THOMAS EDMUND DEWEY
Name: Thomas Edmund Dewey
Born: 24 March 1902 Owosso, Michigan
Died: 16 March 1971 Florida
Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 - March 16, 1971) was the Governor of New
York (1943-1955) and the unsuccessful Republican candidate for the U.S.
Presidency in 1944 and 1948. As a leader of the liberal faction of the
Republican party he fought the conservative faction led by Senator Robert A.
Taft, and played a major role in nominating Dwight D. Eisenhower for the
presidency in 1952. He represented the Northeastern business and professional
community that accepted most of the New Deal after 1944. His successor as leader
of the liberal Republicans was Nelson A. Rockefeller, who became governor of New
York in 1959.
Dewey was born and raised in Owosso, Michigan, where his father owned, edited,
and published the local newspaper. He graduated from the University of Michigan
in 1923, and from the Columbia Law School in 1925. While at the University of
Michigan, he joined Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national fraternity for men of
music, and was a member of the Men's Glee Club. He was an excellent singer with
a deep, baritone voice, and in 1923 he finished in third place in the National
Singing Contest. He briefly considered a career as a professional
singer, but decided against it after a temporary throat ailment convinced him
that such a career would be risky. He then decided to pursue a career as a
lawyer. He also wrote for The Michigan Daily, the university's
student newspaper club.
In 1928 Dewey married Frances Hutt. A native of Sherman, Texas, she had briefly
been a stage actress; after their marriage she dropped her acting career.
They had two sons, Thomas E. Dewey, Jr. and John Dewey. Although Dewey
served as a prosecutor and District Attorney in New York City for many years,
his home from 1938 until his death was a large farm, called "Dapplemere",
located near the town of Pawling some 65 miles (105 km) north of New York City.
According to biographer Richard Norton Smith in Thomas E. Dewey and His Times,
Dewey "loved Dapplemere as [he did] no other place", and Dewey was once quoted
as saying that "I work like a horse five days and five nights a week for the
privilege of getting to the country on the weekend." Dapplemere was part of a
tight-knit rural community called "Quaker Hill," which was known as a haven for
the prominent and well-to-do. Among Dewey's neighbors on Quaker Hill were the
famous reporter and radio broadcaster Lowell Thomas, the Reverend Norman Vincent
Peale, and the legendary CBS News journalist Edward R. Murrow. Dewey was a
lifelong member of The Episcopal Church.
Name: Thomas Edmund Dewey
Born: 24 March 1902 Owosso, Michigan
Died: 16 March 1971 Florida
Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 - March 16, 1971) was the Governor of New
York (1943-1955) and the unsuccessful Republican candidate for the U.S.
Presidency in 1944 and 1948. As a leader of the liberal faction of the
Republican party he fought the conservative faction led by Senator Robert A.
Taft, and played a major role in nominating Dwight D. Eisenhower for the
presidency in 1952. He represented the Northeastern business and professional
community that accepted most of the New Deal after 1944. His successor as leader
of the liberal Republicans was Nelson A. Rockefeller, who became governor of New
York in 1959.
Dewey was born and raised in Owosso, Michigan, where his father owned, edited,
and published the local newspaper. He graduated from the University of Michigan
in 1923, and from the Columbia Law School in 1925. While at the University of
Michigan, he joined Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national fraternity for men of
music, and was a member of the Men's Glee Club. He was an excellent singer with
a deep, baritone voice, and in 1923 he finished in third place in the National
Singing Contest. He briefly considered a career as a professional
singer, but decided against it after a temporary throat ailment convinced him
that such a career would be risky. He then decided to pursue a career as a
lawyer. He also wrote for The Michigan Daily, the university's
student newspaper club.
In 1928 Dewey married Frances Hutt. A native of Sherman, Texas, she had briefly
been a stage actress; after their marriage she dropped her acting career.
They had two sons, Thomas E. Dewey, Jr. and John Dewey. Although Dewey
served as a prosecutor and District Attorney in New York City for many years,
his home from 1938 until his death was a large farm, called "Dapplemere",
located near the town of Pawling some 65 miles (105 km) north of New York City.
According to biographer Richard Norton Smith in Thomas E. Dewey and His Times,
Dewey "loved Dapplemere as [he did] no other place", and Dewey was once quoted
as saying that "I work like a horse five days and five nights a week for the
privilege of getting to the country on the weekend." Dapplemere was part of a
tight-knit rural community called "Quaker Hill," which was known as a haven for
the prominent and well-to-do. Among Dewey's neighbors on Quaker Hill were the
famous reporter and radio broadcaster Lowell Thomas, the Reverend Norman Vincent
Peale, and the legendary CBS News journalist Edward R. Murrow. Dewey was a
lifelong member of The Episcopal Church.