THE REPUBLICAN FAILURE OF 1944

William L. Courtney

U.S. History II – HIST 2112

1

There have been many men who have held the office of President of the United States of

America, forty-four to be exact. Each of these men impacted this nation in their own unique

ways, some more than others. Prior to the Twenty-second Amendment of the Constitution

(which places a two term limit on the presidency), it was tradition that a president only serve two

terms keeping with George Washington’s decision to step down after his second term. There

were a few attempts to gain a third term, but none of them successful until Franklin D. Roosevelt

won his third election in 1940. Roosevelt would once again run in 1944, this time against

Thomas E. Dewey, and win a historical fourth election. The election of 1944 is often overlooked

by history due to the events of World War II, but it was in fact one of the most interesting

presidential races in modern times.

But who was Thomas Dewey? Why is this man so little known in the minds of many

Americans? What were his plans and goals for this country should he become president? Was

the election really a foregone conclusion, or did Dewey truly have a chance to take out

Roosevelt? Why, after reenergizing the Republican Party and running strong against the aging

president, did his attacks on Roosevelt fail to win him the election? This paper shall attempt to

answer these questions by examining the methods and reasoning behind the Republican attacks

against Roosevelt by Dewey and his contemporaries, and explaining why they ultimately failed

to convince Americans to not support Roosevelt for a fourth term.

Before we begin looking at some of the Republican attacks made against Roosevelt

during the election, it is important that we first take a look at the man who would challenge the

president, Thomas E. Dewey. Thomas Dewey was born in Owosso, Michigan, at the beginning

of the twentieth century. His father, George Dewey, was the owner, editor, and publisher of the

local newspaper, the Owosso Times. From an early age, George Dewey exposed his son to

Republican politics. George Dewey was a staunch supporter of the current president, Theodore

2

Roosevelt, whose progressive policies had made him unpopular with the Republican

establishment. During the election of 1912, George Dewey, as well as his ten-year old son, Tom,

was a firm supporter of the Bull Moose Party. The election of 1912 had forced a split within the

Republican Party. The conservative old guard supported the current president, William Howard

Taft, while Roosevelt and the progressive Republicans formed the Progressive Party, also known

as the Bull Moose Party. As a result of this split, the election was won by Woodrow Wilson, the

Democratic nominee.

Growing up, young Tommy was exposed to his father’s political views whenever George

Dewey would write his latest criticism of a Democratic administration, showing it to his friends

before posting the finished product on a galley at the Times office.1 Tommy would sit for hours

listening to his father talk about politics with local politicians such as Congressman Joseph

Fordney and Governor Chase Osborne, the Bull Mooser who was the epitome of Republican

progressivism.2 Osborne was a frequent visitor to the Dewey home, and a mature Thomas Dewey

would later recall how the governor was the hero of his youth.

Later when Tom turned nineteen, he went to Ann Arbor to attend the University of

Michigan. During his first year he developed a relationship with the press, becoming a club

reporter for the Michigan Daily, and in his second year he became telegraph editor. The

university was, like most of the state of Michigan, overwhelmingly Republican at the time, and

Dewey seemed to fit in nicely with the rest of the students who also supported the GOP. Later in

1923, he decided to leave Ann Arbor but to continue his legal studies at Columbia.

Columbia University during the twenties was fertile ground for new ideas being put forth

both by progressives like John Dewey and Stanley Gill and traditionalists like school president,

Nicholas Murray Butler. Butler was a strong supporter of classical literature, and was by nature a

1 Richard Norton Smith, Thomas E. Dewey and his times (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982) 67. 2 Ibid.

3

political scientist. More than a few considered him to be a potential Republican Woodrow

Wilson at the time. Butler would go on to guide Columbia for some thirty years, always pushing

his obsession with excellence. It was during this time that Columbia’s legal scholars were split

between those who valued pure legal scholarship and those who valued studying society as well.3

Thomas Reed Powell was a leading advocate of this sociological approach to the study of law,

arguing that judges were motivated by social, economic, and psychological factors in addition to

legal ones.

