Thomas E. Dewey and His Times

Rating:
Summary: Thanks for the Thruway....And Much More
Review: Thomas E. Dewey, the epitome of Manhattan Avenue politics to conservative Republicans, was himself born and bred further west than the venerable Robert Taft himself. A product of Owosso, Michigan, Dewey attended the University of Michigan, studying literature and law, all the while pursuing a career as a professional singer. It was music that brought him to New York, one of many surprises unveiled in Richard Norton Smith's biography of one of America's most prolific political campaigners.

Dewey was a capable enough performer that in 1924 he was booked for a solo performance in the cultural heart of America. In the audience was the noted music critic Deems Taylor. Taylor commented upon what he perceived as Dewey's contrived emotional stage effects, but this flaw was dwarfed by a more essential one: suffering from laryngitis, Dewey's voice totally shut down halfway through the program. A thoroughly mortified Dewey was forced to take stock of his career, and as a second choice he decided to pursue a law degree. Columbia University of the 1920's enjoyed a plethora of great legal minds, and even the frustrated singer came to develop a passion for law and the potential theatrics of the courtroom.

Dewey's rapid ascent through the law profession was abetted by two factors: his labors on behalf of New York City's struggling Republican party, and the patronage of George Z. Medalie, who would become Dewey's legal and political rabbi. Medalie, a major character in this treatment, enjoyed a thriving private law practice, but he was drafted for one of the city's frequent, and usually unsuccessful, forays against organized crime, which literally held New York in a stranglehold in the 1920's and 1930's. Medalie, who had once consulted for Dewey's firm, brought this "prodigy" into his investigations of the seamy criminal underbelly of New York including, as it turned out, the disappearance of Judge Crater.

Not even Medalie could have imagined what kind of courtroom tiger he had unleashed. It was to Dewey's advantage that few intrepid souls wanted to tackle the dangers of addressing organized crime, particularly when corruption pervaded the police department and the courts. Dewey became New York City's district attorney in 1935, prosecuting famous gangsters, politicians, and public figures with a take no prisoners approach. Smith describes several of the most famous investigations in considerable detail, but it is Dewey's style that is most intriguing: a workaholic perfectionist whose "when in Rome" style and prosecutorial armtwisting were not for the prudish. Dewey's face became one of the most recognizable in America-through newspapers, newsreels, and a series of Hollywood B-movies in which Dewey lookalike actors reenacted the more famous of his investigations.

After the substantive defeats of Hoover in 1932 and Landon in 1936 many Republican voters in the 1940 primaries turned to the fresh aggressive look of Dewey. By May 1 Dewey stood at the head of the pack, but May 1940 proved to be his undoing. Smith observes that it was not a Republican challenger who derailed Dewey's victory train, but Hitler himself. After the disaster of Dunkirk, Dewey became "the first American casualty of the Second World War," as one wag put it at the time. As the war came visibly closer to American life, Dewey's youth and limited international experience became glaring obstacles to his White House hopes. Defeated for the nomination by Wendell Wilkie, Dewey captured the New York state house in 1942. A genuinely compassionate man, Dewey's lengthy tenure as governor was marked by fiscal conservatism and social reform. His vision was remarkable: he predicted the postwar housing shortage and developed a state surplus for postwar needs. He saw the fiscal possibilities of a better highway system and sowed the seeds for what would become the interstate highway system by his advocacy of the New York State Thruway, which now bears his name.

Had Dewey's ambition been quenched in Albany, he would probably be remembered as one of the most effective state leaders of the century. Regrettably for his posterity, it is his unsuccessful runs for the presidency in 1944 and particularly 1948, when he "snatched defeat from the jaws of victory," that most Americans associate with Dewey. Smith does not psychoanalyze the 1948 event, as many historians do, nor does he demonize Truman, whom he credits with conducting a masterful if brutal campaign. Smith concedes that Dewey's 1948 campaign was too ethereal, but in the final analysis Dewey was a victim of himself. Like Nixon, he was not a natural gladhander, and his perfectionism in crafting his speeches not only resulted in a wooden product but devoured time better spent in personal appearances.

