1931, the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (the Wickersham Commission) praised this act. A 1947 film Boomerang! was based on the case, directed by Elia Kazan, with Dana Andrews as Cummings. During the bitterly divided 1924 Democratic National Convention, Cummings tried to calm the delegates by formulating a compromise plank on the controversial issue of the Ku Klux Klan, which had been revived in the previous decade. Unlike most Northeastern Democrats, he supported William G. McAdoo over Alfred E. Smith for the presidential nomination. Marriage and family Cummings was married four times, the first two ending in divorce. In 1897, he wed Helen W. Smith, a union that lasted 10 years. The couple had one son, Dickinson Schuyler Cummings, before their divorce. His 1909 marriage to Marguerite T. Owings ended in divorce in 1928. The following year, he married Mary Cecilia Waterbury, and it lasted until her death in 1939. He had a memoir, The Tired Sea (1939), published as a tribute to her. In 1942, he married Julia Alter, who died in 1955. Later political career After nearly a decade out of the spotlight, Cummings reentered politics. In 1932, he helped persuade 24 senators and numerous congressmen to announce their support for Franklin D. Roosevelt. At the Chicago convention, he planned strategy, operated as floor manager, and delivered a resounding seconding speech. Following the election, Roosevelt chose Cummings as governor-general of the Philippines. Two days before the inauguration, Thomas J. Walsh, who had been designated attorney general, died. Upon taking office on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt named Cummings to lead the Justice Department. Cummings served almost six years as attorney general. Only William Wirt (1817–1829), Janet Reno (1993–2001), and Eric Holder (2009–2015) have had longer tenures in the position. Cummings transformed the Department of Justice by establishing uniform rules of practice and procedure in federal courts. He secured the passage of twelve laws that buttressed the "Lindbergh Law" on kidnapping, made bank robbery a federal crime, cracked down on interstate transportation of stolen property, and extended federal regulations over firearms. He strengthened the Federal Bureau of Investigation, called a national crime conference, supported the establishment of Alcatraz as a model prison for hardened offenders, and reorganized the internal administration of the department. In 1937, Cummings published "We Can Prevent Crime", and, with Carl McFarlan, an assistant attorney general, Federal Justice, a departmental history. The Selected Papers of