Dewey’s popularity continued to rise over the years, and in 1938 he became the

Republican Party’s candidate for governor of New York. The Democrats, fearing that Dewey

would win the governorship, convinced the popular Governor Lehman to run for reelection

instead of running for a Senate position. Lehman managed to win the election by 64,000 votes,

but Dewey had gained national attention from the campaign. Dewey was now considered the

frontrunner for the 1940 Republican presidential nomination. Dewey began his campaign in

December 1939, winning primaries and picking up delegates as the race continued. He seemed

positioned to win the nomination until the appearance of former Democrat Wendell L. Willkie.

This coincided with the bad news from Europe, as France, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands

fell before Hitler’s war machine. Dewey’s inexperience as anything but a lawyer and gangbuster

hurt him badly when compared to the more experienced Willkie, and so Willkie eventually

became the nominee only to lose to President Roosevelt in 1940.

Despite this setback, Dewey managed to construct a strong statewide organization in

New York. As a result of superior organization, the Dewey Republican campaign won an

impressive victory for governor in 1942. Dewey managed to defeat a splintered Democratic

organization by a large margin. This once again propelled him to be the frontrunner for the

3 Ibid., 87.

4

Republican presidential nominee, even though he insisted he had no intentions of running in

1944.

There were other Republicans who had their eyes on taking on Roosevelt in the next

election. John William Bricker, the governor of Ohio, had a staunchly conservative political view

entrenched in the ideals of individualism and local responsibility. Bricker worked hard to reverse

the policies and programs of the previous Democratic administration in Ohio. Bricker inherited a

$20 million deficit from the Davey administration, and he left a $70 million surplus in the state

treasury when he left office in 1945.4

Gen. Douglas MacArthur was another Republican that people were talking about during

this time. MacArthur was a career soldier who had served President Hoover as chief of staff of

the U.S. Army. President Roosevelt kept MacArthur on as chief of staff, much to MacArthur’s

surprise. In 1941, President Roosevelt appointed MacArthur as a major general, and placed him

in charge of the war in the Pacific Theater. MacArthur resented the fact that the war against

Japan had taken a back seat to the war against Nazi Germany, with the disproportionate

allocation of resources that it brought. There were plenty of voices who were urging the general

to make his own run for the presidency, a goal that MacArthur had mused on himself years

before. In the midst of all of this public attention, Secretary of War Stimson reminded reporters

that it was against army regulations for a career officer from seeking a political office that he had

not held prior to entering the service.5 MacArthur did not become the Republican nominee, but

he did lead Allied forces to a victory over the Japanese in 1945, bringing an end to World War II.

Wendell L. Willkie had also returned to the national spotlight during this time. Starting

his career as a young lawyer who graduated from Indiana University, Willkie went on to become

the president of the Commonwealth & Southern utility holding company. Known for his

4 Ibid., 31. 5 Ibid., 37.

5

opposition to the New Deal policies of Franklin Roosevelt, he had somehow managed to become

the Republican presidential nominee in the 1940 election despite never having been elected to a

public office. The Republican big shots, remembering his defeat, were not thrilled at the prospect

of another Willkie bid for the White House. Despite his valiant efforts, Willkie did not win the

nomination of his party. That honor would fall upon the shoulders of the young governor of New

York, Thomas E. Dewey.

The Republican Convention met on June 26, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois. There were

several important speakers at the convention, not the least of which was former president

Hoover. Hoover delivered his speech to a cheering crowd, speaking in a soft voice while

denouncing the tyranny of Franklin Roosevelt.6 When John Bricker came to speak, he threw his

support behind Thomas Dewey, urging his supporters to not cast their votes for him but to

support Dewey as the candidate. Bricker further supported Dewey by saying, “I am more

interested in defeating the New Deal philosophy of absolutism which has swept free government

from its moorings throughout the world…than I am in personally being President of the United

States.”7 And so it was that when the convention voted on its nominee for the presidency that

Thomas E. Dewey was chosen to run against Franklin Roosevelt. John W. Bricker of Ohio would

be the vice-presidential nominee.

