#james j. walker

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Above: the front page of the Daily News on July 8, 1931. Photo: Barnes & Noble.

The murder of Vivian Gordon on February 25, 1931, set off a chain of events that ended in the resignation of Mayor Jimmy Walker and the disintegration of the Tammany Hall machine.

Gordon had been convicted of prostitution in 1923 on shaky grounds. She was certainly no saint: the diaries mentioned in the headline above contained the names of over 300 men, including nearly every major gangland figure and many prominent businessmen and politicians, whom she either bankrolled or blackmailed. But the endemic corruption in city politics and the police force was responsible for her arrest and conviction. Not only did she fail to pay the accustomed bribe to get off, but when she was sentenced to a reformatory, her ex-husband was granted custody of their daughter. Gordon always maintained that that was the real reason behind the alleged set-up.

Above: Vivian Gordon. Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images/NY Post

Before her death, Gordon had been in touch with Samuel Seabury, a former judge so unimpeachably honest he was dubbed "the bishop" by the tabloids. Seabury was investigating corruption in the judiciary, including the conspiracy among cops, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges to frame innocent women for prostitution. The possibility that Gordon had been murdered to keep her from further contact with Seabury led Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt to tell "the bishop" to expand his investigation to include the Manhattan D.A., the entire police force, and the upper echelon of Tammany Hall—including Mayor Walker.

After Walker resigned, evidence of Tammany's corruption came to light: they had put a price on every city service, from permits to political patronage. After a couple of interim mayors, the reformer and Tammany foe Fiorello LaGuardia became mayor on January 1, 1934. During his first term, Tammany membership dropped by 70%.

Vivian Gordon's alleged killers were acquitted due to the timely appearance of witnesses who provided them with alibis. But the identity of the true killers, and the mysteries surrounding the killing, still linger. “There are still more frames than there are pictures,” Walker once quipped.

"Gentleman Jimmy" Walker, the 97th mayor of New York, entering the courthouse to be examined on corruption charges in 1932. Photo: Associated Press via NY Magazine

[livelymorgue]

August — possibly the 14th — 1927: Aboard the Cunard ship Berengaria, Mayor James J. Walker, en route to the British Isles and Europe, served as referee of a boxing match between crew members. Photo: The New York Times

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Mayor James J. (Jimmy) Walker chats with Franklin D. Roosevelt at the 1924 Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden. The convention, the longest in history, began on June 24 and finally ended on July 9, 1924, after 103 ballots.

Photo: Bain News Service via the LoC

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Mayor Jimmy Walker greets George Washington, played by Kenneth Murchison, after the latter crossed from New Jersey to New York for the presidential inauguration, April 30, 1932, 143 years after the real event. Next to Walker is general chairman Grover Whalen. This was part of New York's Washington bicentennial celebration.

Photo: Associated Press

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Tony Sarg, The Great White Way.. From the book Tony Sarg's New York, 1927. Notice the campaign banners for Jimmy Walker.

Photo: Fine Art America

[newyorkthegoldenage]

President Hoover was still calling the Depression fake news, but Mayor James J. Walker formed a Committee for the Relief of Unemployed. This is the schedule of Benefit Performances through the co-operation of the Actors’ Equity Association, January 1931. Ticket holders could see Mary Boland, Helen Hayes, and Helen Gahagan, among others.

Photo: NYC Municipal Archives

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Amelia Earhart receiving the Medal of the City of New York on July 2, 1937 from Mayor Walker. She was also welcomed at City Hall on her triumphal return from her sold flight across the Atlantic in 1932.

Photo: Associated Press via the San Jose Mercury News

[newyorkthegoldenage]

At City Hall, Mayor Walker awarded the special city medal to Amelia Earhart in recognition of her record transatlantic solo flight, June 20, 1932. The scene duplicated the reception accorded her four years before when she had returned from a flight across the Atlantic as a passenger in a tri-motored plane.

Photo: Associated Press