During his tenure as Temporary President of the State Senate, Walker was often seen on the floor accompanied by reformist activist, future urban planner, and key Al Smith ally Robert Moses.

Walker's reputation as a flamboyant man-about-town made him a hero to many working-class voters; he was often seen at legitimate theaters and illegitimate speakeasies.

Instead of ending his visits to speakeasies and his friendships with chorus girls, he took those activities behind the closed doors of a penthouse funded by Tammany Hall.

In his initial years as mayor, Walker saw the city prosper and many public works projects gain traction.

It is a noted aspect of his career as mayor and as a member of the State Senate that Walker was strongly opposed to Prohibition.

Since Walker did not feel that drinking was a crime, he discouraged the police from enforcing Prohibition law or taking an active role unless it was to curb excessive violations or would prove to be newsworthy.

Walker was re-elected by an overwhelming margin in 1929, defeating Republican Fiorello H. La Guardia and Socialist Norman Thomas.

Patrick Joseph Hayes, the Cardinal Archbishop of New York, denounced him, implying that the immorality of the mayor, both personal and political in tolerating "girlie magazines" and casinos, was a cause of the economic downturn.

She informed the investigators that women were falsely arrested and accused of prostitution by the New York City Police Department.

The incident demonstrated to New Yorkers that corruption could lead to terrible consequences, and led to suspicion that Walker might ultimately, in some way, have been responsible for her death.

Knowing that the state constitution could allow an elected mayor to be removed from office, Roosevelt felt compelled to do so but risked losing Tammany Hall's support for the Democratic nomination for president.

[13] Facing pressure from Roosevelt, Walker eluded questions about his personal bank accounts, stating instead that the amounts he received were "beneficences" and not bribes.

[6] He announced on November 12, 1932, while aboard the SS Conte Grande, that he had "no desire or intention of ever holding public office again.

[15] After his return to the United States, Walker acted as head of Majestic Records, which included such popular performing artists as Louis Prima and Bud Freeman.

He also spent many summers in Atlantic Beach, New York, sometimes during his term as mayor, and afterward, for he was friends with its founder, William Austin.

A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the University of Illinois at Chicago ranked Walker as the third-worst American big-city mayor to have served between the years 1820 and 1993.

[18] A romanticized version of Walker's tenure as mayor was presented in the 1957 film Beau James, starring Bob Hope.

A song by Dean Martin, similarly titled "Beau James", presented a highly idealized and romantic interpretation of his tenure as mayor.