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Jimmy Walker

"Beau" James John Walker (19 June 1881-18 November 1946) was the Democratic Mayor of New York City from 1 January 1926 to 1 September 1932, succeeding John Francis Hylan and preceding Joseph V. McKee.

Biography[]

James John Walker was born in New York City in 1881, the son of William H. Walker. He became a lawyer in 1912 and served in the State Assembly from 1910 to 1914, in the State Senate from 1915 to 1925, and as Mayor of New York City from 1926 to 1932, winning election due to his everyman image and his appeal to working-class voters. He and his mentor Al Smith both opposed Prohibition and the Ku Klux Klan, and he oversaw a period of prosperity and public works projects in New York. His term saw the proliferation of both subway lines and speakeasies, but the onset of the Great Depression and Walker's many infidelities ruined his popularity by 1932, when he was forced to resign due to a bribery scandal. He headed Majestic Records and became a radio personality before dying in 1946.

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