The Last Hurrah
Encyclopedia
The Last Hurrah is a 1956 novel written by Edwin O'Connor
Edwin O'Connor
Edwin O'Connor was an American radio personality, journalist, and novelist who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1962 for The Edge of Sadness...

. It is considered the most popular of O’Connor's works, partly because of a significant 1958 movie adaptation
The Last Hurrah (1958 film)
The Last Hurrah is a 1958 film adaptation of the novel The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor. It was directed by John Ford and starred Spencer Tracy as a veteran mayor preparing for yet another election campaign...

 starring Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...

. The novel was immediately a bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...

 in the United States for 20 weeks, and was also on lists for bestseller of that year. The Last Hurrah won the 1955 Atlantic Prize Novel award, and was highlighted by the Book-of-the-Month Club and Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...

. The Last Hurrah received very positive critical reviews, including an "ecstatic" one from the New York Times Book Review.

The book is not in print.

Plot summary

The plot of The Last Hurrah focuses on a mayoral election in an unnamed East Coast city. Veteran Irish
Irish diaspora
thumb|Night Train with Reaper by London Irish artist [[Brian Whelan]] from the book Myth of Return, 2007The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa,...

, Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 politician Frank Skeffington is running for yet another term as Mayor. As a former governor, he is usually called by the honorific title "Governor." While the city is never named, it is frequently assumed to be Boston. Skeffington is assumed to represent Boston mayor and Massachusetts governor James Michael Curley
James Michael Curley
James Michael Curley was an American politician famous for his four terms as mayor of Boston, Massachusetts. He also served twice in the United States House of Representatives and one term as 53rd Governor of Massachusetts.-Early life:Curley's father, Michael Curley, left Oughterard, County...

. The story is told in the third person, either by a narrator or by Adam Caulfield, the Mayor's nephew. Skeffington is a veteran and adept "machine" politician, and probably corrupt as well. The novel portrays him as a flawed great man with many achievements to his credit.

At the beginning of the book, Skeffington is 72 and has been giving signs that he might consider retiring from public life at the end of his current term. He surprises many by announcing what he had always intended to do: run for another term as Mayor. The main body of the novel gives a detailed and insightful view of urban politics, tracking Skeffington and his nephew through rounds of campaign appearances and events, thereby showcasing a dying brand of politics and painting a broad picture of political life in general. Kevin McCluskey, a neophyte candidate with a handsome face and good manners, a good World War II record but no political experience, and no real abilities for politics or governing, suprisingly defeats Skeffington on election day. One of Adam's friends explains that the election was "a last hurrah" for the kind of old-style machine politics that Skeffington had mastered. Developments in American public life, including the consequences of the New Deal, have so changed the face of city politics that Skeffington no longer can survive in the new age with younger voters. Immediately after his defeat, Skeffington suffers a massive heart attack with another soon afterward. When he dies, he leaves behind a city in mourning for a pivotal figure in its history, but a city that no longer has room for him or his kind.

Characters

  • Frank Skeffington is the mayor of an unnamed city as well as that state's former governor. It is commonly accepted that the character of Skeffington is based on James Michael Curley
    James Michael Curley
    James Michael Curley was an American politician famous for his four terms as mayor of Boston, Massachusetts. He also served twice in the United States House of Representatives and one term as 53rd Governor of Massachusetts.-Early life:Curley's father, Michael Curley, left Oughterard, County...

    , Mayor of Boston 1914-1918, 1922–1926, 1930–1934 and 1946-1950, and Governor of Massachusetts 1935-1937. At the end of his fourth term as Mayor in 1949, aged 74, Curley ran for re-election but was defeated by John Hynes
    John Hynes
    John B. Hynes , a Massachusetts politician, was mayor of Boston 1950-1960.Family backgroundHynes was the son of Bernard Hynes, Abbey Street, Loughrea, County Galway, Ireland, who emigrated to Boston about 1890...

