John William McCormack: A Political Biography

by Garrison Nelson

In the first biography of U.S. House Speaker John W. McCormack, author Garrison Nelson uncovers previously forgotten FBI files, birth and death records, and correspondence long thought lost or buried. For such an influential figure, McCormack tried to dismiss the past, almost erasing his legacy from the public's mind. John William A Political Biography sheds light on the behind-the-curtain machinations of American politics and the origins of the modern-day Democratic party, facilitated through McCormack's triumphs.

McCormack overcame desperate poverty and family tragedy in the Irish ghetto of South Boston to hold the second-most powerful position in the nation. By reinventing his family history to elude Irish Boston's powerful political gatekeepers, McCormack embarked on a 1928 - 1971 House career and from 1939-71, the longest house leadership career. Working with every president from Coolidge to Nixon, McCormack's social welfare agenda, which included Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, immigration reform, and civil rights legislation helped commit the nation to the welfare of its most vulnerable citizens. By helping create the Austin-Boston Connection, McCormack reshaped the Democratic Party from a regional southern white Protestant party to one that embraced urban religiously and racially diverse ethnics. A man free of prejudice, John McCormack was the Boston Brahmin's favorite Irishman, the South's favorite northerner, and known in Boston as "Rabbi John," the Jews' favorite Catholic.

928 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2015

About the author

Garrison Nelson is the Elliott A. Brown Professor of Law, Politics, and Political Behavior at the University of Vermont.

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

If people my age have a memory of John W. McCormack it is that of one of the two aged figures sitting
behind Lyndon B. Johnson in his first address to Congress after the death of John F. Kennedy. The
other aged figure was the President Pro Tempore of the Senate Carl T. Hayden who was 87. McCormack was 72 at the time and Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was in line to be
president should something have happened to LBJ.

Most likely by design as author Garrison Nelson points out, McCormack chose never to be a truly public figure as a speaker. In group pictures you'll find him modestly in the background. He never
gave out interviews, never socialized publicly, he was a master of the institution he was elected to
and presided. But he knew the backrooms of the institution and the backgrounds of all its members.

McCormack came from very humble circumstances, a large immigrant family where most of his
siblings died before reaching maturity. He came from the rough and tumble world of Irish politics,
but he was an odd duck there. Though his brother was a prominent saloonkeeper and supporter of
James Michael Curley, McCormack was a teetotaler all his life. That extends only to him personally
as he was an opponent of Prohibition, seeing it as a form of social control by the Boston WASPs of
newer immigrant groups. Being a teetotaler gave him a certain respectability among the Yankee
original settlers other Irish pols didn't have. McCormack in his Congressional district to which he
was first elected in 1928 represented among other places, Mattapan where Boston's Jewish population resided. He had their ironclad loyalty when as early as 1933 he spoke out against the
anti-Semitism of the new Nazi state in Germany. Boston was a place where identity politics counted for more than in most places.

The Democratic party pre-civil rights era was an entirely different institution. Representatives in
those Dixie states who kept getting re-elected had the seniority which gave them the committee
chairmanships and the power. The urban areas were starting to get their due as well, but it would
take years. McCormack and his predecessor Sam Rayburn of Texas labored mightily to achieve a
delicate balance to keep the party together.

Author Nelson goes in great detail how it was McCormack as Democratic Majority Leader was able
to work out an arrangement whereby the first black chair of a Congressional Committee happened.
It was William L. Dawson of Chicago who was first elected in 1942 and achieved his slot in the 50s.
It took quite a lot of backroom haggling with some people who McCormack couldn't personally stand.

McCormack also kept bumping up in Massachusetts with the Fitzgerald-Kennedy clan. At times
they dealt with each other, at times they were opponents. From 1947 to 1953 when JFK was elected
to the Senate he represented the other part of Boston and relations were strained at best. McCormack becomes Speaker in 1961 when Sam Rayburn passed away. In the terminology of the
day JFK was lace curtain Irish and McCormack's background was humble as I mentioned before.
Until the assassination of Kennedy he and McCormack were formal, but never friendly. In fact things got pretty nasty when Ted Kennedy and McCormack's nephew Edward who was Attorney
General of Massachusetts contested in the Democratic primary for JFK's Senate seat in 1962.

McCormack was a supporter of the Vietnam War as he felt it his duty and obligation to support President Johnson in all things. The Congress that McCormack was Speaker of after the 1964
election passed all the Great Society legislation and McCormack had a lot to do with it. As always
he kept modestly in the background. In turn Johnson was unwavering in his support. There were
rumblings of rebellion among newer members, but they got no aid and comfort from the White House.

McCormack was married for 50+ years to the same woman who it was said he went home to dine
with every night. John and Harriet McCormack had no children. Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn always referred to her as Miss Harriet.

This book is fascinating look at backroom Washington politics and a wonderful account of the identity politics and the various Irish clans that ran Boston and still do to a large extent. A nice
tribute to a modest man who is getting his historical due.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot of great detail in the book about its subject and his time. But it often wandered into things that felt far beyond context. It also felt like it was written more as a very large academic piece versus a mass market history.

[Sean Goodwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stuff about Washington is great. The stuff about modern Boston is okay. The stuff about old Boston is the weakest point IMO. Recommended for the Washington stuff.

[Karen Olevitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad to have read it, glad to have finished it.