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James Michael Curley (November 20, 1874 – November 12, 1958) was an American Democratic
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
from Boston, Massachusetts. He served four terms as
mayor of Boston The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four- ...
. He also served a single term as
governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachusetts ...
, characterized by one biographer as "a disaster mitigated only by moments of farce" for its free spending and corruption. He also served two terms, separated by 30 years, in the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
. He had also, in his early career, served on both the
Boston Common Council The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no l ...
and Boston Board of Aldermen, as well as in the
Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
. Michael was a frequent candidate for other state and national offices. He was twice convicted of criminal behavior and notably served time in prison during his last term as mayor. He is remembered as one of the most colorful figures in Massachusetts politics. Curley was immensely popular with his fellow working-class Roman Catholic
Irish American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...
s. During the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, he enlarged
Boston City Hospital The Boston City Hospital (1864–1996), in Boston, Massachusetts, was a public hospital, located in the South End. It was "intended for the use and comfort of poor patients, to whom medical care will be provided at the expense of the city, and . ...
, expanded the city's public transit system, funded projects to improve roads and bridges, and improved the neighborhoods with beaches and bathhouses, playgrounds and parks, public schools and libraries, all the while collecting graft and raising taxes. He was a leading and at times divisive force in the
Massachusetts Democratic Party The Massachusetts Democratic Party (MassDems) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is chaired by Gus Bickford. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling all nine of Massachusetts' U ...
, challenging Boston's ward bosses and the party's
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant In the United States, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants or WASPs are an ethnoreligious group who are the white, upper-class, American Protestant historical elite, typically of British descent. WASPs dominated American society, culture, and politics ...
leadership at the local and state level. His political tactics, which tended to drive businesses and economically successful people from the city, damaging the local economy, have become a source of study for economists and political scientists.


Early life

James Michael Curley was born in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood in 1874 to Michael and Sarah Curley (
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Clancy). Curley's father Michael immigrated from
Oughterard Oughterard () is a small town on the banks of the Owenriff River close to the western shore of Lough Corrib in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. The population of the town in 2016 was 1,318. It is located about northwest of Galway on the N5 ...
,
County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...
, Ireland and settled in Roxbury, where he met Curley's mother, also from County Galway. Michael Curley worked as a day laborer and foot soldier for Democratic ward boss P. James "Pea-Jacket" Maguire. Michael Curley died in 1884, when his son James was ten. James and his brother John worked to supplement the meager family income, while James took classes at the local public school. Curley left school at fifteen and took jobs in factory work and delivery which exposed him to much of the growing industrial city of Boston. He sought to become a fire fighter but was too young to take the job. His mother is likely responsible for instilling in him the strain of generosity that would make up a significant part of his public personality. Curley's mother continually intervened to turn him away from his father's unsavory associates while working at a job scrubbing floors in offices and churches all over Boston. His mother's influence and her back-breaking labor, along with a backdrop of semi-criminal political graft in ward politics, influenced Curley's attitude on poverty and political organizing for the rest of his life.


Political rise

As Curley came of age, Boston politics were marked by growing Irish political power in opposition to traditional Yankee Protestantism. Curley involved himself in the local Roman Catholic church and the
Ancient Order of Hibernians The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH; ) is an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. Members must be male, Catholic, and either born in Ireland or of Irish descent. Its largest membership is now in the United States, where it was founded in N ...
, a
fraternal benefit society A benefit society, fraternal benefit society, fraternal benefit order, friendly society, or mutual aid society is a society, an organization or a voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit, for instance insurance for relief f ...
that assisted Irish immigrants. He acquired a reputation as a hustler who was willing to help others get ahead. Curley gained experience in the traditional practices of
ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
politics such as knocking on doors, drumming up votes, and taking complaints. He ran for a seat on the Boston Common Council in 1897 and 1898, but failed to achieve the Democratic nomination in ward caucuses each year. Curley claimed he was denied victory by corrupt vote counting, rigged against him because he was outside the
political machine In the politics of Representative democracy, representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a hig ...
. Curley was successful in 1899 by joining the machine faction controlled by Charles I. Quirk. In his first two years on the Council, Curley placed roughly 700 people into
patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
positions. His reputation as an urban populist earned him the unofficial title "Mayor of the Poor."


