Thomas E. Dewey, the one-time mob busting New York City
prosecutor and later governor of New York, made three different
runs at the White House, twice winning the Republican
nomination. He never won the biggest election and the question
of why is pertinent to our political life now, long, long after
Dewey is mostly forgotten. On a handful of occasions in American
history – 1864 during the decisive year of the Civil War being
one of the earliest and 2004 during the tough early days of the
Iraq war begin the latest – the country has chosen a president
during wartime. I’ve long argued that Abraham Lincoln’s re-
election in 1864 was the most important presidential election in
our history. Had Lincoln lost that election to Gen. George
McClellan it is altogether possible that the winner would have
sought a negotiated end to the War of Rebellion, while
maintaining the status quo regarding slavery. Lincoln won,
thanks in part of Sherman’s timely victory at Atlanta, and
refused to consider anything other than the compl