    .
  • Frank Skeffington, Jr. is the son of the mayor. He is a disappointment to his father because he has no ambition and seems to be interested only in dancing and socializing.
  • Adam Caulfield is Frank Skeffington's nephew and a cartoonist for a local newspaper, where he draws a comic strip that he created, "Little Simp." He is 33 years old.
  • Maeve Caulfield is wife to Adam Caulfield; she is 22. Her views of Frank Skeffington evolve in the course of the book; but they begin as dislike and suspicion of him, due to her upbringing.
  • Roger Sugrue, Maeve's father, is a bitter critic of Frank Skeffington. His views have shaped his daughter's views.
  • Amos Force is the publisher of the leading newspaper and a member of the city's Protestant old- money elite. For personal, political, and family reasons, as well as anti-Irish bigotry, Force loathes Skeffington and is committed to seeing him lose his latest campaign for Mayor.
  • Sam Weinberg, one of Skeffington's inner circle, is Jewish and a shrewd political observer. He is worried about Skeffington's chances for re-election.
  • John Gorman, another of Skeffington's advisers, is a senior ward boss and a master politician. He is torn between his faith in Skeffington and his cold-eyed political realism.
  • Ditto Boland is an obsequious but not very bright supporter of Skeffington. Like many of Skeffington's acolytes, he does his best to mimic his hero's dress, manner of speaking, and personality. He has so few views of his own that he has won the nickname "Ditto" from Skeffington, a nickname that he accepts with pride because his hero has conferred it. Nobody remembers his real first name any longer, and even he seems not to use it. The character is likely based on John (Up-Up) Kelly, an advance man for Curley who earned his nickname by entering rallies ahead of Curley yelling "Up, up, everybody up for the Governor."
  • The Cardinal is a cardinal
    Cardinal (Catholicism)
    A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

     in the Roman Catholic Church. He and Skeffington grew up together on the same slum street but he has become a bitter opponent of Skeffington, believing that he has disgraced his religion, his fellow Irish, and his office.
  • Kevin McCluskey is Skeffington's political opponent, a young and handsome veteran of World War II with virtually no political experience. It has been suggested that he is based on future president John F. Kennedy
    John F. Kennedy
    John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

    , who succeeded Curley as congressman from Boston's 11th district; however, the model for the character is more likely to have been John Hynes, who defeated Curley and was elected Mayor in 1949.

Relation to Curley

The similarities between Skeffington and Boston mayor James Michael Curley
James Michael Curley
James Michael Curley was an American politician famous for his four terms as mayor of Boston, Massachusetts. He also served twice in the United States House of Representatives and one term as 53rd Governor of Massachusetts.-Early life:Curley's father, Michael Curley, left Oughterard, County...

 are many. Skeffington's age and background, his worship of his dead wife, his layabout son, his antagonistic relations with the members of his city's protestant upper class, as well as his eventual defeat by a much younger candidate are all features of Curley's life and the conclusion they are one and the same seems obvious. Author Edwin O'Connor, however, always denied this. The city of the novel is never named; but it is certainly implied that it is supposed to represent Boston (O'Connor also lived for a period in Boston).

Changing politics

The Last Hurrah tells the story of the end of an era of American politics
American politics
American politics is an area of study within the academic discipline of political science. It is primarily, but not exclusively, studied by researchers in the United States...

 characterized by the "big-city politician" as exemplified by Frank Skeffington. In the novel, Skeffington lost because of the changing times during which the national government began to aid people in a way that only locals had before. The New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...

 and its constituent laws implemented systems whereby the national government would "dispense money, jobs, health care, and housing". Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

, initiator of the New Deal, "[substituted] government social welfare programs for the corrupt ward heeler's ill-gotten private dole and power source."
This shift meant a new standard of accountability by which mayoral candidates would be measured.

Some scholars disagree with the above assertions, arguing that several city mayors have benefited from the aid that New Deal agencies gave to their constituents. They may also cite that Roosevelt himself endeavored to strengthen ties to local politics before the Hatch Act
Hatch Act
Hatch Act may refer to:*Hatch Act of 1887, United States federal legislation that created agricultural experiment stations*Hatch Act of 1939, tightened in 1940, United States federal legislation aimed at corrupt political practices, prevented federal civil servants from campaigning...

 stopped him.

Influence

With Democracy
Democracy: An American Novel
Democracy: An American Novel is a political novel written by Henry Brooks Adams and published anonymously in 1880. Only after the writer's death in 1918 did his publisher reveal Adams's authorship although, upon publication, the novel had immediately become popular...

(1880), All the King's Men
All the King's Men
All the King's Men is a novel by Robert Penn Warren first published in 1946. Its title is drawn from the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. In 1947 Warren won the Pulitzer Prize for All the King's Men....

