All the King's Men Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 1 Summary

Chapter 1 Summary

One hot day in 1936, Governor Willie Stark, also known as "The Boss," is visiting Mason City, his home town. Sugar Boy is driving the Cadillac." The Boss" is in the passenger seat, and the narrator, Jack Burden, Tiny Duffy (a large overweight man), and Lucy, Stark's wife, are in the back seat. They stop at the drug store for soft drinks, and people gather and demand that the Governor make a speech. After the speech, the little group of visitors gets back into the Cadillac for the ride to the farm of Willie Stark's father.

The story flashes back to 1922 when the narrator, Jack Burden, at the time a reporter for The Chronicle, first met Willie Stark, who was then county treasurer of Mason County and was married to Lucy, a school teacher. They are in the back room at Slade's Pool Hall. Willie is described as being...
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