Influence
With Democracy (1880), All the King's Men (1946), and Advise and Consent (1959), The Last Hurrah is among the more successful novels about American politics.
Perhaps most notably, the phrase '"The Last Hurrah" has since become a common phrase in the English lexicon to mean a swan song or, in politics, the last campaign of a politician.
The success of the novel and the Tracy film adaptation greatly benefited Curley, who by 1956 was no longer in office. In addition to giving him new publicity, Curley sued the film's producers and won $46,000. In addition, Skeffington is depicted as rambunctious yet heroic, and improved the public image of Curley. Now he is looked upon with nostalgia, in part due to the book and film.
Read more about this topic: The Last Hurrah
Famous quotes containing the word influence:
“The talk shows are stuffed full of sufferers who have regained their health—congressmen who suffered through a serious spell of boozing and skirt-chasing, White House aides who were stricken cruelly with overweening ambition, movie stars and baseball players who came down with acute cases of wanting to trash hotel rooms while under the influence of recreational drugs. Most of them have found God, or at least a publisher.”
—Calvin Trillin (b. 1935)
“At present cats have more purchasing power and influence than the poor of this planet. Accidents of geography and colonial history should no longer determine who gets the fish.”
—Derek Wall (b. 1965)
“The woman who can’t influence her husband to vote the way she wants ought to be ashamed of herself.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)