"thomas "avenging angel" dewey "

Dewey as both a federal and New York State special prosecutor, who gained fame for prosecuting organized crime and earning convictions for mobsters “Dutch” Schultz and “Lucky” Luciano. As the Manhattan District Attorney he convicted a wide range of defendants for corruption at the New York Stock Exchange to tenement landlords. Dewey was the most popular candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 1940, but party leaders felt he was too young. When he finally got the chance to run in 1944, he came the closest to beating Franklin Roosevelt as any of his challengers. He would suffer a historic upset in 1948 when Harry Truman defied expectations and won the election.