In 1945, Brooklyn's William O'Dwyer tolerated the support of Tammany Hall. The old fat cat of New York politics was pretty bedraggled. She had barely survived twelve years of Fiorello La Guardia's yapping honesty. But when Bill O'Dwyer won an overwhelming victory and became mayor, Tammany crept into City Hall after him.
O'Dwyer could not very well heave the old cat out. Instead, he named one of his own men boss of the hall and lectured one & all on the virtues of good government. For months, the Tammany cat turned a washed and innocent face to the world.
But she was not really happy. She was feeding on scraps while her belly ached for rich cream. A month ago she leaped for the pitcher.
The Several Valentes. The pitcher was a vacancy in the Surrogate's Court of New York County, an office which handles estates for widows, orphans and other heirs, and through its power to appoint special guardians is full of rich patronage possibilities. The job would be voted on at the August primaries. O'Dwyer had a man of his own in mind as the Democratic nominee: City Council President Vincent Impellitteri. But while the mayor was in Puerto Rico resting on doctor's orders, the party's district leaders met and by a majority vote nominated a Tammany choice: General Sessions Judge Francis Valente.
There was nothing on the record against Valente. But the circumstances of his nomination were enough to put newspapers, to say nothing of O'Dwyermen, in an uproar. Before the meeting Tammany had publicly declared that it was going to support Valente's uncle, State Supreme Court Justice Louis A. Valente. Uncle Louis, a member of the Bar Association said, associated with Frank Costello, gambler and potent figure in the underworld.* The switch from uncle to nephew was a tactic merely designed to confuse; said the O'Dwyer camp: "One Valente is no different from another."
"Political Cesspool." Charges were made that some of the district leaders had been bribed. District Attorney Frank Hogan started an investigation. Costello was reported to be using the National Democratic Club on Madison Avenue, a Tammanyite hangout, for his political rendezvous.
Last week O'Dwyer flew back from Puerto Rico, making statements almost before he hit the ground, talking with the wrath of a man who has been betrayed. For upwards of a year, he charged, there had been rumors that Tammany leaders were trying to get the Surrogate's office. "I'll have nothing to do with scavengers planning to get rich on the orphans' money," he raged. The National Democratic Club, he said, was a "political cesspool."
He fired Tammany district leaders from city jobs. He said he would oppose Valente at the primaries. His man Impellitteri would run anyhow. And he called for a brand-new New York Democratic organization to get rid of old Tammany, which should stay in "the gutter where it belongs."*
Not in years had a Democratic mayor given the Tammany cat such a hiding.