  Built during the 1950's
as part of President Eisenhower's Interstate program, the NYS
Thomas E Dewey Thruway runs from Buffalo on through Albany and
down into the Bronx. It is officially named for the late Governer
Dewey, who is best known as the man who brought down Lucky Luciano
and fried Louis "Lepke" Buchalter in the 1930s and
40s. His namesake highway, however, is rarely referred to as
the Dewey. To most everyone I know, it is simply the Thruway.
This is despite the fact that it is not the only NYS Thruway.
Officially speaking, both the Cross Westchester Expressway and
New England Thruway are also New York State Thruways, but only
the I-87 stretch running up to Buffalo is called such in the
vernacular. Poor Dewey just couldn't win. Not only was he humiliated
by President Truman in that famous "Dewey Wins" 1948
election, but he can't even get his memorial recognized by the
common folk, who have always called the Thruway's southern appendage
in the Bronx The Deegan (Named for Robert Moses buddy Major Deegan)
as if doing so was the most natural thing to do. |