Smith describes Dewey's personal life as that of, well, a rich suburban Republican. Early in his career Dewey made the acquaintance of journalist Lowell Thomas, who gradually drew him into the social circle of Quaker Hill, an exclusive mountain community near Pawling, New York, north of the city. Dewey remained a presence in Republican circles until his sudden death by heart attack in 1971. He labored to keep his party moderate, campaigning vigorously for Eisenhower and against the Taft wing. Smith brings to light several interesting anecdotes of Dewey's later years. In 1970 a coterie of leading congressional Republicans, deeply concerned about the style and direction of the Nixon White House [read Haldeman and Ehrlichman], nominated their former party leader to speak privately with the president. Dewey apparently agreed to approach Nixon, but his sudden death intervened. Smith also records that the widowed Dewey courted Kitty Carlisle Hart [then a panelist on the popular TV program "To Tell The Truth"] and asked her to marry him. [The question was still under negotiation at the time of his death.] On the last day of his life, in Miami, he played golf with Carl Yastrzemski. His final regrets, it appears, had less to do with presidential campaigns and more to do with his belief that he had worked too hard and played too little.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent study of a forgotten political giant
Review: Thomas E. Dewey, unfortunately, is probably best remembered by most Americans as the little fellow who lost the 1948 Presidential election to Harry S. Truman in one of the greatest upsets in American history. But thanks to the work of Richard Norton Smith, we can now see Dewey for what he really was - a crusading, crime-busting district attorney; perhaps the best governor New York State ever had; and the man who "modernized" the Republican Party and allowed it to survive through the Depression years and the 1940's. Dewey came from a small town in Michigan, and his rise to fame and fortune came remarkably fast. A compulsive workaholic and "neat freak", Dewey graduated from the University of Michigan and Columbia University Law School in the 1920's. He briefly considered a career as a singer - he had an award-winning baritone voice and liked to sing Broadway tunes in his bathtub - but decided that the law would be a more stable and suitable career. He married an actress, settled in New York City (although he never really liked New York, and bought a large farm 70 miles north of Manhattan in the late thirties and happily became a weekend farmer). In 1933 Dewey, only 29, became the assistant DA and helped to send several gangsters to prison. In 1935 he was elected District Attorney for New York City, and he soon achieved national fame as the "gangbuster" - the honest lawyer who sent dozens of famous mafia leaders to jail. His most famous target was "Lucky" Luciano, the mafia boss of all New York and who was even more powerful than Al Capone. Dewey's conviction of Luciano made him a national hero and propelled him into presidential politics at the incredible age of 38. Hollywood even made movies about him. In 1940 he ran for the Republican presidential nomination and nearly won, despite his youth and inexperience. In 1942 he was elected governor of New York. During his twelve years as governor he passed the first state civil rights laws in America, lowered taxes AND cut a budget deficit in half, and founded the State University of New York. He also rooted out political crooks and ran a remarkably honest administration. In 1944 he ran for President and came closer to defeating Franklin D. Roosevelt than any of his four opponents. Dewey's great moment was supposed to have been in 1948, when he was considered to be a sure bet to defeat President Harry S. Truman and restore the Republicans to the White House. All the polls showed Dewey winning easily, and Dewey refused to even mention Truman's name - even as Truman insulted and ridiculed him in speech after speech. This was a costly mistake - Truman won a narrow victory in one of the great political upsets of all time. At the age of 46, Dewey was a "has-been". Smith does a wonderful job of explaining why, despite Dewey's honesty, intelligence, and obvious leadership skills he was never able to win the White House. Partly this was due to Dewey's personality - many people felt him to be cold and calculating, a short man with a bad temper and an arrogant attitude towards others. Smith fills this biography with plenty of delicious quotes (Dewey's secretary - "He was as cold as a February icicle"), and he also offers a superb history of the Republican Party in its lean years between the 1920's and the Eisenhower Fifties. Although Dewey will probably always be remembered more for his 1948 upset than for his substantial achievements, Smith's biography will at least ensure that those who read this book will come away with a much better appreciation for the man and for what he accomplished. A terrific book!