Tom's ineptitude

Are there any examples of Tom actually doing something right/correctly throughout the trilogy?

He seems to have a long list of failures attributed to him...was he just not cut out for the life?

Well, the Trilogy doesn't give Tom much opportunity to demonstrate his skills. However, he does advocate Corleone participation in the drug trade which proves to have been inevitable.

I think they left it out of the movie, but in the book Tom is the one who thinks to find out where the Sollozzo meeting will be by finding out where McCluskey is having dinner. He also correctly reads that Woltz doesn't have "real balls" and can be intimidated, even if he does know Hoover.

Yes, Tom suggests that Sonny contact Phillips. That's strange because he tells Sonny that maybe Phillips knows where McCluskey can be reached. So, they already knew that McCluskey has to keep the department informed of his whereabouts.

Offscreen, Tom would have been the primary contact to set up Corleone financing/protection for drug rackets. Also during Vito's "trouble" and before Michael's rise he was the main corruption guy.

And evidently he was the fellow who arranged/help set up Tessio's demise.

But no generally I think his film (and book) role was to act as a foil to Michael's more ruthless nature.

Within a short time Tom found out that McCluskey was acting as Sollozzo's bodyguard.
He "suicided" Pentangeli.

We seldom see what Tom does behind the scenes because he's basically a prop for Vito and Michael. I assume he was very good on the political end; otherwise Vito wouldn't have made him consigliere. Also seemed to have been quite competent in setting up Michael as a "legitimate" figure in the Nevada gaming milieu. I thought he was at his smoothest and most effective in setting up Geary and then taking advantage of Geary's terror by having him stay at Michael's home. I still believe Michael authorized the hooker trap earlier, but Tom carried it off brilliantly.

I'd like to summarize the screwups we see:

Tom couldn't be blamed for Vito's shooting. Paulie was Clemenza's responsibility. Nor was he at fault in Luca's death. Luca reported directly to Vito, who may not have told Tom about his mission. And anyway, it was Vito who put the garotte around Luca's neck by sending him to the Tattaglias with that idiotic story about "not being too happy with our family"--as if Vito would allow his "most valued friend" (movie), "a man who could do a job of murder all by himself" (novel) skip off and ply his trade for a rival family.

A charging bull elephant couldn't have deflected Sonny from his fatal final ride. But I believe Tom should have anticipated Carlo's treason. He should have known that the other families would be watching to see if the newest Corleone family member would get anything important--and when he didn't, to take note of that. And, after Sonny's public humiliation of Carlo, Tom should have seen that he'd be a prime candidate for treason during wartime. Overarching lust for vengeance may not be a typical German/Irish characteristic, but it's not unknown among associates of Mafia families.

Tom's failure to find out that Pentangeli had survived and was being held by the Senate committee, and his failure to learn that Questadt belonged to Roth, were inexcusably negligent.

Well TB, that's the point that I have been making: a consigilere anticipates threats to the family. Of course, a consigliere is not omniscient. He can't be expected to anticipate evey threat. But Tom's record is less than illustrious.

Also, regardless of who Paulie worked for, Tom should have analyzed the possible effects of Sonny's outburst at the Sollozzo meeting (which apparently he did) and doubled his precautions.

It's fair to say that Tom is not the best consigliere. He is loyal though. So perhaps some of his "screwups" with Michael specifically (Pentangeli's survival, the Roth-Questadt connection) aren't so much screw-ups as they are passive-aggressive games.

I mean Michael makes a big production out of letting everyone know "Tom's just my lawyer", "Tom please leave and close the door behind you", "Tom tell Al to join us", "Nobody discuss any Family business with Tom" that maybe out of hurt feelings/revenge Tom thought ok, you want me to be just a lawyer? Then that's all I will be. I will not do one iota of work more than what you've so graciously assigned to me..

A couple of things: first, Tom was an inexperienced consigliere in GF1, and there was a certain measure of bad luck that he was essentially in training when Vito was shot.

With respect to Frankie's survival, I think that it is at least possible that much more information became available at the instant Questadt announced that there was a secret witness. No need to keep the secret after Michael had gone on the record, and it would be natural for people to start to talk to the press or others while the story still had some value.

Tom had never been through a war, and was completely untested.
No doubt he was a god lawyer but the trouble was he learned what he learned from Vito, not Genco. The idea of a consigliere and his boss also having what amounted to a father-son relationship is a bad one to begin with. As he confessed Vito had a "sentimental weakness" for his children, and this extended to Tom. The appointment of Tom was, in fact, a sign the Don was slippin.

Hard as he was on Tom, Michael always maintained he was an excellent lawyer, but as he pointed out to Kay he was not a Sicilian. There was a place for Tom in the family business but probably not as Consigliere.

