A Nov. 10 Style article about Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) incorrectly identified Gilbert Sandler, a Baltimore author and historian, as Gilbert Sanders.
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Pride of Baltimore
(By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post)
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This political toughness runs through his daughter, who, as minority leader, has not been reluctant to bare her teeth or throw her elbows to enforce party discipline.
O'Donnell tells the story of D'Alesandro's entry into politics, when he entered the Maryland House of Delegates in 1926, an Italian boy making good for his people.
He wore patent-leather shoes and spats, an Oxford gray suit, a polka-dot bow tie and a derby, for he wanted to dress in the manner he thought would befit the men of high standing he would be joining.
"He said he thought he would encounter men of the stature of Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and the like, and he was greatly disappointed when they were just ordinary people," O'Donnell said.
Through his political career, the polka-dot bow tie would remain his lucky charm. He told Sandler once that he'd lost an election the one time he did not wear that polka-dot tie.
Out of the political game, he remained a force. The house on Albemarle still received visitors seeking Big Tommy's blessing for political careers.
J. Joseph Curran Jr., the Maryland attorney general and the father-in-law of Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley, was among them.
"Tommy the Elder: I remember when I would want to run for office and they would say, 'Well, why don't you go see Tommy,' and you'd go down to the D'Alesandro house down on Albemarle Street and I said, 'Mr. Mayor, I want you to know I'm thinking about running and I'd appreciate your advice and help.' "
D'Alesandro appointed Curran's father to the City Council. He also attended grade school early in the last century with Curran's mother.
"It was smart politics, because then you have someone you like and who likes your mother and father," he said.
That was in 1968. By then, Pelosi was long gone -- to college, to marriage and family and then a political career of her own -- which started in 1987, the same year her father died.
But these many years since she pitched in as a girl on the fringes of her father's political machine, Little Nancy still bears the family imprint. Big Tommy's political world was her own.
Staff writers Jonathan Weisman and Juliet Eilperin contributed to this story.
