One
of five sons, Jim Farley was born on May 30, 1888, to
Irish
Catholic immigrant parents in Grassy Point, New York. His
father was involved in the brick-making industry, first
as a laborer and later as a part owner of three small schooners
engaged in the brick-carrying trade. His mother was a
housewife.
When Farley was ten years old, his father was fatally injured
when the family horse reared up and accidently kicked
him
in the ribs. Farley's father left a small life insurance
policy (worth $3000) and his partial ownership in the
schooners
to Farley's mother. This inheritance was not enough to
support the five boys. Around age twelve or thirteen,
each of the
boys would spend the summers working as unskilled laborers
at the brickyards in order to supplement the family income.
Eventually, Farley's mother purchased a small grocery and
saloon where Farley and his brothers worked alongside
their
mother.
Farley attended public schools, completing high school
and, in his own words, "did enough studying to get by." In
the fall of 1905 he enrolled in Packard Commercial School
of New York City to study bookkeeping. Finishing in the
early spring of 1906, Farley obtained a job with the
Merlin
Keiholtz Paper Company and later the United States Gypsum
Company where he moved up the ladder and finally ended
up
a salesman. He would stay with this job for what he says
was fourteen or fifteen years.
Farley states in his autobiography that he always had
his heart set on a political career. In 1911, he officially
began
his service as a politician when he was elected town clerk
of Grassy Point. During the next seventeen years he held
various state and party offices and became secretary of
the Democratic State Committee in 1928. Introduced to FDR
by Ed Flynn, FDR asked
Farley to run his 1928 campaign for New York governor.
Working
closely with ER and the Women's Division, Farley helped
FDR win his narrow
victory in 1928, his landslide in 1930, and his nomination
and election to the presidency in 1932. Like his sometime
rival Louis Howe, Farley
grew close to both Roosevelts and respected ER's organizational
and political talents.
FDR appointed Farley postmaster general and party chairman
in 1933 and he became one of FDR's closest political advisors.
Farley also controlled patronage in the new administration
and became very influential within the Democratic party
throughout the United States. Farley was dedicated to the
New Deal and to getting legislative support for FDR's
programs.
Additionally, he helped to bring about the end to Prohibition
and the defeat of the Ludlow Resolution, a 1939 attempt
by Congress to limit the foreign affairs powers of the
president. Farley's close relationship with FDR deteriorated
in 1940
because Farley opposed FDR's pursuit of a third term and
because FDR believed that Farley had presidential ambitions
of his own. In 1940, Farley resigned as postmaster general
and party chairman to mount, an unsuccessful presidential
bid in 1940. ER flew to the convention to try to repair
the damage in the Roosevelt Farley relationship, and although
Farley remained close to ER, he felt betrayed by FDR and
refused to join FDR's 1940 campaign team.
In 1938, Farley wrote his autobiography Behind the
Ballots.
After leaving the administration, Farley worked for the
Coca-Cola Export Corporation of New York until his retirement
in 1973. Remembered as one of America's greatest campaign
managers, Farley remained active in state and national
politics
until his death on June 9, 1976, in New York City.
Sources:
The Concise Dictionary of American Biography.
5th ed. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1997, 370.
Farley, James A. Behind the Ballots: The Personal
History of a Politician. New York: Harcourt, Brace
and Company, 1938, 3-23.
Graham, Otis L., Jr. and Meghan Robinson Wander. Franklin
D. Roosevelt, His Life and Times. New York: Da
Capo Press, 1985, 125-126.