Glacier County chief., 1939-10-27

xnON1AS
He did not dream then that he
was destined to tread the path of
politics and that his voice would
carry him a long way over that
rocky road. When he entered the
University of Michigan at II he
thought he was heading for a musi-
cal career. He edited the college
daily paper, naturally enough, but
the glee club was of more conse-
quence to him in those student days.
In his senior year he began to
glimpse something of the road
whereby men achieve greatness,
and added the first year of the law
school to his regular senior course,
at the same time studying music,
singing in church choir and rum
ming the varsity paper. That busy
year was 1923, when he got his B. A.
degree and sang a solo at the COM
mencement exercises.
That spring he got something else.
He won scholarship for summer
course in singing in Chicago under
a famous teacher. Before the sum-
mer was over his teacher advised
him to head for New York; he had
the makings of a grand opera star.
So Tom Dewey spent the next two
years in Columbia university law
school, studying voice and singing
for year in a church choir. As
another "side line" he edited the ma
tional journal of his college frater-
nifty.
And, incidentally, he was studying
politics, particularly the New York
variety, in which he confirmed his
fathers judgment on Tammany. Be-
tween the urge toward a musical ca
reer and the ingrained pull of poll
tics, the law was winning; it offered
a gateway to the political life. Be-
sides, it offered a more certain live
ihood for a young married man.
For in 1928, three years after gain
ing his IL. B. degree in law, Tom
Dewey was making good in a big
New York law firm and got mar
ried, to a girl from Texas whom he
had met in his vocal classes. Fran
ces Eileen HUT, a grandniece of
Jefferson Davis, had had a short
professional singing career before
she became Mrs. Thomas E. Dewey.
If Thomas E. Dewey Jr:, now seven,
and his four-year-old brother, John
Martin Dewey, do not become op-
cratic, radio or concert singers of
renown, then there's nothing in he
redity and environment. The Dewey
homes, city and country, are filed
with music.
His Speaking Voice.
And so is Tom Dewey's speaking
voice. Before a jury or a political
meeting or over the radio it has a
quality which reaches peoples
hearts. Its tones carry conviction
of the speakers sincerity and of his
genuine love for people,. Studying
his face and its expressions I Won
dered if the close-cropped, dark
mustache did not conceal a real
Irish upper lip, suggesting strain
in the district attorneys pedigree
which might account for the power
to "charm a bird off a tree" which
has been attributed to him.
dropped hint of that random
guess -whisht!-what do you
think Tom Dewey said? my moth
er's mother was a Corrigan from
County Cork" That accounts for
many things, including the young
mans sense of humor, which is so
genuine that he can laugh at jokes
on himself as well as one on the 9TH
er fellow. By the same token, the
answer to the question, Twill Dewey
do?" must be definitely yes if it re-
lates to his ability to sway audi
ences. No Republican candidate for
President, and have heard all of
them from James G. Blaine to ALT
Landon, ever had such effective ora
torical talent, and I think of only
two Democratic candidates, Bryan
and Franklin Roosevelt, to match
Tom Dewey in vocal persuasiveness.
What else has Dewey got? It takes
more than voice to make a Presi-
dent, though some have tried for the
job with no other equipment. Def