Tom Dewey gave his acceptance speech on Wednesday, June 28, 1944. In this speech,

Dewey reiterated how he had not actively sought the executive office, but that it had been thrust

upon him by the will of the people. Dewey promised that a change in political leadership would

not impact the management of the war with Germany and Japan, and that he fully intended to

allow the military to continue fighting the Axis. Dewey railed against the New Deal policies of

Roosevelt’s administration, charging that the administration had failed when it came to

6 Ibid., 116. 7 Ibid., 117.

6

generating new jobs, and that it did not even understand what truly makes a job.8 He continued

his attack, charging that the administration had “specialized in curtailment and restriction. It has

been consistently hostile to and abusive of American business and American industry that most

of us make our living.”9 The young governor was challenging a political giant who had won

three presidential elections, but he was not going to let that intimidate him. He was going to take

the fight directly to the president.

Meanwhile, the Democrats were already shoring up their defenses against the Republican

challenge to their control of the White House. The party bosses were afraid that Vice-President

Henry Wallace would hurt Roosevelt’s campaign, urged the president to replace Wallace with

someone else. When the Democratic convention met on Wednesday, July 19, 1944 in Chicago,

Illinois, the delegates nominated Sen. Harry S. Truman to be Roosevelt’s running mate. With

both the Democratic and Republican Conventions over, the race for the White House had

officially started. The contest would be between Roosevelt and Truman verses Dewey and

Bricker.

The Republicans wasted no time in their campaign against the aging president by

contrasting the age difference between the two men. Franklin Roosevelt was sixty-two during the

1944 election, and photos of Roosevelt at two-year intervals since his first election in 1932

started appearing.10

This had the desired effect of making the president look like a very old man.

The Republicans emphasized Dewey’s youth and virility, showing pictures of the forty-two year

old Dewey playing sports like golf. Youth and virility were important characteristics to have at a

time when the Gallup poll found that 34 percent of Americans believed that Roosevelt’s health

would not permit him to carry out his duties in a new term, and was a major selling point.11

8 Thomas E. Dewey "'I Accept the Nomination." Vital Speeches Of The Day 10, no. 19 (July 15, 1944): 578. MAS Ultra - School Edition, EBSCOhost (accessed January 22, 2013). 9 Ibid. 10

Richard Norton Smith, Thomas E. Dewey and his times (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982), 407.

7

This attack against Roosevelt’s age allowed the Democrats to bring up the subject of

experience into the debate. They argued that Governor Dewey was a young man with little to no

experience in world affairs, and that he lacked the experience necessary to lead America during

the war against the Axis Powers. It would be too dangerous, they would argue, to change horses

midstream, to change a proven, experienced leader like Roosevelt for an unknown and

inexperienced newcomer like Dewey.

Both parties also invested heavily in radio advertising, with Republicans taking full

advantage of this new form of mass communication. The Republican National Committee not

only prepared a number of national broadcasts, which included speeches by Dewey and Bricker,

but they also suggested to state and local organizations various radio activities, such as

“Registration Recordings,” and “Get Out the Vote,” which were non-partisan and thus free.12

The Republicans also ran attack ads against the president. One Dewey spot read:

If you are think 'you might as well' vote for Franklin D.

Roosevelt again-stop and think!

Has he ever relinquished willingly any power he has gained

over you? Will he give up the greatest power of all-the

presidency? Not while he can use an emergency as an excuse to

continue in office. Do your American duty while there is still time.

The only way you can save yourself from the continuing reign of

Franklin D. Roosevelt is to vote for Thomas E. Dewey.13

Another add introduced for the first time a common attack that would be repeatedly used by

Republicans against Democrats in future political campaigns:

If you are thinking you 'might as well' vote for Franklin D.

Roosevelt again-stop and think!

His henchmen said, 'We will tax and tax and tax-and spend

11 Ibid. 12 Michael A. Davis “Politics as Usual: Franklin Roosevelt, Thomas Dewey and the Wartime Presidential Campaign of 1944.” (PhD diss., Liberty University, 2005), 159. 13

Ibid., 160.

