Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times And Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson

Author:Nelson Johnson [Johnson, Nelson]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780091941321
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2011-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

8

The Painful Ride Down

It was late afternoon in winter. The office was dark and still, save for one room. Hap Farley and his partner, Frank Ferry, were seated in Ferry’s office. They’d both had a hectic day and were catching up with one another before going home. Frank Ferry was more than Farley’s law partner; he was like a son. Ferry’s father and Hap were lifelong friends. When Farley made his first run for office in 1937, Ferry’s father loaned him his car for the entire campaign so the young candidate could get around to see the voters. Over the years, Farley and Ferry’s relationship became special and Farley confided in him as he did with few people. They were discussing something that had Farley troubled, and they both knew the problem was beyond their control.

In its prime, Atlantic City had four newspapers: two dailies, a Sunday, and a weekly. Now the resort was a one-newspaper town, and the Atlantic City Press had turned on Farley. He was no longer the fair-haired boy who brought home the bacon from Trenton. He was an aging political boss in an era when bossism had become a favorite target for the media. Farley’s political machine was also aging, and his presence no longer inspired fear and trembling among his detractors. Week after week there was one negative story after another. The articles ranged from exposés on payroll padding in city hall to front-page headlines every time a critic of Farley attacked him. Farley’s enemies now had a sympathetic ear willing to print their complaints. The latest incident wasn’t much by itself, but taken together with everything else, Farley knew there was no hope of making peace with the Press.

Earlier in the week Farley had been asked to present a ribbon to a prize-winning entry in a dog show at Convention Hall. When the picture was printed in the paper, Farley was left out of the photo and only the dog appeared. The Press had decided Farley would receive no more favorable exposure. Hap Farley could dictate to the officials in city hall and manipulate the state senate, but he couldn’t control the Press. As he spoke about this incident he made light of it, but Farley and Ferry both realized his public image was being eroded.

As Hap Farley’s stature was being whittled away, so too was the resort’s stature as a resort. With the repeal of Prohibition the resort lost its special position as a “wet town.” From then on it was a slow but steady ride downhill. By the time Farley was in a position to influence events, the resort’s economic base had already begun to diminish and the trend was irreversible. Things picked up during World War II when there were thousands of soldiers stationed in town, but by the mid-’50s everything had to be perfect throughout the year for local merchants to survive. A canceled convention during the winter or several rainy weekends during the summer could destroy a business.

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