Boston Common Council (1901)

Curley was a member of the Boston Common Council in 1901, representing the seventeenth ward.


State Representative (1902–03)

Curley won election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1901 and became the chair of the Ward 17 Democratic organization. He established the Tammany Club (named in a nod to the
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...
political club) as a platform for his personal political activities, including speechmaking and assisting needy constituents. Curley later recounted stories of the ward's poor and needy lining up outside the club's office to ask for work or subsistence.


Boston Board of Aldermen (1905–1909)

Curley served on the Boston Board of Aldermen from 1905 until 1909, when the Boston Board of Alderman and the Boston City Council were merged to become the
unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...
Boston City Council.O'Connor, T.H. (1997). ''Boston Irish: A Political History''. New York: Back Bay Books. Curley's first public notoriety came from being elected to Boston's board of aldermen in 1904 while imprisoned on a
fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
conviction. The charge resulted after Curley and the unrelated Thomas Curley had helped two applicants in their district
cheat Cheating generally describes various actions designed to subvert rules in order to obtain unfair advantages. This includes acts of bribery, cronyism and nepotism in any situation where individuals are given preference using inappropriate cr ...
on federal civil service exams for postmen, by criminally impersonating the applicants and taking the exams for them. Though the incident gave him a dark reputation in Boston's non-Irish circles, it aided his image among the
Irish American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...
working class and poor because they saw him as a man willing to stick his neck out to help those in need. During that election, his campaign slogan was, "he did it for a friend." He also quickly gained a reputation for taking
kickbacks A kickback is a form of negotiated bribery in which a commission is paid to the bribe-taker in exchange for services rendered. Generally speaking, the remuneration (money, goods, or services handed over) is negotiated ahead of time. The kickbac ...
in exchange for his support. In January 1909, after the board had been unable to garner the required consensus to elected a new board chairman, Curley briefly served as the ''acting'' chairman. On January 26, 1909, the board elected Frederick J. Brand its permanent chairman.


U.S. Congress (1911–1914)

In 1910, while a member of Boston's board of aldermen, Curley challenged U.S. Representative
Joseph F. O'Connell Joseph Francis O'Connell (December 7, 1872 – December 10, 1942) was an American lawyer, academic, and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Boston, Massachusetts from 1907 to 1911. Early life and education Born in Boston, Mas ...
, a fellow Democrat. His first preference was to run for Mayor of Boston, but former Mayor (and czar of Boston Irish politics)
John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (February 11, 1863 – October 2, 1950) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served as a U.S. Representative and Mayor of Boston. He also made unsuccessful runs for the United ...
ran for the office. In exchange for Curley staying out of the mayoral race, Fitzgerald promised not to run for re-election after a single four-year term. In the previous election for the seat, O'Connell won by a four-vote margin over his Republican opponent, ex-City Clerk J. Mitchel Galvin. In a three-way primary among O'Connell, Curley, and O'Connell's predecessor William S. McNary, Curley defeated O'Connell and McNary. After winning the nomination of the Democratic Party Curley went on to win the general election by a substantial plurality over Galvin, who was again the Republican nominee.


First mayoralty (1914–18)