8

and spend and spend-and elect and elect and elect!' And they

meant this, too! Any emergency-any excuse they will use to drag

your vote into their net. The only way you can stop them is with

your vote. Change while there is still time. Vote for Thomas E.

Dewey for President!14

The Democrats responded in kind, with most spots emphasizing the “Hoover Depression.” One

such ad read:

[Opens with traffic noise that slowly fades away and into a

dialogue]

Buy an apple, Mister?

Yeah, give me a couple of ' em.

Okay, here you are ... Thanks very much [laughter]

Just like 1930, isn't it?

Buddy, this makes 1930 look like the good old days. This is really

a depression. But what'ya expect? We never should have elected

Dewey. But we don't seem to learn, do we?

[Traffic noise, fade away, and then Announcer]

This doesn't have to happen again, folks. It's just a case of

keeping men with 1929 ideas out of office in 1944!15

One of the main focuses of the Republican strategy against Roosevelt and the Democratic

Party was that it was not a good thing for one party to be in control for too long, and, in fact, it

was the Republican Party who added a two-year term for the presidency to their platform. The

problem with this strategy was that it allowed the Democrats to bring up the fact that the United

States had entered the Great Depression under the administration of Herbert Hoover, who was a

Republican president. The two presidents prior to Hoover (Harding and Coolidge) were also

Republicans. Many voters went to the polls on election day with this in mind, which certainly

helped Roosevelt to win the election.

Tom Dewey later took his gloves off to take a swing at the champ on the campaign

trail. In September, Dewey headed west to Philadelphia to meet Republican Governor Edward

Martin and make a speech that was going to be broadcast to the entire nation. Dewey, speaking

14 Ibid. 15

Ibid., 161.

9

before a crowd of 13,500, made the charge that the Roosevelt administration was planning to

keep soldiers in the army after the war because there would be no jobs waiting for them when

they returned.16

He based this on a comment made by Selective Service Director Lewis B.

Hershey, who had answered a hypothetical question by saying that “we can keep people in the

army about as cheaply as we could create an agency for them when they are out.”17

Hershey later

pointed out that he had no direct policy-making power in this area and was in-fact himself a

Republican. On the day of Dewey’s political speech, the War Department had released what the

New York Times called its “excellent plan for a prompt partial demobilization of the army,

following the defeat of Germany.”18

In spite of this, however, Hershey’s remark would become a

staple of Republican attacks against Roosevelt. Furthermore, the Republican National Committee

released a 63-page booklet entitled What to Talk About. This booklet emphasized the issues of

the campaign: how this would be the fourth election for Roosevelt, how all the Communists

supported Roosevelt, how the corrupt political machine was for Roosevelt, and how the political

action committee of Sidney Hillman, a prominent labor leader, supported Roosevelt.19

Later, while stopping in Valentine, Nebraska, Dewey gave a speech in which he praised

Douglas MacArthur, while not missing the chance to take a swipe at Roosevelt yet again. Dewey

echoed the standard Republican position that the Pacific Theater was given less attention by

Roosevelt when compared to the European Theater (despite the fact that the Allies had mutually

agreed that Germany be stopped first). He commented now that since MacArthur was no longer a

political threat to Roosevelt, he should be given more support and recognition. The New York

Times promptly took Dewey to task for implying that supplies had been withheld from

MacArthur due to political reasons.20

Dewey also gave a speech on October 7, in Charleston,

16David M. Jordan, FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011) , 223. 17 Ibid., 224. 18 Ibid. 19

Ibid., 221.

10

West Virginia, in which he pointed out the fact that the head of the Communist Party of

America, Earl Browder, had made the statement that re-electing Roosevelt was one of his chief

aims.21

The charge of supporting Communism and Socialism was a common attack by

Republicans against the Roosevelt Administration. The conservative branch of the party hated

many of the New Deal policies, with some of them suggesting that the New Deal policies were

essentially Communism and calling the president, “Stalin Delano Roosevelt.”22

The reality,

however, was that many of the New Deal policies, like Social Security, were quite conservative

when compared to similar programs in Europe at the time.23

Furthermore, many Americans felt

that these measures were necessary steps that needed to be taken in order for the Democratic

Administration to undo the damages caused by the Great Depression, which happened after three

Republican administrations.

