Jim Farley's Story

About this book

Sub-titled, The Roosevelt Years, and limited thereby to that aspect of a life that has much of interest as a record of a small town clerk who made good as a big man in the Democratic Party. A good deal of this made the headlines when it ran in Collier's magazine, but the book includes virtually blow by blow details (as surveyed by Jim Farley). He claims that his text is based on extensive notes kept at the time. It reads like after-thoughts, tinged with an anti-Roosevelt bias that certainly was not evident in the years when he barnstormed for ""The governor"" or when he supported his second term campaign. The ""hate-Roosevelt"" orowd will gloat over the record of loss of confidence, criticism, steps leading to the break, and the aftermath- the picture of Roosevelt as a politician first and last, an opportunist whose word could not be accepted. Lots of inside story -- now it can be told sort of thing; current value in showing how a political campaign is handled; personal experiences with men significant in the period of which he writes,- Hull, Garner, Jesse Jomes, Margenthau, Wallace, and so on. The cream of the news value was skimmed by the serialization -- but there are lots of tidbits for the political market.