Despite his deal with Curley, Mayor Fitzgerald did run for re-election in the election held in January 1914. Curley secured Fitzgerald's exit from the race by threatening to expose a dalliance the older man had with a
cigarette girl In Europe and the United States, a cigarette girl is a person who sells or provides cigarettes from a tray held by a neck strap. They may also carry cigars and other items like candy, snacks, and chewing gum on their trays. Uniform The most ...
in a Boston gambling den. Curley was aided by
Daniel H. Coakley Daniel Henry Coakley (December 10, 1865 – September 18, 1952) was an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician and attorney from Massachusetts. He was a key figure in early 20th century Boston politics, as an ally Distri ...
, a lawyer whose specialties included extortion and bribing prosecutors to bury criminal charges against his clients. Fitzgerald withdrew, and Curley won the election over City Council president Thomas Kenny. Curley's victory marked his consolidation of control over Boston politics, which he would retain until 1950. He served four separate terms as Mayor (1914–1918, 1922–1926, 1930–1934 and 1946–1950) and always held influence even when he wasn't in that office. In his first term, Curley embarked on a series of public improvements, a practice he continued in his later terms as mayor. His projects included the development of recreational facilities in the poorer parts of the city, expansion of public transit, and an enlargement of
Boston City Hospital The Boston City Hospital (1864–1996), in Boston, Massachusetts, was a public hospital, located in the South End. It was "intended for the use and comfort of poor patients, to whom medical care will be provided at the expense of the city, and . ...
. He accomplished this with little regard for city finances, raising property taxes and securing loans from city banks, sometimes by threatening city inspectional actions against bank facilities. He deliberately tweaked the sensibilities of the Protestant "good government" advocates, suggesting that the
Boston Public Garden The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park in the Downtown Boston, heart of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to Boston Common. It is a part of the Emerald Necklace system of parks, and is bounded by Charles Street (Bosto ...
be sold off and that the historic Shirley-Eustis House be razed for failing to meet modern codes. During his first term, Curley moved his family into a luxurious mansion in
Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commun ...
, one plainly beyond the means of a typical civil servant's salary. Begun in 1915, the twenty-plus room house was apparently built for little or no charge by contractors seeking favors from Curley. Curley's finances were regularly investigated by the
Boston Finance Commission The Boston Finance Commission (known as FinComm) is an agency that monitors finances for the city of Boston. It is concerned with appropriations, loans, expenditures An expense is an item requiring an outflow of money, or any form of fortune in ...
, a body dominated by hostile Protestant Republicans, but he eluded legal charges—in part through Coakley's intervention. Curley also effectively muzzled press investigations by threatening
libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
charges against offending media. In one notable incident, he also physically assaulted the publisher of the ''Boston Telegraph'' for publishing unflattering articles. Curley's attempt at reelection was foiled by
Martin Lomasney Martin Michael Lomasney (December 3, 1859 – August 12, 1933) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. Lomasney served as State Senator, State Representative, and alderman but is best known as the political boss of Bo ...
, the boss of Boston's West End. Lomasney, a longtime opposition figure to Curley in the city, orchestrated the entry of an Irish-American candidate into the 1917 mayoral race, who successfully siphoned enough votes away from Curley to hand victory to Republican Andrew J. Peters. In 1918, the state legislature dealt Curley a further blow by enacting legislation forbidding Boston mayors from holding consecutive terms.


Second mayoralty (1922–26)

Pursuant to the new one-term restriction, Curley was elected Mayor in 1921 but was not able to run for re-election in 1925. In 1924, while serving as Mayor, Curley ran for
Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachusetts ...
. He was defeated by Republican Lieutenant Governor Alvan T. Fuller.


Third mayoralty (1930–34)

In 1929, Curley won a third non-consecutive term as Mayor. In 1932, Curley was denied by a place in the Massachusetts delegation to the 1932 Democratic National Convention by Governor Joseph B. Ely. Instead, Curley engineered his selection as a delegate from
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
under the alias of Alcalde (Spanish for "Mayor") Jaime Curleo. Some say his support was instrumental in
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
's nomination at the Convention, but he broke with Roosevelt after the president refused to appoint him Ambassador to Ireland. In 1933, he served as the president of the
United States Conference of Mayors The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. The cities are each represented by their mayors or other chief elected officials. The organization was founded i ...
.


