All the King's Men

All the King’s Men follows the political career of Willie Stark, tracking the development of his relationship with political power. The local political scene is already rife with corruption when Willie enters it, and in fact, he begins his career as an anti-corruption candidate. When a corrupt school construction contract leaves three children dead, Willie’s solitary stand against the contract makes him a folk hero. Local voters see him as a political outsider capable of cutting through the morass of grift they see in local government.

Willie’s use of power becomes more morally ambiguous and skewed as he depends more and more on blackmail and bribery. His entire conception of his role in the government is influenced by such tactics, which often prove more beneficial and efficient than other, more respectable avenues. As he argues with his attorney general over the impeachment of an official, he expresses his perception of what the law should be: “The law is always too short and too tight for growing humankind. The best you can do is do something and then make up some law to fit and by the time that law gets on the books you would have done something different” (136). Willie enters politics with a genuine desire to overturn the entrenched power of the elite and return power to the masses—a narrative that makes him irresistible to a great many voters. In order to accomplish anything, though, he needs to arrogate power to himself, and this need for personal power swiftly overcomes his idealism. Power—initially a means to a laudable end—becomes an end in itself. He ignores the morally corrupt nature of his actions and credits the good that they do. He believes that, as Governor Stark, it is his duty to achieve his agenda and worry about making the law match after the fact.

Willie’s success is enabled by the entrenched corruption he campaigns against. There is a massive political machine in the state, with deep connections to the private sector, resulting in a lot of bribery, extortion, and blackmail. While Willie rails against this situation as a candidate, once in office he proves adept in maneuvering through it, understanding the people around him and how to best manipulate them. As he struggles to defeat MacMurfee in the race for the US Senate, Willie discovers a way to undermine MacMurfee’s financial support. He knows that Gummy Larson is MacMurfee’s biggest backer and understands that he can sabotage MacMurfee through Gummy: “He could buy Gummy because Gummy was a businessman. Strictly business. He would sell anything for the proper figure, immortal soul or mother’s sainted bones, and his old friend MacMurfee was neither” (358). Gummy Larson values business and money more than anything else in his life, and his relationship with MacMurfee is not strong enough to withstand bribery from Willie. When Willie gives him the hospital contract, he effectively takes MacMurfee out of the race for the US Senate. By buying Gummy’s loyalty, Willie eliminates a political enemy.