Once Upon a Time in New York: Jimmy Walker, Franklin Roosevelt & the Last Great Battle of the Jazz Age

by Herbert Mitgang

The 1932 battle between corrupt Tammany Hall New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker and then-governor of New York Franklin D. Roosevelt is chronicled exquisitely in this Jazz Age political drama spiced with illegal gambling, speakeasies, actress mistresses, and dangerous criminals.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, New York

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 5, 2000

About the author

Former president of Authors Guild and the Authors League Fund, worked for authors' rights. Using the Freedom of Information Act, exposed the FBI's following of authors for political reasons, such as supporting civil rights for African-Americans.

Reviews

[Bob Schnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title "Once Upon a Time in New York" is a bit broad for the specific topic of the book which is the corruption hearing of Mayor Jimmy Walker, presided over by Governor Franklin Roosevelt. FDR was campaigning for president and the outcome of the hearing could have negatively impacted his candidacy. It is an interesting book with a few too many tangential threads. There are also many parallels to the current legal troubles of Donald Trump. The big difference is that NYC loved Jimmy Walker but generally despises the former president.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gambler who fixed 1919 world series Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein gunned down at Lindy's...Investigation leads to corruption in adminstration of Mayor Jimmy Walker and Tammany Hall...Franklin Roosevelt, white knight governor of New York moves in on to clean up corrupt New York City on his way to making it big in the White House!

[Vy · Rating 3 out of 5]

So my feelings towards this book are complicated. Mitgang paints a very colorful picture of the time, but also seem to paint readers into a corner of not wanting them to come to conclusions themselves. The best way I can describe this book is that it was written in a way in hopes of it getting optioned for a film. The way information is presented and the things that are notably not does make it feel like there was hopes of a script adaptation.

Mitgang himself seems like a talented writer who does know what he is talking about, and while he does not do anything that is specifically egregious, some decisions that are made I think are in just in slightly bad taste. I happen to be in a position where I have read a not small amount of the documents that he is referencing, and so think the way that he has presented some of the quotes are choices that are certainly made.

One aspect that I will say he handles well is the way he explains the hofstadter commission, it was a very complicated time and had a lot of complicated moving parts and Mitgang simplifies and presents it in a very digestable way.

Overall this book just leaves something to be desired, especially when dealing with a personality as large and ecentric as James J. Walker you would expect him to take up some more space, but yet he feels like a side character in a book that is talking about him.

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

My father once called DeBlasio "the worst mayor New York City ever had."

"Really? Worse than Diamond Jim Walker?" Admittedly, all I knew about him was that he spent a lot of time at speakeasies and was known affectionately as, "The Night Mayor."

Despite his enormous popularity with voters, Walker was also on the take as the last major figurehead of a Tammany machine which seemed to have absolute control over the city. Consequently, he was given lots of perks which allowed him to travel extensively throughout Europe with his mistress, acting as "goodwill ambassador," despite that not being part of a city mayor's job description. Unlike a Warren G. Harding however, Walker could have had a grasp of many of the issues, had he spent any time at his desk. And he was a great favorite with the press who could at least write about his clothes if nothing else.

However, this book is really about how Jazz Age party came to an end, mostly as a result of an investigation into citywide corruption prompted by Arnold Rothstein's assassination followed by the Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. Later, Roosevelt, who was already a candidate for president, but still governor, found himself forced to run the hearing which would decide Walker's fate. Depose Walker and lose Tammany, which was necessary to carry New York. Slap him on the wrist with no punishment and be labeled a Tammany crony in the rest of America.

Roosevelt was truly stuck between a rock and a hard place because even he liked the mayor personally even if he could not ignore the overwhelming evidence against him.

[Gary Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I immediately followed up Gentleman Jimmy Walker with this gem. Once Upon a Time in New York is a worthy tale of the colorful Jimmy Walker. A study of Jazz Age New York City, it reads like a novel. It starts in 1928 with the assassination of a mobster. From here Mitgang goes into short histories of the principal players, Jimmy Walker, Franklin Roosevelt, Samuel Seabury, and Tammany Hall. Then resumes the story of Jazz Age corruption before the dramatic conclusion. The research was excellent, the pacing fast. I couldn't put it down.

[Natalie]

DNF 30%. The content is interesting, but the writing sucks, and I don’t care enough to suffer through another 100+ pages of this. Whatever the tea is about the FDR vs. Jimmy Walker smack down, I feel confident it could’ve been covered in the 70 pages I’ve read so far by a less annoying author with a better editor. Bye.

[Rey Zaldy · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was reminded of my editor in chief telling me that paper cost much these days. concise writing.

[Joshua Gates · Rating 4 out of 5]

The once great reach of Tammany Hall came to an abrupt end during Franklin Roosevelt's time in the White House. FDR proved that he was above dirty politics and as a mayor from upstate New York, was out of reach from Tammany's influence. Jimmy Walker, mayor of New York City, was perceived as a true New Yorker who remained in the hearts of every New Yorker even when he was brought to court and lived abroad avoiding the Feds. Unlike Al Capone, Walker was never found guilty and Tammany Hall was in search of a new minion. Tammany Hall, despite its influence in key governmental positions local, state, and federal, needed someone who was adored by all and would obey the chief of Tammany. This is where Jimmy Walker got his start. The wigwam as Herbert Mitgang refers to it as is essential in the daily operations of the city because without it the city would not function. Tammany keeps the balance between the working man and the prestigious upperclassmen. Despite Walker's connection to Tammany, he was appreciated and passed legislation that allowed baseball on Sundays. Probably to mask his role and safeguarding Tammany's reputation in Arnold Rothstein fix of the 1919 World Series.

A brilliant book about the corruption of politics. With the end of the jazz are, a new era was ushered in, FDR's presidential terms during the Great Depression. If you are wondering how a mayor on a salary of 15,000 earns 500,0000 in one year then you have GOT to read this book.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no end to the ways you can slice NY history--perhaps there is no limit to the number of ways to look at the 'Roaring Twenties' either. This book (expertly written by Herbert Mitgang) details the relationship between "Gentleman" Jimmy Walker, famously corrupt mayor of NYC and the then-governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

It is always startling reading about the degree of blatant corruption in the city (I'm not sure it's much better now), but Jimmy Walker epitomized mocking the laws. He had his own tables in speakeasy's where he was accompanied by his actress girlfriend.

He had to fight the "goo-goos"--those politicians in favor of good government. Many people thought he would never lose--but he did.

An easy fun read.

[Hecka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read of politics/elections during the Jazz Age.