Pawling, New York: Grave of Dewey, Who Didn't Defeat Truman

Thomas Dewey lost presidential elections to FDR in 1944 and Harry Truman in 1948, the latter after newspaper headlines confidently declared him the winner.

Pawling Cemetery

Address:: NY-22, Pawling, NY
Directions:: Pawling Cemetery. Northeast of town. Cemetery entrance is fronted by a white picket fence on the west side of NY-22, just south of a pedestrian overpass. Once inside the cemetery, drive to its back section across a tiny bridge, then immediately turn left, then right. You'll see the Dewey mausoleum ahead, on the left.

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Dewey grave.

Grave of Dewey, Who Didn't Defeat Truman

No flag, and a very understated grave for Thomas Dewey, a notable politician.

[Annie, 01/22/2021]

Grave of Dewey.

Grave of Dewey, Who Didn't Defeat Truman

New York Governor Thomas Dewey was a three-time presidential candidate and a two-time nominee, the youngest ever put forth by the GOP. Americans chose to elect Franklin Roosevelt to a fourth term in 1944, but, undeterred, Dewey ran again in 1948. Not every state's votes had been tabulated by the time of the Chicago Daily Tribune's deadline on election night, and the newspaper bet wrong and picked the Republican as the victor. Truman won by a margin of 114 electoral votes, and a photograph of him jovially holding a copy of the DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN front page was widely-circulated.

Had the Tribune's headline proven correct, Dewey might have been buried at his own presidential library. Instead, upon his death in 1971, he was interred in Pawling Cemetery. His last name is the only word carved into the mausoleum's exterior.

[Kurt Deion / kurtshistoricsites.com, 08/16/2018]

Poor Dewey couldn't even outlive Truman, who died the following year.

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