Mr. Democrat: Jim Farley, the New Deal and the Making of Modern American Politics [Hardcover]

Prof. Daniel Mark Scroop (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2006

Mr. Democrat tells the story of Jim Farley, Franklin D. Roosevelt's campaign manager. As party boss, Farley experienced unprecedented success in the New Deal years. And like his modern counterpart Karl Rove, Farley enjoyed unparalleled access and power. Unlike Rove, however, Farley was instrumental in the creation of an overwhelming new majority in American politics, as the emergence of the New Deal transformed the political landscape of its time.

Mr. Democrat is timely and indispensable not just because Farley was a fascinating and unduly neglected figure, but also because an understanding of his career advances our knowledge of how and why he revolutionized the Democratic Party and American politics in the age of the New Deal.

Daniel Scroop is Lecturer in American History, University of Liverpool School of History.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Scroop, a lecturer in American history at the University of Liverpool, launches this biography of the Roosevelt-era political operator Jim Farley with a comparison to President Bush's adviser Karl Rove. Like Rove, Farley helped engineer two electoral triumphs, in 1932 and 1936, and like Rove, Farley was a shrewd political tactician, an expert reader of the public mood and master of the millions of details that make a successful campaign. Unlike Rove, Farley was a master of old-style machine politics whose primary loyalty was neither to FDR nor to the New Deal but rather to the Democratic Party. Thus, when Roosevelt veered from party loyalty to support New York's Republican Mayor La Guardia and the Progressives of the Midwest, Farley was appalled. It led to a break between the two men and Farley's futile bid to capture the 1940 presidential nomination. Scroop gives us a workmanlike study of Farley's role in forging the New Deal coalition and ushering in a new type of politics in which the power of local bosses gave way to that of organized labor, minorities and women—a shift that, ironically, rendered Farley himself irrelevant long before his death in 1976. 10 b&w photos. (May)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press; annotated edition edition (May 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0472099302
• ISBN-13: 978-0472099306
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,009,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Democrat with a Capital D, January 8, 2010

By 

Marc Korman (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mr. Democrat: Jim Farley, the New Deal and the Making of Modern American Politics (Hardcover)

Jim Farley was cited by FDR as one of the two people most responsible for him winning the 1932 Presidential election. He helped FDR win the nomination as one of his closest advisors and win the presidency as chair of the Democratic National Committee. He was rewarded for his service with eight more years as chair and a role in the Cabinet as Postmaster General. Sometime during the second term, Farley shifted from his strong support of FDR and mounted a bid against him at the 1940 convention. He was largely riding an anti-third term movement that had little to do with Farley personally.

Mr. Democrat is a quick read the takes you through Farley's rise in New York politics, to the famous events discussed above, and briefly through his post-FDR career as a salesman for Coca-Cola and political prognosticator. It is the only book I have ever seen about Farley not written by the man himself and for that reason I would recommend it. However, its major shortcoming is that it views Farley's entire experience with FDR through the prism of politics shifting from a patronage driven pursuit to issue/group driven. The research in this book demonstrates, I'm sure accurately, that Farley was a party man and believed strongly in rewarding Democrats with the spoils of elections. However, I cannot believe his break from FDR and presidential campaign was really premised entirely on that effort. Farley had aspirations at times to be Governor or Senator from New York, mayor of New York City, and President. He must have had other interests and goals besides furthering Democratic Party patronage. Even in the convention driven nominations of the period, Farley could not believe that this alone would propel his candidacy.

Unfortunately, the book is a bit light on what Farley believed or cared about besides patronage. It also does not get into some of the details I expected on Farley's contributions to FDR's election. It downplays Farley's work going to western states to drum up support for FDR's nomination. In the author's view, the trip was largely ineffective which is a departure from most other material I have read on the topic.

If you are interested in people like Karl Rove and Marcus Hanna, you will be interested in Jim Farley. This book gives a useful sketch of his life and his politics, particularly his efforts to further the Democratic Party.