James A. Farley (1888-1976) served President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the New Deal's patronage-dispensing postmaster general and official political prophet.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for reelection in 1936, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jim Farley wrote him a note saying, "I am still definitely of the opinion that you will carry every state but two, Maine and Vermont." F.D.R., master politician though he was, had predicted a loss of 171 electoral votes for himself. Farley's estimate of a mere eight vote loss, and his ability to pick the very states, confirmed him as one of America's most brilliant politicians.

Born on May 30, 1888, in upstate (Rockland County) Grassy Point, New York, James Aloysius Farley was the son of brick maker James and his wife Ellen (Goldrick), both children of Irish immigrants. He resembled F.D.R., six years his senior and his Dutchess County neighbor, in being born...