Thomas E. Dewey and His Times

A two-time Republican nominee for president, Thomas E. Dewey dominated Republican party politics during the 1940s. Yet to assert, as does the dustjacket of the hardcover edition of Richard Norton Smith's biography of Dewey, that the former prosecutor and three-time governor of New York was "the maker of the modern Republican Party" seems an exaggeration. Nonetheless, Smith has written a thorough account of Dewey's life and career, from his childhood and early years as an attorney to his two successive defeats in the presidential elections of 1944 and 1948. Extensively researched, it is a favorable account but not an uncritical one, and will satisfy anyone seeking to learn about this iconic figure and his many achievements.

1919 Thomas E. Dewey and His Times, by Richard Norton Smith (read 7 Apr 1985) I found this 1982 biography exceptionally enjoyable reading. Dewey was born 24 Mar 1902 in Owosso, Mich. He went to New York to study music and law and the rest of his life was new York-based. The story of his prosecutor days was not really interesting--they sure had a different mode of operations than would be necessary now, what with wiretaps and extensive questioning sans Miranda. But the accounts of 1940 and the effort to be nominated was very interesting and relatively fresh to me. The time since covered well-known ground, but I found it all fascinating reading, even though the author (born in 1953) is not overly perceptive and also not a great writer. show more Dewey died in Florida on March 16, 1971. Near the end of the book is this sentence: "How does one assess a man who came so far, so fast--too fast for his own good, as he readily admitted--in spite of a personality that had never had a chance to grow up to his dazzling potential?" show less