As the campaign drew to a close, Roosevelt addressed the nation from the White House,

and spurned communistic support. This was the first time in the history of American presidential

campaigns that a president used the White House as a backdrop for a campaign speech. “I have

never sought,” Roosevelt said, ”and I do not welcome the support of any person or group

committed to Communism, or Fascism, or any other foreign ideology which could undermine the

American system of government or the American system of free enterprise and private

property.”24

The Republicans also attacked the Roosevelt Administration for how it had handled

20 Ibid., 227. 21

Thomas E. Dewey "Corporate State Not An American System." Vital Speeches Of The Day 11, no. 1 (October 15, 1944): 13. MAS Ultra - School Edition, EBSCOhost (accessed January 22, 2013). 22 George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi. America: A Narrative History (New York: W.W. Norton, 2010), 1111-1112. 23 Ibid., 1110. 24 Michael A. Davis “Politics as Usual: Franklin Roosevelt, Thomas Dewey and the Wartime Presidential Campaign of 1944.” (PhD diss., Liberty University, 2005), 223.

11

government affairs for the past twelve years. During another speech, while in St. Louis that

October, Dewey suggested three simple criteria by which to judge a government. Was it honest?

Where the people who ran it competent enough to do their jobs? Did the government have faith

in the nation itself? Dewey believed, according to these standards, that the New Deal was a

dismal failure. He described squabbles over the NRA, fights between Secretary of the Interior

Harold L. Ickes and Harry Hopkins over PWA (Public Works Administration) and WPA (Works

Progress Administration), and a number of petty struggles for positions in the government

including the position of “gasoline czar.”25

Dewey also criticized the New Deal for changing the

tax laws fifteen times in twelve years, which he claimed was undermining the stability needed

for economic growth.

The Democrats, of course, did not take the governor’s attacks lying down. Truman did

most of the campaigning due to Roosevelt’s concentration on the war (and his physical condition

besides). The vice-presidential candidate made fifty-four speeches prior to the November 7th

elections, including twelve major addresses. He had no problem talking about the

accomplishments the Democrats had made during Roosevelt’s three terms, and was always

reminding the people that it was the Republicans who got them in economic trouble in the first

place. The Democrats also gathered together several prominent people to speak approvingly of

the Roosevelt-Truman ticket. One group, Educators for Roosevelt, included a group of sixty

college presidents, deans, and professors, including people like John Dewey and Albert Einstein.

The second group was the Independent Voters Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions,

which included six hundred writers, actors, artists, musicians, and scientists.26

Roosevelt himself

remarked that this was the meanest campaign he had ever been in, and he especially resented the

remarks about his health.

25 Richard Norton Smith, Thomas E. Dewey and his times (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982), 431. 26

David M. Jordan, FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011), 247.

12

The Republicans had tried to raise Roosevelt’s health as an issue during the fall

campaign, but it never really caught the public’s interest. A poll conducted in early September

indicated that only 1.6% of those surveyed would vote for Dewey because of the president’s

health, and that number dropped to .5% in October.27

This is probably due to the fact that

Roosevelt and his cabinet did such a good job in concealing just how bad the president’s health

was during this time, and most Americans were more concerned about the war than rumors of

the president’s health issues.

