PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT POSTMASTER GENERAL JAMES FARLEY SIGNED USPS FDC LETTER COVER

Description

JAMES A. FARLEY
(1888 - 1976)
53
rd
POSTMASTER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT 1933-1940,
CHAIR OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE 1932-1940,
CHAIR OF THE NEW YORK DEMOCRATIC PARTY 1930-1944
&
MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY IN 1923.
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HERE'S AN ILLUSTRATED PHILATELIC COVER SIGNED BY FARLEY AS POSTMASTER GENERAL – A FIRST DAY OF ISSUE COVER COMMEMORATING THE 8c US MAIL POSTAGE STAMP ISSUED FOR THE INAUGURATION OF THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE.
THE FDC CDS POSTAMRK READS SILVER SPRINGS, MD, JUL 1, 1971.
BEAUTIFULLY & BOLDLY SIGNED BY FARLEY AS PMG IN HIS CHARACTERISTIC GREEN INK!
THE DOCUMENT COVER MEASURES 6½” x 3-5/8” and IS IN VERY FINE, CLEAN CONDITION.
A RARE ADDITION TO YOUR FDR PRESIDENTIAL AUTOGRAPH, MANUSCRIPT & POSTAL HISTORY COLLECTION!
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE HONORABLE JAMES FARLEY
Farley, James Aloysius
(30 May 1888–09 June 1976), chairman of the Democratic National Committee and postmaster general of the United States in the first two administrations of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, chairman of the Democratic National Committee and postmaster general of the United States in the first two administrations of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
, was born in Grassy Point, New York, thirty-five miles up the Hudson River from New York City, the son of James Farley and Ellen F. Goldrick, Irish Catholic immigrants. His father, the owner of brickyards, died following an accident when young Farley was nine. At about age twelve, Farley began to work in the brickyards as a machine boy, but after his mother purchased a grocery store and saloon he worked as a bartender (although he remained a teetotaler throughout his life).
Farley graduated from Stony Point High School in 1905 and enrolled in the bookkeeping program at Packard Commercial School of New York in the fall of that year. Upon graduating in 1906, he was employed briefly as a bookkeeper and then as a salesman and sales manager for Universal Gypsum Company. In 1926 he formed James A. Farley & Co., which merged with several small firms in 1929 to form General Building Supply Corporation; Farley served as president of the corporation until 1933. In 1920 Farley married Elizabeth O. Finnegan. Their marriage produced three children.
Eager to enter politics, Farley was elected town clerk of Stony Point in 1912, and he held that office until 1919. He served as Rockland County Democratic chairman beginning in 1918, as a member of the New York State Assembly (1922–1923), and as a member and chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission (1924–1933). An ally of
Alfred E. Smith
in state politics, he helped the Happy Warrior in his effort to wrest control of the party from newspaper publisher
William Randolph Hearst
. Appointed secretary of the state Democratic committee in 1928, Farley transferred his allegiance from Smith to Roosevelt when the latter was elected governor. A tall, portly man of enormous energy, Farley made a distinct impression on Roosevelt and his principal political adviser,
Louis M. Howe
. His labors in the closely contested 1928 gubernatorial campaign and the landslide 1930 victory resulted in promotion to the chairmanship of the state Democratic committee, a post he held until 1944.
When Bronx boss
Edward J. Flynn
declined Roosevelt’s invitation to serve as his 1932 campaign manager, Farley received the assignment and was propelled onto the national scene. In June 1931 Farley departed on a whirlwind tour of eighteen states, ostensibly en route to an Elks convention in Seattle, Washington, but in reality on a mission to line up delegate support in the Midwest, the Mountain States, and the Far West. Farley issued optimistic reports on his mission to Roosevelt and Howe, and following the New Hampshire primary victory he predicted a first-ballot triumph for his candidate at the party’s presidential nominating convention in Chicago. In fact, Roosevelt faced a difficult fight for the party’s nomination in the face of ideological division, Alfred E. Smith’s challenge in crucial eastern primaries, and the growing appeal of
Newton D. Baker
of Ohio as a compromise alternative.
