James Michael Curley, Boston's Irish Chieftain for Half a Century

James Michael Curley was a larger-than-life political figure who dominated Boston and Massachusetts politics for half a century.

Born on November 20, 1874 on Northampton Street in Roxbury to immigrant parents from County Galway, Curley's political career was unparalleled. First elected to the Boston Common Council in 1899 and then to the state House of Representatives in 1901, Curley quickly rose up the ranks.  He served four four-year terms as mayor of Boston in 1914, 1922, 1930 and 1946. He and also served as US Congressman from 1911-14 and from 1943-47, and was Governor of Massachusetts from 1935-37.

Curley came of age in Boston just as the Irish, by numbers and ingenuity,  had learned how to get out the vote and take over local government, after generations of being held back by the Yankee establishment. Fearless and ambitious, witty and brash, Curley was the right politician to represent Boston's changing demographics.  He was a devout Catholic and was active in the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish Catholic fraternal organization with chapters all across the United States. 

Boston voters believed Curley's ethnicity, religion, politics and worldview seemed perfectly suited for moving the city from a seaport town of Puritans to a vibrant Celtic city where the Irish roared through life with a vengeance and built a future their ancestors had been denied. 

Curley was a man of the people, and he spent his career helping ordinary citizens get a job, buy a house, and send their children to decent schools, all the while improving the parks, roads and other public services offered to taxpayers. Because of this Curley had the loyal allegiance of the people, who voted him into office time and again.  His luck at the polls eventually ran out, after a series of scandals, and in 1949 he lost his run for mayor, and retired from politics shortly thereafter.

The extent of his popularity occured after Curley died on November 12, 1958, at 84 years old.  Over 100,000 people passed by his coffin at the Hall of Flags in the Massachusetts State House.  A final process drove Curley's body through the streets of Boston and then to Holy Cross Cathedral in the South End, where his son, Reverend Francis S. Curley, S.J., celebrated mass along with Richard Cardinal Cushing of South Boston.  He is buried the Old Calvary Cemetery in Boston.

"The rich and the humble, Democrats and Republicans, bared the depth of their tribute in whispered prayers and unrestrained tears," wrote The Boston Globe. 

Curley has many monikers due to his colorful life: the Mayor of the Poor, the Purple Shamrock, the Ambassador of South Boston and the Rascal King.  His life was chronicled in a novel, The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor, which was made into a film in 1958 starring Spencer Tracy.

 

In 1980, twin bronze statues of James M. Curley, created by artist Lloyd Lillie, were unveiled by Mayor Kevin White along Congress Street in front of Boston City Hall.  The statues are located in Union Park, right next to the New England Holocaust Memorial. 

According to literature published by the Boston Art Commission, because of Curley's 'larger than life' stature, "it's only fitting that it took two statues to immortalize him."  The two images Lillie chose represent a standing figure, the one "known to politicians, officials and businessmen, willing to do whatever he felt necessary to achieve his goals; the seated figure is the Curley known by his constituents and supporters - Curley of the sympathetic ear and an open wallet."

Funding for the memorial came from the Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund. 

The City of Boston Archives has a significant Mayor James M. Curley Collection of his political papers and materials, including correspondence, scrapbooks, speeches, writings and other memorabilia.

Find out more about Boston's Irish history at IrishHeritageTrail.com.

Written by Michael Quinlin, author of Irish Boston: A Lively Look at Boston's Colorful Irish Past.