The final Gallup poll had Roosevelt ahead, 51 percent to 49 percent, going into Election

Day.28

Roosevelt was already predicting a victory in the electoral college of about 335 to 196,

but others in the party were far more optimistic. When the people started to vote on November 7,

the first results looked promising for Dewey, who was leading in New England, Missouri, and

Ohio. But around 9:00pm that night the trend started to reverse itself, as Roosevelt started to

pullahead by healthy margins in Maryland and Kentucky, piling up large margins in Chicago and

upstate New York. When midnight came, only the pleas of his advisors kept Dewey from

conceding defeat. By 3:00am, Roosevelt was leading 391 to 140 in the electoral vote. Shortly

after, Dewey appeared in the ballroom of his hotel and conceded defeat, asking Americans to

join him in praying for Divine Providence to guide and protect the president. Roosevelt,

however, was upset that Dewey did not send him the traditional telegram of congratulations. On

his way to bed, FDR met his presidential aide, Bill Hasset, who asked if he could do anything for

him. The president told him no before commenting about Dewey, “I still think he is a son of a

bitch.”29

In the end, even after all their attacks and campaigning, Tom Dewey and the Republican

27 Michael A. Davis “Politics as Usual: Franklin Roosevelt, Thomas Dewey and the Wartime Presidential Campaign of 1944.” (PhD diss., Liberty University, 2005), 178. 28 Richard Norton Smith, Thomas E. Dewey and his times (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982), 435. 29

Ibid. 436.

13

Party failed in their attempt to dethrone Franklin Roosevelt as President of the United States.

And according to the National Opinion Research Center, which conducted a nation election

study in conjunction with the Psychology Department of Harvard University, the leading causes

for voting for Roosevelt were the following: “Because of the war—we should not change during

the war, best man at this time,” “Because of his past record—better man for the job, more

experienced,” and “Because he is for the common man.”30

Furthermore, the study also found that

only 4% of those surveyed indicated that Roosevelt’s health was a factor in their voting decision,

and that 45% of those questioned expressed the belief that Communists would not have more

influence under Roosevelt (only 24% said they would).31

It is also telling that 64% of those

surveyed believed that Roosevelt had ran the better campaign, while nearly 80% believed that

Dewey had waged the most negative one.32

It has often been said that the 1944 election was a foregone conclusion due to the fact that

it was a wartime campaign and a popular incumbent (Roosevelt) was seeking reelection. A closer

examination reveals, however, that Dewey’s hard work almost paid off. A shift of 500,000 votes

in the right states (including Michigan, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,

Missouri, and Pennsylvania), would have given Dewey an Electoral College victory and the

presidency. What did Dewey do wrong?

One reason was that he was unable (or unwilling) to focus on one or two issues. His

message was scattered, and he talked about everything from Roosevelt’s age and health to

ending one-man rule and saving America from the Communists. Dewey also faced the charge,

which he unwittingly seemed to encourage, that he was inexperienced, indecisive, and

contradictory. Later, after Roosevelt’s famous Fala speech, Dewey became easily rattled, and by

30 Michael A. Davis “Politics as Usual: Franklin Roosevelt, Thomas Dewey and the Wartime Presidential Campaign of 1944.” (PhD diss., Liberty University, 2005), 237. 31 Ibid. 32

Ibid.

14

the end of the campaign he began swinging madly in all directions. This caused independent and

undecided voters, who were turned off by Dewey’s negative campaign, to cast their votes for

Roosevelt instead. The Republican strategy ultimately failed to convince people to vote against

Roosevelt and the New Deal policies that had been helping them recover from the Great

Depression.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Davis, Michael A. “Politics as Usual: Franklin Roosevelt, Thomas Dewey and the Wartime

Presidential Campaign of 1944.” (PhD diss., Liberty University, 2005)

Dewey, Thomas E. "Corporate State Not An American System." Vital Speeches Of The Day 11,

no. 1 (October 15, 1944): 13. MAS Ultra - School Edition, EBSCOhost (accessed

January 22, 2013).

Dewey, Thomas E. "'I Accept the Nomination." Vital Speeches Of The Day 10, no. 19 (July 15,

1944): 578. MAS Ultra - School Edition, EBSCOhost (accessed January 22, 2013).

Jordan, M. David. FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944 (Bloomington: Indiana University

Press, 2011).

Smith, Richard Norton, Thomas E. Dewey and his times (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982).

Tindall, George Brown, and David Emory Shi. America: A Narrative History (New York: W.W.

Norton, 2010).