Another Victim of the Dewey Curse
Will a New Yorker ever get into the White House again?
June 13th, 2008
The last time Americans picked a New Yorker for president, they did not have much of a choice: in 1944, there were not one, but two empire state politicians at the top of their ticket. The state, apparently, had reached too far. Franklin Roosevelt won that race, but died not long after. His opponent, Thomas Dewey, ran again in 1948, but despite all the indications in his favor and the pre-printed headlines declaring his victory, Dewey somehow managed not to defeat Harry Truman. There has not been a successful New Yorker presidential candidate since. Boston had the Curse of the Bambino. Ambitious New York politicians, it seems, have the curse of Tom Dewey.
And while there are two new World Series rings at Fenway, there are now three more presidential candidates who did not make it in New York.
They are far from alone.
New York is tied with Ohio for producing more presidents than any other state. But aside from the two Roosevelts, the long and illustrious list of New York politicians who have sought the presidency over the years does not contain many winners. And aside from the Roosevelts, the winners have been mostly forgettable: Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Chester Arthur and Grover Cleveland.
And since Dewey, though there have been no shortage of New Yorkers who have tried for president or vice president, there has not been a single winner. But there have been some pretty notable losers.
Perhaps this is the legacy of Al Smith, the quintessential New Yorker who enjoyed four terms as governor, lost his 1928 campaign for president against Herbert Hoover. Campaigning as a proud New Yorker—also as the first Catholic nominated by a major party—Smith's New York accent on the radio struck many Americans as foreign-sounding. His campaign theme song, The Sidewalks of New York, did not have quite the nationwide appeal he might have hoped.
There was Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, more New Englander than New Yorker (though he spent the better part of his childhood in the Bronx with his family), who seemed set to win the 1968 Democratic nomination before being assassinated the night he won the California primary.
Nelson Rockefeller, a popular former governor, failed to sew up enough support for a presidential bid in 1960, 1964 and 1968.
Rockefeller did finally go national in 1975, when a newly elevated Gerald Ford picked him as his new vice president. But three years later, Rockefeller was dropped from the re-election ticket.
New York Mayor John Lindsay performed well in some of the early caucuses in 1972, but was undone by the city's failing economic fortune, if not also by the band of protesters from Forest Hills, Queens, who followed the candidate around the country, heckling him.
Two New Yorkers have run for vice president since, and both failed: Queens Rep. Geraldine Ferraro was picked by Democratic candidate Walter Mondale in 1984, and former Buffalo Rep. Jack Kemp was picked by Republican Bob Dole in 1996.
Gov. Mario Cuomo (D) famously came so close to running in 1992 that he had a plane parked on the Albany tarmac, waiting to bring him to New Hampshire to file papers for the primary. In the end, he blamed a need to haggle over the state budget for his decision not to run.
This year, there was less indecision, but just as much disappointment. Giuliani's Florida-or-nothing gambit proved fatal. Bloomberg's prospective independent bid was over-shadowed by the trans-partisan appeals of John McCain and Barack Obama.
Clinton came closest than any New Yorker in recent history, but not close enough. With the collapse of her campaign and those of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R) and Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.)—unless Clinton takes another run—there does not seem to be any potential presidential candidate among the ranks of New York politicians for years to come.
At her final campaign night appearance June 3, the realization seemed to elude the several hundred supporters and donors who filed into the Baruch College gymnasium. Bearing signs and defiant smiles, they greeted the senator as if she had arrived on stage with her packed suitcases to move back into the White House.
In her speech, she praised New York as one of the greatest states in the country. But the biggest cheer of the night went to the last state to give her a primary victory: South Dakota.
But New Yorkers can still have some presidential pride, at least comparatively. Despite that cheer and being home to Mount Rushmore, South Dakota has yet to produce any president. And its only major party nominee, George McGovern, lost in one of history's biggest presidential landslides to Richard Nixon, who had by then abandoned his home state of California and was living in New York.
And while there are two new World Series rings at Fenway, there are now three more presidential candidates who did not make it in New York.
They are far from alone.
New York is tied with Ohio for producing more presidents than any other state. But aside from the two Roosevelts, the long and illustrious list of New York politicians who have sought the presidency over the years does not contain many winners. And aside from the Roosevelts, the winners have been mostly forgettable: Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Chester Arthur and Grover Cleveland.
And since Dewey, though there have been no shortage of New Yorkers who have tried for president or vice president, there has not been a single winner. But there have been some pretty notable losers.
Perhaps this is the legacy of Al Smith, the quintessential New Yorker who enjoyed four terms as governor, lost his 1928 campaign for president against Herbert Hoover. Campaigning as a proud New Yorker—also as the first Catholic nominated by a major party—Smith's New York accent on the radio struck many Americans as foreign-sounding. His campaign theme song, The Sidewalks of New York, did not have quite the nationwide appeal he might have hoped.
There was Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, more New Englander than New Yorker (though he spent the better part of his childhood in the Bronx with his family), who seemed set to win the 1968 Democratic nomination before being assassinated the night he won the California primary.
Nelson Rockefeller, a popular former governor, failed to sew up enough support for a presidential bid in 1960, 1964 and 1968.
Rockefeller did finally go national in 1975, when a newly elevated Gerald Ford picked him as his new vice president. But three years later, Rockefeller was dropped from the re-election ticket.
New York Mayor John Lindsay performed well in some of the early caucuses in 1972, but was undone by the city's failing economic fortune, if not also by the band of protesters from Forest Hills, Queens, who followed the candidate around the country, heckling him.
Two New Yorkers have run for vice president since, and both failed: Queens Rep. Geraldine Ferraro was picked by Democratic candidate Walter Mondale in 1984, and former Buffalo Rep. Jack Kemp was picked by Republican Bob Dole in 1996.
Gov. Mario Cuomo (D) famously came so close to running in 1992 that he had a plane parked on the Albany tarmac, waiting to bring him to New Hampshire to file papers for the primary. In the end, he blamed a need to haggle over the state budget for his decision not to run.
This year, there was less indecision, but just as much disappointment. Giuliani's Florida-or-nothing gambit proved fatal. Bloomberg's prospective independent bid was over-shadowed by the trans-partisan appeals of John McCain and Barack Obama.
Clinton came closest than any New Yorker in recent history, but not close enough. With the collapse of her campaign and those of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R) and Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.)—unless Clinton takes another run—there does not seem to be any potential presidential candidate among the ranks of New York politicians for years to come.
At her final campaign night appearance June 3, the realization seemed to elude the several hundred supporters and donors who filed into the Baruch College gymnasium. Bearing signs and defiant smiles, they greeted the senator as if she had arrived on stage with her packed suitcases to move back into the White House.
In her speech, she praised New York as one of the greatest states in the country. But the biggest cheer of the night went to the last state to give her a primary victory: South Dakota.
But New Yorkers can still have some presidential pride, at least comparatively. Despite that cheer and being home to Mount Rushmore, South Dakota has yet to produce any president. And its only major party nominee, George McGovern, lost in one of history's biggest presidential landslides to Richard Nixon, who had by then abandoned his home state of California and was living in New York.
