Evening star., 1933-01-01
BY WILLIAM BEVERLY.

| BY WILLIAM BEVERLY.
| A MOTHER act in the Endless
| " Adventure" the drama of poll
| A tics and government, will be
4 \ played in New York's City Hall
this morning. Joseph v. Nc
/ Kee will turn over the symbol Of office
| of mayor to John P. O'Brien, Tammany
Halls victorious candidate, who will
serve the one remaining year OF the
| term of James j. Walker. For the year
| to come Mckee will return to his tasks
as president of the Board OF Aldermen.
Between now and November Tammany
Hall probably will make the greatest
| bid for power in all the long history of
the years in which it has ruled New
York. With the stage set for historic
political battle the spotlight will be
turned on Mckee.
Men rise in politics, not SO much for
| what they are, as for the popularity
and continued growth OF legends about
them. But the legends must fit the
man. Calvin Coolidge has retained a
! hold on American popularity because
i he ran true to form. The legends fit.
James ]. walker won his following on
| a reputation for wit-for gayety-and
giving hand" When he soured a
| bit, made sorry showing in the public
hearings on his official record and was
] proved to be a gimme" instead of
| giver, he lost out over night.
| Now legend has begun to gather
around Mckee. Strangely, it is a para
doxical combination of the Coolidge
| and Walker legends. He has Coolidge's
| thrift-even his economy of words
and the ready winning smile OF Walker.
He walks like Walker, with the spring
of boxer, dancer; and he likes to
dance And yet when he stands still
| he has the stolid dignity and the al
| most shy reserve of Coolidge. Like
| Coolidge, also, Mckee has marked hab-
| its of personal thrift. He lives in a
modest house, he uses no fancy cars. he
rides on subwayS, he has cherished
and simple family life
At this point in MeKee's life the
| legends are confused and contradictory.
Some people would have it that he is
| Irish. that his parents we're poor Irish
Catholic emigrants-oths rs that he is
not Irish Catholic, thai he is black
| Irish" and left footer.
Son Of Scotch Immigrants.
The truth is his parents were Scotch
| from Glasgow and they were Catholic.
| They educated their seven children in
Catholic schools. His grandfather was
a school teacher. His father was an
engraver. Vr-
The man about whom the political
battle of the year will center Is typi-
cal of the best product of the City Of
New York. He is the son of Scotch
immigrants. He has made his own way
in the world. His life story might be
called the making of an American.
Joseph McKees parents settled here
in the midst of fight against the dis
l. -&w [-1 H. xxf
New York government The elder Nc
Kees became Democrats, probably be-
| cause their neighbors and friends in
the Bronx we're Democrats. There their
children we're born. Joseph was born
in 1889, within the Tammany fold, in
manner of speaking, and in an outlying
part of the Tigers jungle.
When Joseph was Richard Croker,
the boss of Tammany, testified before
the Lexow Investigating Committee
that politics was to him business
pocket" Thus did Croker enunciate
the political philosophy of Tammany
Hall. Tammany was defeated that year,
and the Democratic leadership of the
Bronx was largely responsible for the
! election of a fusion candidate, William
L. Strong.
Mckee was stin child when the
people of New York reyolted again and
in 1901 defeated Mayor Robert Van
Wyck and elected to succeed him Seth
Low, president of Columbia University.
A few years later, while Mckee was
studying at Fordham, John Purroy
Mitchell was to deliver to Tammany in
1918 another one of the smashing de-
feats of its history and be elected
mayor on fusion ticket.
Thus, during the formative years OF
his life, from the time Mckee was 5,
when Strong defeated Tammany, until
he was "a, when Mitchell was elected
mayor, there was constantly before him
the story of the fight for good govern
ment against Tammany.
Worked Way Through College.
There is a bitter and hard tradition
in the north country where Joseph Nc
KEGS people came from. Life is not
easy there, and in world where the
material goods Of life are scarce, thrift
and industry become the most respected
virtues. Mckee worked his way
through Fordham College, part of his
income coming from the writing of
magazine articles.
With his A. B. degree in 1912 his alma
! mater offered him position as a
teacher For the next three years, while
he taught Latin and Greek he con-
tinued his studies, and in 1915 he took
his master Of arts degree from Ford
ham.
During these years he had begun to
plan his life carefully. He chose the
law. He resigned his position at Ford
ham and obtained job teaching Eng
lish at the De Witt Clinton High
School, which is more convenient to
Fordhams law school in downtown
New York Some time between 1915
and 1918 when he received his degree
of doctor Of laws from Fordham, he
! found time between his teaching. his
studies and his work as clerk in
/ law office curing the Summer months
! to write a book, THE Period of Dis
] covery." It is used today as a textbook
in the city school system.
! His was a seriousness and a single
ness OF purpose. combined with the
: energy Of a draft horse.
i 1t was in the last year of his law
| studies that Mckee made the contact
| which took him into politics. He had
managed to find the time to join a
| group OF young men in his parish who
visited the poor and the sick. One eve
| ming young Mckee sat at the bedside Of
| dying man, poor barber who poured
| out his troubles. He belonged to
lodge whose membership carried with 1t
q death benefit which would be paid to
his wife: but no payment would be
| made unless the barber were a natural
| ized citizen. Years before he had
taken out his first papers, but first
| procrastination and, later his long ILL
ness, had kept him from going through
with 1t. Now the little that he had
hoped TO leave to his wife would be
| lost
/ What happened at that tenement
bedside lifts the curtain on an import
ant side Of McKee's character He
knew something about immigrants,
sonething. about new citizensand a