Tom was exactly what Vito wanted him to be - a hyper-rational, conciliatory, smooth attorney.

Vito wanted Tom to counter-balance Sonny's temper with coolness. He also wanted someone with an impeccable demeanor to be the legitimate face of the Family. Remember his quote from the book about one lawyer with a briefcase stealing more than 100 men with guns.

I don't think Vito's view of consiglieres was much different than Michaels. For all the reverence Genco receives, I question how important he really was. I don't remember anything from the book or movies that indicates Vito really consulted with Genco on strategy. I don't think Vito felt he really needed a real consigliere - a stance which backfired when Vito was taken out of commission.

Tom was very good at handling certain kinds of issues, a good example being Woltz. After Woltz insults him up and down, Tom simply says he admires his movies, and will be awaiting his call. Again after Woltz's tirade, Tom thanks him for an excellent meal and calmly asks if his driver could take him to the airport (Tom had no car or driverof his own in L.A. ????)....where Tom was not so good was in wartime. He was too conciliatory and was always looking for a deal to make the peace....EXCEPT during the Tessio betrayal where he played it out perfectly. Right down to Tession playing him by asking if he could get him off the hook for old time's sake, and Tom calmly said he couldn't do that.

You can sum up Tom's shortcomings by a quote I ran across re-watching The Firm. Wilfred Brimley sternly tells Gene Hackman: "I get paid to be suspicious when I've got nothing to be suspicious about."

Tom seesm to get blames as much as Fredo lol. I mean it wasn't his fault sonny got whacked since he sent guys after him right away they just didn't get to him in time. I really didn't see many failures from tom. Mike on the otherhand seemed to make more mistakes. i mean roth pretty much played him like a dope and if it wasn't for vito tessio would have outsmarted him. Tom might have not been a sicilian but he was smarter than most of the guys

I don't have the low opinion of Tom that many Board members have expressed. As the novel states, the counterattacks by the families declined significantly and then ceased altogether as Sonny poured it on. The familes themselves confirmed that they, indeed, were on the ropes because they concluded that the only way to stave off complete defeat was to murder Sonny. So, I don't buy, despite what Puzo wrote, that Tom was faked out.

Tom Hagen was very intelligent, but he didn't show any street smarts. These are two different things.

Well to be honest we never see tom make any many drastic mistakes. Mike says he is not a wartime consigliere but from what i saw tom always helped mike in the wars.

Tom: When I meet with the Tattaglia people, should I insist that all his drug middlemen have clean records?

Vito: Tom, you're not meeting with anyone.

Tom: No meeting? Why not?

Vito: Do you have to ask? Let's review Tom. Since you became Consigliere, what's happened? Well, I've been shot five times, Sonny was murdered, Fredo's off in Las Vegas, and Michael's hiding in Sicily. Connie's been beat up a few times by Carlo, we've been in a war, and business is down over 50%. And on top of all that,I've got PETA picketing the mall.

Tom: But, but ...

Vito: But nothin' Tom, my kraut-mick friend.

Tom advised Vito to make the deal with Sollozzo. If he had followed that advise, they wouldn't have shot him. At least not at that point.

Tom did tell Vito that it would be the best to make the deal, he did warn sonny about his temper. Tom was a good advisor in my opinion. People didn't listen to him because he wasn't a sicilian and we see what happened

Vito: But nothin' Tom, my kraut-mick friend. You're a jinx!

Enough beating up on Tom!!!!

He was a first rate lawyer and a great fixer (e.g. Woltz, Geary, Getting licensed detectives to guard Vito at the hospital in record time). He just was not a
wartime consigliere. His idea f waging wars was to negotiate, and not fight. Of course Sonny was such a bad don that Vito had to end the war by negotiating and comromising on the drug trade. But Michael, without consigliere wiped out everyone.

Also, of all the characters in the trilogy Tom was the only one who got demoted, but simultaneously remained in Mikes inner circle.

Yeah, but Tom never saw the PETA picketing of the mall about the horse's head thing coming and I think that sinks him.

Despite my attempts at humor, I don't think Tom was inept. He did a good job considering that he wasn't Sicilan and was relatively young. Some bad things did happen on his watch, but Tom was just an advisor; for most of his tenure as Consigliere, Sonny was the Don and Sonny would hav been a handful for any Consigliere, even Genco. Also, keep in mind that Vito had trained Tom to be non-confrontational. The novel makes that very clear.

Tom was a smart guy. I Mean i wouldn't judt say sonny because Mike made some real bonehead moves himself. He didn't use Tom as consigliere which really cost him. Lets face it roth pretty much owned mike in part 2. Yes Mike killed him but like tom said it wasn't smart since it could bring more heat to mike