at 26 Lemon St. in the "Fruit Belt" of citrus-named streets in the German Near East Side of Buffalo. Mary Marx had grown up in that neighborhood, and her father had a grocery store on Mortimer Street. "They were just good hearty German-American people who worked like hell", Jaeckle recalled in 1980 in a Buffalo News article. Early political career Jaeckle was first exposed to politics while attending the University of Buffalo Law School. A neighborhood restaurateur, Leo J. Schmidt — a family friend — was running for state committeeman and needed help. Jaeckle, then 20, offered his services, primarily driving Schmidt around. Jaeckle graduated in 1915 and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1916. Shortly after, Schmidt suggested that he run for the Erie County Board of Supervisors in the 13th Ward. In 1917, at age 22, he ran for the nomination against a Republican incumbent. He won the general election, after a brutal primary campaign. After having served in the United States Navy during World War I, Jaeckle returned to New York to build his private law practice. In 1920, he became clerk of the County Board of Supervisors. In 1927 he became back tax collector for the county treasurer. During this time he cultivated his inside knowledge of the political game. Jaeckle was elected Erie County (Buffalo) Republican chairman in 1935 and held the position with an iron fist until he resigned it in 1948, ostensibly to devote his full efforts to Dewey's 1948 presidential campaign. During his tenure, he made the county's political organization one of the most powerful in the nation and dominated local elections. State chairman and beyond In 1938, Jaeckle threw his support behind Dewey, a racket-busting New York City district attorney, to be the next New York governor. Jaeckle was the sole upstate chairman to push for Dewey's nomination behind the scenes; he also served as Dewey's floor manager at the state convention. Dewey lost the general election to the Democratic incumbent Governor Herbert Lehman; but the Jaeckle-Dewey partnership was now established and the two men would advance each other's interests off and on over at least the next decade. After the 1938 election, Jaeckle assumed the chair of the GOP State Executive Committee and, with it, de facto leadership of the state party organization. His election to the Republican state chairmanship came in 1940. He ran Dewey for governor