Education
He was educated in public schools and the Packard Commercial School in New York.
He was educated in public schools and the Packard Commercial School in New York.
From 1911 to 1926 he was employed as a bookkeeper and sales manager for the Universal Gypsum Company. In 1926 he organized his own business, later merged with other firms to form the General Building Supply Company, of which he was president until 1933 and again in 1949. He held various minor political posts from 1912 to 1929 and in 1923 was elected as a Democrat to the New York State Assembly. Defeated for reelection the following year, he was appointed a member of the New York State Boxing Commission in 1924, and in 1928 became secretary of the New York State Democratic Committee. As chairman of the Committee in 1930, he launched the prenomination campaign for Franklin D. Roosevelt and was largely responsible for his nomination at the 1932 Democratic Convention. He subsequently became chairman of the Democratic National Committee and in 1933 was appointed postmaster general by President Roosevelt. He managed the Roosevelt campaign in 1936 but in 1940 a split developed between Farley and the president, and Farley resigned both as chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as postmaster general. He became board chairman and director of the Coca-Cola Export Company in 1940, continuing as chairman of the State Democratic Committee until 1944. He wrote Behind the Ballots in 1938 and published his memoirs in 1948 as Jim Farley's Story, the Roosevelt Years.