Ealy, On Willie Stark as Political Leader
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ON WILLIE STARK AS POLITICAL LEADER
Steven D. Ealy
Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men
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tells the story of two men, Jack
Burden, the book’s narrator, and Willie Stark, Jack’s friend and boss. Because my
focus is on the politics of the novel, Jack Burden will appear only occasionally in
this paper. This approach does not do justice to the richness of the novel, for as
Jack himself says, his story and Willie’s story are really one story. With this
limitation in mind, I now turn to a review of Willie Stark’s career.
Willie Stark, the political protagonist of All the King’s Men, was a reluctant
but earnest young politician who had returned quickly to private life after his
initial effort to achieve reform at the local level failed. Through a matter of
chance, he returned to the public eye, became convinced to run for governor of
the state, and was used by a political machine in an effort to undermine its
opposition and ensure its continuation in office. During the course of this
campaign “Cousin Willie,” as Jack Burden referred to him, received his political
education when he learned that he was being used. He turned the tables by
becoming a spokesman for the “hicks” whose votes were necessary for election
but whose interests the machine ignored. In the course of this revitalized
campaign “Cousin Willie” was transformed into “the Boss.” Subsequently Willie
Stark was elected Governor of the state, and, after a turbulent administration and
successful effort to fend off impeachment, was assassinated.
The stages of Willie Stark’s career and the details of his term as governor
of the state provide the material from which we may examine the foundations
Convention