Thomas E. Dewey, The Hanley Letter, and W. Kingsland Macy

Thomas E. Dewey, The Hanley Letter, and W. Kingsland Macy addresses two matters. The first is the 1950 New York gubernatorial race: Lieutenant Governor Joe R. Hanley's commencement of a speaking tour in April, Governor Dewey not yet having made known his intention regarding a third term; the Governor's silence on the matter until June 18th, when he announced that he would not be seeking a third term; the Governor's subsequent strong-arming of Mr. Hanley to give up not only his quest for the Governorship but also the Lieutenant Governorship, relegating him to the hopeless task of running for the U. S. Senate against Senator Herbert H. Lehman; the Governor's announcement on September 4th that he was running for a third term; the publication on October 17th of a letter from Mr. Hanley to U. S Representative and Suffolk County Republican Chairman W. Kingsland Macy in which he addressed his demotion; and the issue of whether or not the possession of a copy of the letter by the Democrats, which had forced its publication by Mr. Hanley, was attributable to Mr. Macy. The second matter is the achievement and fall of Mr. Macy as Republican State Chairman, 1929-1934. The Hofstadter Legislative Investigation Committee hearings, usually referred to as the Seabury hearings, would be one of the significant events leading to the election of Fiorello H. LaGuardia Mayor of New York City, and the concomitant twelve-year hiatus in the city's control by Tammany Hall, its Democratic organization. W. Kingsland Macy was the person who conceived of the creation of the Committee, and whose tenacity and range of effort in the face of notable indifference and even some opposition in his own party achieved its creation.