Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 15, 2023

Louis H. Bean (April 15, 1896 – August 5, 1994) was an American economic and political analyst. Born in Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire, Bean migrated to the United States in 1906 with his family. In 1923, he became a member of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, working on estimates of farm income and price indices. Bean's charts were used in Congress in discussions about the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill. He was closely associated with Vice President Henry A. Wallace. Bean wrote for The Review of Economics and Statistics. During the late 1930s, Bean developed an interest in political analysis. After his successful near-unique prediction of Harry S. Truman's victory in the 1948 presidential election, Life called him the "Lone Prophet" of Truman's victory. Bean wrote many books, notably Ballot Behavior and How to Predict Elections. He continued making electoral analyses and projections in the 1950s and 1960s, most of which were accurate.