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that he was dumb. I don't know that anybody accused him of being personally dishonest, although he might easily have been. But if he was dishonest, it was out of sheer dumbness. He was so dumb that he couldn't understand the city's business, the relation of one thing to another. A lot of crooked things got going strong under Hylan because he was too dumb to recognize it, too casual to bother to do anything about it if he did.

So they were very anxious to have somebody that was intelligent. That was why they picked Walker. He was bright, intelligent. He had no reputation for dishonesty. There was a good family background. Also, there was the great popularity of his old father, who apparently had been greatly beloved in the Hall and in political circles generally.

I don't remember much about him except how he looked, and talked, where I had seen him and what talk I had heard about him. When he ran for mayor, Al was Governor. I know that Al concurred in the selection of Walker and that he was the one who spoke to Jimmy and told him they were going to nominate him if he “came out of St. Joseph's Church with Janet on your arm.” That was the greatest impediment, as the leaders sat around discussing the probable candidates, to Walker's candidacy in their minds. I know that Al did say to me, “He's an awful lazy cuss and I'll have to help him