This study is a chronicle of the efforts of R. Walton Moore and the Roosevelt Administration to liberalize the conservative Virginia Democratic Party during the 1930's. Moore was an elderly politician and amateur historian who had been in and out politics in the state for over forty years. He was opposed at every turn in his efforts by state Democratic Party organization leader Senator Harry F. Byrd, and his conservative colleague Senator Carter Glass. Both Glass and Byrd opposed most New Deal legislation throughout the decade. Moore served officially as Assistant Secretary of State and Counselor to the State Department, but his unofficial role was an advocate for Virginia's anti-organization Democrats. These Democrats were generally supportive of the New Deal and its programs, but wielded little political power because of the tight control with which Byrd and Glass distributed patronage. This essay traces Moore's three major efforts to align the Democratic Party in the Old Dominion closer to the Roosevelt Administration.