All the King's Men

Widely considered one of the best novels of the twentieth century, Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men (1946) won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Exploring concepts of identity, responsibility, and consequence through the prism of populist politics, its straightforward and realistic style matches the subject matter.

The novel opens as Jack Burden recalls driving to Mason City with Willie and Lucy Stark and their son Tom in 1933. Jack drives them to their home, and then Willie and Jack visit Judge Irwin, an old friend of Jack’s father. Willie instructs Jack, whom he has just hired to be his right-hand man, to investigate Irwin, because Willie knows Irwin will oppose his political ambitions.

Jack thinks back to when he was a newspaper reporter in 1922, trying to secure an interview with Willie Stark. Willie was battling the administration in Mason City over the corrupt bidding process for building a new school. Ignoring Willie, the city awards the contract to the high bidder; the fire escapes in the new school collapse during a drill, killing children. As a result, Willie becomes a hero to the people of Mason City.



Willie and Jack become friendly. Willie is approached by the local political machine about running for governor. Willie, at first flattered because he is a poor public speaker, discovers that this is precisely why they’re backing him—they want the other candidate to win and think Willie is a safe choice for an opponent. Getting drunk for the first time in his life, Willie finds he is eloquent when inebriated. The next day, Willie, miserably hungover, dreads a political event he must attend. Jack gets him drunk again, and Willie is once again an amazing speaker. Willie runs for governor a second time; now a practiced public speaker, he wins easily, proving to be very popular. He hires Jack as his chief operator.

Jack recalls a visit to his mother, who is wealthy and has had many relationships. She treats Jack oddly, but he doesn’t think much of it as that’s how it’s always been. Jack imagines what it was like when she met his father, Ellis. Jack returns to the city and is disturbed to find that Willie is having an affair with his secretary and engaging in other corrupt practices. Willie tells Jack of a new project to build a state of the art hospital that would be completely free to citizens. When Willie’s wife, Lucy, discovers his affairs, they stop living together but do not divorce because of the political ramifications.

Jack reflects on his education; when working towards his PhD, he had come into possession of documents having to do with his father and his own great-uncle Cass Mastern. Mastern, who owned a plantation and many slaves before the Civil War, had an affair with his friend’s wife. When his friend discovered the affair, he committed suicide. His wife sold a slave she suspected knew the shameful story to men who intended to use her as a sex slave. Horrified by this, Cass attempted to locate the slave. Failing at that, he decided he must end slavery, freeing his own slaves, helping them live as free people. Still, he died feeling like a sinner.



The story shakes Jack, and he reflects on his own work investigating Judge Irwin. He has discovered that the Judge’s wealth began with a bribe he took connected to a crime that involved the love of Jack’s life, Anne, her brother (and Jack’s best friend) Adam, and her father, former Governor Stanton.

Willie wants Adam to be the director of his new hospital, but Adam hates Willie. Anne visits Jack to ask him to convince her brother. He plans to tell Adam about the bribery, thinking this will show Adam that Willie is no different from his own father, and thus he’ll take the job. Anne is upset to learn about the bribery, but the plan works and Adam takes the job. Anne begins an affair with Willie.

Jack leaves for a time, driving to California to reflect on his life. He shapes a philosophy he calls the Big Twitch, which posits that life is just random electrical impulses. This makes him feel better about his own actions. When he returns home, he is told that Tom Stark has gotten a girl pregnant out of wedlock, and Willie is being blackmailed with the information to award the hospital contract to Gummy Larson. Willie sends Jack to use his leverage over Judge Irwin to get the blackmailers called off, but when Jack confronts Judge Irwin, he discovers that Irwin is his real father. The Judge kills himself instead of facing the consequences of his actions.



Willie gives in, awarding the contract to Gummy, but when Tom is severely brain damaged in a football game, Willie changes his mind. Gummy pressures Willie by calling Adam and telling him that his sister, Anne, is having an affair with Willie. Enraged, Adam kills Willie and is, in turn, shot by Willie’s driver, Sugar-Boy. Tom also dies shortly afterward.

Jack and Anne find each other again and marry, moving in with Ellis. Even though he knows Ellis is not his father, Jack cares for him, while making plans to leave town forever and work on a book about Cass Mastern.