(1946), and Advise and Consent
Advise and Consent
Advise and Consent is a 1959 political novel by Allen Drury that explores the United States Senate confirmation of controversial Secretary of State nominee Robert Leffingwell who is a former member of the Communist Party...

(1959), The Last Hurrah is among the more successful novels about American politics. Along with The Late George Apley (1937), it is also one of two successful works of fiction about Boston.

Perhaps most notably, the phrase '"The Last Hurrah" has since become a common phrase in the English lexicon to mean a swan song
Swan song
"Swan song" is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that the Mute Swan is completely silent during its lifetime until the moment just before death, when it sings one beautiful song...

 or, in politics, the last campaign of a politician.

Interestingly, the success of the novel and subsequent film adaptations have greatly improved the public image of James Michael Curley, on whose story the novel is thought to be based. Skeffington is depicted as rambunctious yet heroic, whereas Curley had been largely forgotten. Now the late mayor and governor is looked upon with nostalgia.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations


John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...

, himself an Irish-American, directed this very notable book-to-movie adaptation. Much of its success was due to the very reputable and well-performing cast, which includes Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...

, Pat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien (actor)
Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...

, Jimmy Gleason
Jimmy Gleason
Jimmy Gleason was an American racecar driver. He was killed in an AAA National Championship race at Syracuse a week after he captured his first Championship Car victory at Altoona.-Indy 500 results:...

, Frank McHugh
Frank McHugh
Francis Curray "Frank" McHugh was an American film and television actor.Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a stock theatre company and as a young child he performed on stage...

, Wallace Ford
Wallace Ford
Wallace Ford was an English film and television actor who, with his friendly appearance and stocky build later in life, appeared in a number of film westerns and B-movies....

 and Willis Bouchey
Willis Bouchey
Willis Ben Bouchey was an American character actor who appeared in almost 150 films and television shows. He was born in Vernon, Michigan, but reared by his mother and stepfather in Washington State....

. Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

 bought the rights to make this movie from O'Connor for $150,000.

Other

In addition to the 1958 movie, there was a 1977 version
The Last Hurrah (1977 film)
The Last Hurrah is a 1977 TV film in the Hallmark Hall of Fame, based on the novel The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor. It was directed by Vincent Sherman. The novel was previously adapted for a film 1958 of the same name....

, starring Carroll O'Connor
Carroll O'Connor
John Carroll O'Connor best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades...

 made for the Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...

 series of TV specials, with Terry Becker
Terry Becker
Terry Becker is an American film and television actor, director and producer. He is best known for his role as Chief Francis Ethelbert Sharkey in seasons 2 through 4 of the television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.Becker's work behind the camera began with the TV series "Room 222," on...

 as executive producer; and a 1999 staging for the Huntington Theatre Company
Huntington Theatre Company
The Huntington Theatre Company is a non-profit professional theater company in Boston, Massachusetts. The Huntington has garnered six Elliot Norton Awards and three Tony Award nominations for productions that were transferred to Broadway after critically acclaimed productions in Boston...

 in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 by Eric Simonson
Eric Simonson
Eric Simonson is an American writer and director in theatre, film and opera. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 1993 for The Song of Jacob Zulu.- Personal life :...

. In addition, a two-act musical was written and produced at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

. http://www.thelasthurrahmusical.com

Further reading

  • William M. Bulger, James Michael Curley: A Short Biography with Personal Reminiscences (Boston, 2009).
  • Edwin O'Connor, The Last Hurrah (Boston, 1956), p. 330; Lyle W. Dorsett, The Pendergast Machine (New York, 1968), pp. 103-17.
  • Dorsett, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the City Bosses (Port Washington, N.Y., 1977).
  • Bruce M. Stave, The New Deal and the Last Hurrah: Pittsburgh Machine Politics (Pittsburgh, 1970).
  • John M. Allswang, The New Deal and American Politics: A Study in Political Change (New York, 1978), pp. 68-87.
  • Charles H. Trout, Boston, the Great Depression and the New Deal (New York, 1977).
  • Sidney M. Milkis, "Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Transcendence of Partisan Politics", Political Science Quarterly, 100, 3 (Fall, 1985): 492-99.
  • A. James Reichley, The Life of the Parties: A History of American Political Parties (New York, 1992), pp. 258-62.
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