Why all the sudden hate for Tom?
The last few posts from this sub that popped into my feed have been about Tom Hagen being weak. Seriously? In Part 1, the man was able to orchestrate the removal of a live horse's head and then had it moved through a mansion and put into strangers bed under cover of darkness without anyone taking notice. In Part 2, after assuming the role of Don, he arranged the whole situation with Sen. Geary and the prostitute which effectively put Geary in the pocket of the Family. Then after that, as the cherry of his ruthlessness convinced Pentangeli to off himself in order to save his family and affirm his loyalty to the Corleone's. Tom was not weak, he was calculated and surgical. If anything, he had more in common with Vito than the other three sons and his only "weakness" was trying to temper the brutality of the war and keep the civility. I haven't read the book in a while, and after the recent posts I think it's time to pick it up again, but I seem to remember Vito saying something along the lines of "you weren't born a Sicilian but I turned you into one" which meant Vito loved and respected him as much as the other sons.