THE bristling mustache above a bone-stiff upper lip. The wind-up doll gestures. The suave delivery of platitudes in a deep and resonant voice. Those trademarks of Thomas Edmund Dewey came to symbolize a full decade of Republican Party frustration in the presidential politics of the 1940s. That is unfortunate, since Dewey was the prototype of all crusading young gangbusters in his 30s, a crisply efficient three-term Governor of New York in his 40s, and a premature but valued elder statesman of his party as early as his 50s. Nevertheless, he will be remembered...
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