Governorship (1935–37)

In 1934, amid a more favorable national and statewide environment for Democrats, Curley ran for Governor again. This time, he defeated Republican Lieutenant Governor Gaspar Bacon, an opponent of Roosevelt's New Deal, by more than 100,000.O'Neill, p. 88 Curley's single term as governor was described by one commentator as "ludicrous part of the time, shocking most of the time, and tawdry all of the time." It began with a shoving match with outgoing Governor Ely and descended into bare-knuckle politics. Curley expended significant political capital seeking to defang the Boston Finance Commission, which was closing in on the financial malfeasance of his mayoral administrations. Committee members were accused of failing to do their jobs and impeached, and investigators were fired. Curley was eventually able to install a more pliant commission and turned its attention to his political opponents. The negative press surrounding these actions ensured a loss of public popularity, as did his failure to significantly address widespread unemployment. His administration embarked on one major public works project, the
Quabbin Reservoir The Quabbin Reservoir is the largest inland body of water in Massachusetts, and was built between 1930 and 1939. Along with the Wachusett Reservoir, it is the primary water supply for Boston, to the east, and 40 other cities and towns in Greate ...
, whose construction contracts were issued in signature Curley style. In 1935, in a tweak at the state's
WASP A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...
elite, Curley appeared at Harvard's commencement (a traditional ceremonial function of the Governor) wearing silk stockings, knee britches, a powdered wig, and a three-cornered hat with flowing plume. When University marshals objected, the story goes, Curley reportedly whipped out a copy of the Statutes of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
which prescribed proper dress for the occasion and claimed that he was the only person at the ceremony properly dressed, thereby endearing him to many working and middle class Yankees. In 1936, instead of seeking reelection, Curley ran for the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
. He lost the race to State Representative Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a moderate Republican, despite a national landslide in favor of Democrats.


Initial post-governorship

After leaving the office of Governor, Curley squandered a substantial sum of his money in unsuccessful investments in
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
gold mines; then he lost a civil suit brought by the Suffolk County prosecutor that forced him to forfeit to the city of Boston the $40,000 he received from General Equipment Company for "fixing" a damage claim settlement. Curley was twice defeated, in November 1937 and November 1941, for the Boston mayoralty by one of his former political confidants, Maurice J. Tobin. Curley took his revenge against Tobin later, supporting Republican
Robert F. Bradford Robert Fiske Bradford (December 15, 1902 – March 18, 1983) was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as the List of Governors of Massachusetts, 57th Governor of Massachusetts, from 1947 to 1949. Early years Robert Fiske Bra ...
for Governor against Tobin in
1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...
. In 1938, he made another run for the governorship, defeating incumbent Democrat Governor
Charles F. Hurley Charles Francis Hurley (November 24, 1893 – March 24, 1946) was an American attorney and the 54th Governor of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and one of its first Irish-American governors. Early years Charles Francis Hurley was born in Cambr ...
in a close primary, but losing the general election to Republican
Leverett Saltonstall Leverett A. Saltonstall (September 1, 1892June 17, 1979) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He served three two-year terms as the List of Governors of Massachusetts, 55th Governor of Massachusetts, and for more than twent ...
, the former speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.


Return to the U.S. Congress (1943–47)

In 1942, Curley managed to revive his faltering career by returning to Congress, challenging Democratic incumbent
Thomas H. Eliot Thomas Hopkinson Eliot (June 14, 1907 – October 14, 1991) was an American lawyer, politician, and academic who served as chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis and as a congressman in the United States House of Representatives from ...
. Eliot was a former
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
attorney with an exemplary voting record on behalf of the Roosevelt administration, but was also the son of a Unitarian minister and grandson of Harvard president
Charles William Eliot Charles William Eliot (March 20, 1834 – August 22, 1926) was an American academic who was president of Harvard University from 1869 to 1909the longest term of any Harvard president. A member of the prominent Eliot family of Boston, he transfor ...
. Curley exploited Eliot's background to appeal to working class anger against the
Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United St ...
upper class and, in a campaign speech which has entered Boston political lore, suggested Eliot had Communist leanings: "There is more Americanism in one half of Jim Curley's ass than in that pink body of Tom Eliot." Thus, despite his long-proven corruption and antagonism against the Yankee population, Curley managed to win them over in substantial numbers. He won the primarily easily and was re-elected in 1944.


