ABSTRACT
No other senators compared in this book came from such contrasting heritages as Thomas James Walsh and Henry Cabot Lodge. A son of Irish immigrants, Tom Walsh was born in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, where his father, Felix, was a lumberjack, tanner, and part-time clerk, and his mother, Bridget Comer, encouraged education and temperance. After his confirmation, young Tom took the pledge against drinking alcoholic beverages, mother Bridget even making special mincemeat without brandy for him. Much later, Tom Walsh received more than 100 votes for president at the Democratic National Convention in New York in 1924 as the Irish Catholic dry alternative to Al Smith.
