was a paid agent of the German secret police heavily weakened the Socialist campaign.
Forrestal won the election by a nearly twenty-point margin, becoming the first president to win over fifty percent of the popular vote despite not being in a coalition until Paul Tsongas in 1988. This election is notable for Forrestal being the only candidate to win his home state; on top of this, he won all three home states of the other candidates, defying Saltonstall's popularity in his native Massachusetts.