Black and white photograph of a man in the center with black text along the top and bottom edge and an illustration of an elephant on the right and left sides on a white background
Thomas E. Dewey was an attorney who became famous after his 1935 appointment as a special prosecutor to look into corruption in New York City. Dewey targeted organized criminal enterprises, prosecuting Mafia members and corrupt bankers. Dewey was elected as governor of New York in 1942, and was regarded as honest and efficient. He was the Republican Party's presidential nominee in 1944, and is still the youngest Republican nominee at age 42, but lost the election to incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt. The party nominated Dewey for President again in 1948, and he was strongly favored in the general election, leading to the infamously erroneous headline "Dewey Defeats Truman" printed by the Chicago Daily Tribune, before returns showed that the winner was incumbent president Harry S. Truman.