Fourth mayoralty (1946–1950)

In 1945, Curley opted to vacate his seat in Congress to run for a fourth non-consecutive term as mayor of Boston. Curley appears to have been paid off by
Joseph P. Kennedy Joseph Patrick Kennedy (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the Irish-American Ken ...
(who supposedly agreed to pay off some of Curley's debt and may have helped fund his 1949 run for reelection) to vacate the seat so that Kennedy's son
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...
could run for Congress in 1946 without significant Democratic opposition.


Conviction and imprisonment

By his fourth mayoral term, numerous investigations had been conducted against Curley's machine during his time in Congress, and he now faced felony
indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...
s for bribery brought by federal prosecutors. Nonetheless, Curley's popularity with the Irish American community in Boston remained incredibly high in the face of his indictment. He campaigned on the slogan "Curley Gets Things Done." A second indictment by a federal grand jury, for
mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activit ...
, did not harm his campaign either, and Curley won the election with 45% of the vote.O'Connor (1997), pp. 179–195, 204–205 In June 1947, Curley was accused of accepting $60,000 from the Engineers Group, a firm Curley headed which was under investigation for
war profiteering A war profiteer is any person or organization that derives profit (economics), profit from warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. The term typically carries strong negative connotations. General profiteering (business), ...
. He was found guilty of mail fraud and sentenced to 6–18 months at the
Federal Correctional Institution The Federal Bureau of Prisons classifies prisons into seven categories: * United States penitentiaries * Federal correctional institutions * Private correctional institutions * Federal prison camps * Administrative facilities * Federal correctio ...
in
Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...
. Under pressure from the Massachusetts congressional delegation and in consideration of Curley's poor health,
President Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
commuted his sentence after only five months. City Clerk
John B. Hynes John Bernard Hynes (September 22, 1897 – January 6, 1970), was an American politician serving as the Mayor of Boston from 1950 to 1960. Career Hynes began his career at city hall in 1920 as a clerk in the health department. He later transferre ...
served as acting mayor during Curley's time in prison.


Return after prison sentence

A crowd of thousands greeted Curley upon his return to Boston, with a brass band playing "
Hail to the Chief "Hail to the Chief" is the personal anthem of the president of the United States, adapted by James Sanderson from an original Scottish Gaelic melody. The song's playing accompanies the appearance of the president of the United States at many ...
". In a fit of hubris after his first day back in office, Curley told reporters, "I have accomplished more in one day than has been done in the five months of my absence." In 1949, Curley was opposed for re-election by Hynes, who took Curley's public comments as a personal affront and marshaled support to defeat him. While Curley argued Hynes lacked experience, Hynes responded that the city could not "afford the city bosses anymore," and tapped into widespread dissatisfaction with the city's high tax rate to defeat Curley in the primary. During his lame duck period, Curley granted a large number of tax abatements and granted exorbitant city contracts to cronies, further hampering the city's finances. Hynes was again victorious in a November 1951 rematch, ending Curley's half-century career in elective politics.


Retirement

In retirement, Curley was financially supported by a state-granted pension ushered through the legislature by
Tip O'Neill Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 47th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, representing northern Boston, Massachusetts, as ...
. Curley continued to support other candidates and remained active within the Democratic Party after his defeats. His death in Boston in 1958 was followed by one of the largest funerals in the city's history.


Personal life

James had two brothers: John J. (1872–1944) and Michael (born 1879), who died at 2½. Curley married Mary Emelda (
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Herlihy) (1884–1930). After her death, he re-married to Gertrude Casey Dennis, widowed mother of two boys, George and Richard. Curley's personal life was unusually tragic. He outlived his first wife and seven of his nine children. Mary Emelda died in 1930 after a long battle with cancer. Twin sons John and Joseph died in infancy. Daughter Dorothea died of pneumonia as a teenager. His namesake James Jr., a
Harvard Law Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
student groomed as Curley's political successor, died in 1931 at age 23 following an operation to remove a gallstone. His son Paul, who was an
alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
, died during Curley's 1945 mayoral run. His remaining daughter Mary died of a stroke in February 1950, and when her brother Leo was called to the scene, he became so distraught that he too suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died the same day at age 35. Two remaining sons, George (1919–1983) and Francis X. (1923–1992), a Jesuit priest, outlived Curley.