Roosevelt entered the convention contest about 100 votes shy of the two-thirds vote required for the nomination. Farley relied on his capacities as a political organizer, on friendships and acquaintances made statewide and nationwide, and on an avalanche of correspondence (his famous letters always signed “Jim” in distinctive green ink) to win over supporters. On the critical fourth ballot, Farley persuaded representatives in the California delegation to switch their support from
John Nance Garner
of Texas to Roosevelt. Garner, anxious to avoid a stalemated convention, threw his support to Roosevelt as well, and
FDR
emerged as the victor. Appointed Roosevelt’s campaign manager in the 1932 presidential contest, Farley served also as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Basically disinterested in policy-making and unfamiliar with the economic causes of the Great Depression, Farley occupied the traditionally political office of postmaster general (1933–1940) and functioned also as the Roosevelt administration’s chief dispenser of patronage. Though often criticized for his actions in the latter capacity, Farley never apologized for his role, which was a critical one as controversial New Deal legislation made its way through the Congress. As postmaster general, he was involved, moreover, in the controversial cancellation of air mail contracts negotiated by the Hoover administration. These, he believed, were too expensive, having been let out without the competitive bidding required by law. With their cancellation on 9 February 1934, responsibility for air mail service was turned over to the Army Air Corps. The results were disastrous, including accidents that led to ten deaths. On 10 March 1934, the president reversed Farley’s decision.
Following Roosevelt’s 1936 reelection campaign, also managed by Farley, the postmaster general began to harbor his own presidential aspirations. He forged alliances with conservative Democrats—
Cordell Hull
, Senator
Carter Glass
of Virginia, and Vice President John Nance Garner among them—and refused to participate in Roosevelt’s aborted effort to purge the House and Senate of New Deal opponents in the 1938 party primaries. He was offended, too, by Roosevelt’s failure to include him in his social circle. Farley’s open opposition to Roosevelt’s bid for a third term in 1940 (Farley himself received seventy-two votes at the 1940 Democratic Party convention) marked the end of his service in the Roosevelt administration. He resigned the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee and his cabinet post in August 1940 to become chairman of the board of Coca-Cola Export Corporation.
Farley openly challenged Roosevelt for control of the New York state Democratic Party in 1942 in his capacity as chairman of the state committee, a position he intended to use as a base for his own political aspirations. The contest was ideological, as Farley opposed much of the New Deal program, and deeply divisive. Farley endorsed the conservative state attorney general, John J. Bennett, Jr., for the Democratic nomination to succeed
Herbert Lehman
as governor. Roosevelt, more amenable to the state’s powerful labor leadership and the liberal American Labor party, preferred Senator James M. Mead. Bennett won the nomination, only to be defeated by
Thomas E. Dewey
, an outcome that effectively ended Farley’s control of the state organization. Farley resigned his position as state chairman in 1944. He made unsuccessful bids for the gubernatorial nomination in 1958 and 1962. Farley’s political career ended in 1965 when he managed Abraham D. Beame’s losing New York City mayoralty campaign against Republican
John V. Lindsay
. Farley died in his Waldorf Towers apartment in New York City.
Bibliography
Farley’s personal papers are located in the Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Farley authored two memoirs, one favorable to Roosevelt,
Behind the Ballots
(1938), and the other more critical,
Jim Farley’s Story
(1948). His career is examined in Gloria A. Newquist, “James A. Farley and the Politics of Victory, 1928–1936” (Ph.D. diss., University of Southern California, 1966); John Syrett, “Roosevelt vs. Farley: The New York Gubernatorial Election of 1942,”
New York History
56 (January 1975); and John Syrett, “Jim Farley and Carter Glass: Allies against a Third Term,”
Prologue
15 (Summer 1983). An obituary is in the
New York Times
, 10 June 1976.
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