Woodhead ATKM 1#

Dylan Woodhead

All the King’s Men Blog Post

Is Willie Machiavellian

Willie Talos, In Robert Warren’s All the King’s Men, starts his official political career after he is convinced to run for governor by a wealthy businessman. As a self-taught lawyer, Willie Talos “was ready to ride”(94) and was filled with ideas, improvements, and legislation that would foster, in his mind, improvement for the state of Louisiana. Willie would go on to take his campaign unduly seriously, “pacing in his room,.. hell bent on making (his speech) the second Gettysburg Address.” (99) Talos took the task head on, preaching sermons “full of facts and figures,” (100) including “the ratio between income tax and total income” (102) and the state's lacking infrastructure, (110) to uninterested townsfolk. Willie continued his factual and somewhat religious political campaign speeches until Sadie, frustrated with Willie’s lack of sense, told him that he had been "framed"; a tool, utilized by rival party members to split their opposition’s votes. From this point on, Talos’ political standpoint shifted from an idealist point of view, seeing all the improvements that could be made, to a more rational, at times machiavellian, approach that involved deceitful, corrupt actions, far-fetched from his original political standpoint. After he was elected governor, Willie attacks and insults Mr. White’s, the state's auditor who was on trial to be impeached for accusations of corruption, actions exclaiming that “you aren’t supposed to get rich.. but stay pore and take orders.” (188) Despite his obvious corruption and lack of morals, Talos decides to “stop this impeachment business” (188) for White, only after receiving an undated letter of resignation from Mr. White in which he can use later at his will. Additionally, Talos also orders Jack to not only dig up “dirt” on MacMurfee's men in the Louisiana government, but also on the Judge, which would prove fatal in some cases to both groups; “Jackie made it stick, all right.” (72) These are prime examples of Willie’s shift from a straightforward thinker to a deceiving machiavellian politician who utilizes blackmail and leverage to suppress any opponents.