Legacy

Historian James M. O'Toole has argued: :Surely there has been no more flamboyant political personality than James Michael Curley, who dominated politics in Boston for half a century. Whether as incumbent or as candidate, he was always there: alderman, congressman, mayor, governor. People loved him or hated him, but they could not ignore him. He mastered the politics of ethnic and class warfare by defining a manichaean world of "us" versus "them"....He presided over state and city during the challenge of the Depression, leaving behind impressive monuments in stone and public works. In the end, he even managed to enter American political mythology, remembered as much in his fictional incarnations as for his real life. Urban historian Kenneth T. Jackson has argued that: :Curley was among the best-known and most colorful of the big-city, paternalistic bosses, Irish, Catholic, and Democratic ... Capitalizing on Irish-American resentment against the Republican, Harvard-educated Brahmans who dominated Boston's social and economic life, Curley liked to think of himself as "Mayor of the Poor"....Curley helped immigrants to adjust to urban life by finding them jobs, easing their troubles with the law, building them playgrounds and public baths, and attending their weddings and wakes ... Because his feuds with fellow Irish chieftains like John (Honey Fitz) Fitzgerald, Patrick Kennedy, and Martin Lomasney were legendary, he tried as mayor to centralize patronage and make the ward heeler obsolete. During the depression he used federal relief and work projects as a tool of his political ambitions. But Curley never built a really solid organization in Boston and never enjoyed the power or statewide influence of other well-known urban bosses. The Curley House at 350 Jamaicaway,
Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commun ...
was designated a landmark by the
Boston Landmarks Commission The Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) is the historic preservation agency for the City of Boston. The commission was created by state legislation i1975 History Urban renewal in the United States started with the Housing Act of 1949, part of Preside ...
in 1989. Curley is honored with two statues at
Faneuil Hall Faneuil Hall ( or ; previously ) is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Opened in 1742, it was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others ...
. One shows him seated on a park bench. The other shows him standing, as if giving a speech, with a campaign button on his lapel. A few feet away was a bar named for one of his symbols, The Purple Shamrock. Curley’ strategy of driving opponents outside of the city, described by Harvard economists
Andrei Shleifer Andrei Shleifer ( ; born February 20, 1961) is a Russian-American economist and Professor of Economics at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1991. Shleifer was awarded the biennial John Bates Clark Medal in 1999 for his seminal works in ...
and
Edward Glaeser Edward Ludwig Glaeser (born May 1, 1967) is an American economist and Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University. He is also Director for the Cities Research Programme at the International Growth Centre. He was educated ...
in "The Curley Effect: The Economics of Shaping the Electorate," increased his political base by using distortionary economic policies, leading to long-term economic stagnation.


In popular culture

* Curley was the inspiration for the protagonist Frank Skeffington in the 1956 novel ''
The Last Hurrah ''The Last Hurrah'' is a 1956 novel written by Edwin O'Connor. It is considered the most popular of O’Connor's works, partly because of a 1958 movie adaptation starring Spencer Tracy. The novel was immediately a bestseller in the United Stat ...
'' by
Edwin O'Connor Edwin Greene O'Connor (July 29, 1918 – March 23, 1968) was an American journalist, novelist, and radio commentator. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1962 for his novel '' The Edge of Sadness'' (1961). His ancestry was Irish, and his no ...
and the
John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
film of the same name. Curley initially considered legal action but changed his mind upon meeting O'Connor. He told O'Connor he enjoyed the book, the passage he enjoyed most being "the part where I die." He did successfully sue the film's producers. * Curley was the inspiration for the song " The Rascal King" on the album ''
Let's Face It '' Let's Face It'' is the fifth studio album by American ska punk band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. It was released on March 11, 1997 by Mercury Records and Big Rig Records. The album sold very well due to the success of its single " The Impres ...
'' by
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (informally referred to as The Bosstones and often stylized as The Mighty Mighty BossToneS) were an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. From the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky ...
. * The Curley family still holds Massachusetts auto registration number 5. It is owned by his stepson Richard. * In the final
Southern Victory Series The ''Southern Victory'' series or Timeline-191 is a series of eleven alternate history novels by author Harry Turtledove, beginning with ''How Few Remain'' (1997) and published over a decade. The period addressed in the series begins during th ...
novel '' Settling Accounts: In at the Death'' by
Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed ...
, Jim Curley was a candidate for
Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...
.


