As another baseball season begins, the existence of Rhode Island’s legendary baseball stadium ends. Demolition has begun on Pawtucket’s McCoy Stadium, the city’s field of dreams, but fortunately the memory of its principal promoter and namesake, Mayor Thomas P. McCoy, will live on.
The Rhode Island Publications Society has just released a detailed and definitive biography of Mayor McCoy that will withstand the test of time. This insightful, 364-page volume by Dr. William Jennings, historian of the Fabre Line, is titled Prince of Pawtucket. It examines not only the colorful life of a famous political boss but also the workings of a typical 20th century political machine. It is the maturation of Jennings’ doctoral dissertation, a scholarly endeavor that I was pleased to direct.
William Jennings is a meticulous man, and his research is an indication of that trait. Jennings has scrutinized every facet of the tumultuous life and political career of Mayor Thomas P. McCoy, the “Prince of Pawtucket.” McCoy was given that name by Jennings in his doctoral dissertation written two decades before the Prince of Providence superficially scanned the career of Mayor Vincent Cianci.
Both McCoy and Cianci (whom I knew intimately) have their generous share of supporters and detractors. This bifurcation is the fate of all powerful, flamboyant, charismatic, brazen, and bold politicians. Look no further than Boston’s legendary James Michael Curley; New York City’s William Marcy “Boss” Tweed, Irish-born Richard Croker, and Jimmy Walker; Frank Hague of Jersey City; George “Boss” Cox of Cincinnati, and Richard J. Daley, Sr. of Chicago- to list only the most notable, or notorious, mayors – depending upon one’s point of view.
Political bosses did a great amount of good, mostly for their lower-class constituents. Often, they were of Irish ancestry. However, their actions were usually governed by the ethical fallacy that “the end justifies the means.” As Charles R. Brayton, Rhode Island’s own Yankee-Republican statewide boss once observed: “An honest voter is one that stays bought.”
During our travels throughout all 50 states, my wife Gail and I had occasion in the 1980s to visit the Louisiana state capitol in Baton Rouge. Some believe it was the model for Tom McCoy’s Pawtucket City Hall. That 450-foot tall structure, built at the direction of Governor Huey Long, is the highest state capitol building in America. By comparison, the national capital in Washington, DC is a mere 288 feet in height.
Some state records and exhibits are maintained on the upper floors of this huge state house. When we ventured upward to view them, we were greeted by two elderly curators who had personal reminiscences of Huey. The man extolled his virtues to the verge of canonization; the woman denounced him as a scoundrel who deserved a cannonade.
Likewise, in 1999 when I nominated and inducted Mayor McCoy into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, I received compliments from several knowledgeable Democratic politicians including former House Speakers Matt Smith and John Harwood but also harsh criticism via a letter from an elderly Pawtucket lady who viewed McCoy as “the incarnation of evil.” Such is the fate and the legacy of the political boss!
Pawtucket is a much smaller city than those listed above, but the workings of a political machine are similar regardless of size, as attested to by the story of Andrew “Bossy” Gillis of Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Although this biography is published in 2025, nearly all of the research was performed by Jennings four to five decades earlier while he was my graduate student at Providence College (M.A. 1966, Ph.D. 1986). Therefore, he had the scholarly advantage of interviewing the political insiders of the 1930s and 1940s, and also McCoy’s allies and his enemies. These first-hand accounts, coupled with his masterful skill in traditional research, makes Jennings an authoritative biographer of Tom McCoy. His book is a major contribution to our knowledge of Rhode Island politics, especially ethnic politics, during the first half of the 20th century. It is “the real McCoy!”
Dr. Patrick T. Conley
Founding Chairman Rhode Island Publications Society