See also

*
List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes This list consists of American politicians convicted of crimes either committed or prosecuted while holding office in the federal government. It includes politicians who were convicted or pleaded guilty in a court of law; and does not include p ...
*
List of federal political scandals in the United States This article provides a list of political scandals that involve officials from the government of the United States, sorted from oldest to most recent. Scope and organization of political scandals This article is organized by presidential terms ...
*
Timeline of Boston This article is a timeline of the history of the city of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 17th century * 1625 – William Blaxton arrives. * 1630 - When Boston was founded ** English Puritans arrive. ** First Church in Boston established. ** Septe ...
, 1910s–1940s * History of Irish Americans in Boston *
List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the president of the United States #REDIRECT List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the president of the United States {{R from move ...
;Boston mayoral elections :Successful: January 1914, December 1921, November 1929, November 1945 :Unsuccessful: December 1917, November 1937, November 1941, November 1949, November 1951, November 1955


References


Bibliography

* Bulger, William M. "James Michael Curley: A Short Biography with Personal Reminiscences." ''Commonwealth Editions'' 2009. * Beatty, Jack. ''The Rascal King: the Life and Times of James Michael Curley''. 1992. * City of Boston Statistics Department ''Municipal Register for 1922'' (1922) Frontispiece. * Connolly, Michael C. "The First Hurrah: James Michael Curley Versus the 'Goo-goos' in the Boston Mayoralty Election of 1914." ''Historical Journal of Massachusetts'' 2002 30(1): 50–74. . * Connolly, James J. "Reconstituting Ethnic Politics: Boston, 1909–1925." ''Social Science History'' (1995) 19(4): 479–509. . * Dineen, Joseph F., ''The Purple Shamrock'' (1949), an authorized biography * Kenneally, James. "Prelude to the Last Hurrah: the Massachusetts Senatorial Election of 1936." ''Mid-America'' 1980 62(1): 3–20. . * Lapomarda, Vincent A. "Maurice Joseph Tobin: the Decline of Bossism in Boston." ''New England Quarterly'' (1970) 43(3): 355–381. . * Lennon, Thomas, producer, ''Scandalous Mayor.'' Film. 58 min.; Thomas Lennon Productions, 1991. Distrib. by PBS Video, Alexandria * * * * * * Piehler, G. Kurt. "Curley, James Michael" in ''American National Biography'', 2000, American Council of Learned Societies. * Steinberg, Alfred. ''The Bosses: Frank Hague, James Curley, Ed Crump, Huey Long, Gene Talmadge, Tom Pendergast – The Story of the Ruthless Men who Forged the American Political Machines that Dominated the Twenties and Thirties'' Macmillan, 1972. * Trout, Charles H., ''Boston, the Great Depression, and the New Deal'' NY: Oxford University Press, 1977. * ''Who's who in State Politics, 1912'' Practical Politics (1912) * Zolot, Herbert Marshall. "The Issue of Good Government and James Michael Curley: Curley and the Boston Scene from 1897–1918" Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1975. Citation: DAI 1975 36(2): 1053-A.


External links


Information on Mayor Curley at Political Graveyard

James Michael Curley at Massachusetts Moments

James Michael Curley at The Bostonian Society, section on Jamaica Plain historical place markers
* * Boston Public Library

* http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/65278/boston-a-tale-of-three-cities * . 1934–1958

, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Curley, James Michael 1874 births 1958 deaths American anti-communists American people of Irish descent American political bosses Boston Board of Aldermen members Boston City Council members Catholics from Massachusetts Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts Democratic Party governors of Massachusetts Massachusetts politicians convicted of crimes Mayors of Boston Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives People from Jamaica Plain People from Roxbury, Boston Politicians convicted of mail and wire fraud Presidents of the United States Conference of Mayors Recipients of American presidential pardons