Download or read book The Shame of the Cities written by Lincoln Steffens and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-05-28 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Shame of the Cities is a book written by Lincoln Steffens. It accounts for the workings of corrupt political procedures in several major U.S. cities, along with a few attempts to fight against them.
Download or read book The City Boss in America written by Alexander B. Callow and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1976 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Machine Made Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics written by Terry Golway and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2014-03-03 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Golway’s revisionist take is a useful reminder of the unmatched ingenuity of American politics.”—Wall Street Journal History casts Tammany Hall as shorthand for the worst of urban politics: graft and patronage personified by notoriously crooked characters. In his groundbreaking work Machine Made, journalist and historian Terry Golway dismantles these stereotypes, focusing on the many benefits of machine politics for marginalized immigrants. As thousands sought refuge from Ireland’s potato famine, the very question of who would be included under the protection of American democracy was at stake. Tammany’s transactional politics were at the heart of crucial social reforms—such as child labor laws, workers’ compensation, and minimum wages— and Golway demonstrates that American political history cannot be understood without Tammany’s profound contribution. Culminating in FDR’s New Deal, Machine Made reveals how Tammany Hall “changed the role of government—for the better to millions of disenfranchised recent American arrivals” (New York Observer).
Download or read book Boss Tweed written by Denis Tilden Lynch and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 1927 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No political scandal in American history has had a greater impact on America's political consciousness than the rise and fall of the "Tweed Ring" in New York City between 1866 and 1871. In an age ripe with scandal both public and private, the spectacular corruption charged to "Boss" Tweed and his associates-estimates of their extortion range from $20 million to $200 million-became an enduring symbol of the dark side of democratic politics. The Tweed Ring contributed much more than cartoonist impressions; it helped to shape a powerful theory of political reform. It was in truth one of the formative events of progressivism, that multifaceted doctrine that has evolved into the modern American creed. In this sense, the Tweed Ring was to produce not only deep misgivings about the existing regime, but an insight into how it should be reformed. Denis Tilden Lynch's biography of "Boss" Tweed was first published in 1927, in a time filled, like Tweed's, with sudden prosperity, daunting problems, and spectacular scandals. It is a straight-forward, workmanlike study, untroubled by the conceits of modern historical scholarship, and close enough to its subject's generation to have some of the immediacy of journalism. Of all the books published about the Tweed affair, Lynch's study is the only one that is a genuine biography, in which the man himself is the focus. For this reason it conveys something of the texture of daily life in New York in the nineteenth century, while bringing Tweed out from behind the shadows of Thomas Nast's leering cartoons, and presenting him, as much as is possible, as a man and not an icon. An interesting example of Americana, this volume will be of interest to historians of the period as well as those interested in American urban and political life.
Download or read book The Gilded Age written by Mark Twain and published by . This book was released on 1892 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Boss Richard J Daley of Chicago written by Mike Royko and published by Dutton Books. This book was released on 1971 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Boss Tweed written by Kenneth D. Ackerman and published by Carroll & Graf Pub. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively account of the life of a New York legend traces the rise of Boss Tweed, the corrupt party boss who controlled New York politics through a combination of corruption, bribery, and coercion until his own over-reaching destroyed him.
Download or read book Bosses and Reformers written by Blaine A. Brownell and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of urban politics in the years between 1880 and 1920 has all too often been perceived, by journalistic muckrakers and academic historians alike, as a ceaseless struggle between bosses and reformers, with the reformers winning out in the end. The major view expressed in this book is that this boss-reformer dichtomy is not valid; political leaders and their organizations, ideas, and goals simply do not fit into the regid framework that such a notion imposes on the incredibly complex reality of urban politics. -- Preface.
Download or read book The Boss written by David MacGregor Means and published by . This book was released on 1894 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Don t Call Me Boss written by Michael P. Weber and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 1988 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first biography of David L. Lawrence, the best of the city bosses, who became mayor of Pittsburgh, modern municipal manager, governor of Pennsylvania, and a power in national politics.
Download or read book Plunkitt of Tammany Hall written by William L. Riordon and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1995-11-01 with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plunkitt of Tammany Hall A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics William L. Riordan “Nobody thinks of drawin’ the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft.” This classic work offers the unblushing, unvarnished wit and wisdom of one of the most fascinating figures ever to play the American political game and win. George Washington Plunkitt rose from impoverished beginnings to become ward boss of the Fifteenth Assembly District in New York, a key player in the powerhouse political team of Tammany Hall, and, not incidentally, a millionaire. In a series of utterly frank talks given at his headquarters (Graziano’s bootblack stand outside the New York County Court House), he revealed to a sharp-eared and sympathetic reporter named William L. Riordan the secrets of political success as practiced and perfected by him and fellow Tammany Hall titans. The result is not only a volume that reveals more about our political system than does a shelfful of civics textbooks, but also an irresistible portrait of a man who would feel happily at home playing ball with today’s lobbyists and king makers, trading votes for political and financial favors. Doing for twentieth-century America what Machiavelli did for Renaissance Italy, and as entertaining as it is instructive, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall is essential reading for those who prefer twenty-twenty vision to rose-colored glasses in viewing how our government works and why. With an Introduction by Peter Quinn and a New Afterword
Download or read book When Bosses Ruled Philadelphia written by Peter McCaffery and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1903, Muckraker Lincoln Steffens brought the city of Philadelphia lasting notoriety as "the most corrupt and the most contented" urban center in the nation. Famous for its colorful "feudal barons," from "King James" McManes and his "Gas Ring" to "Iz" Durham and "Sunny Jim" McNichol, Philadelphia offers the historian a classic case of the duel between bosses and reformers for control of the American city. But, strangely enough, Philadelphia's Republican machine has not been subject to critical examination until now. When Bosses Ruled Philadelphia challenges conventional wisdom on the political machine, which has it that party bosses controlled Philadelphia as early as the 1850s and maintained that control, with little change, until the Great Depression. According to Peter McCaffery, however, all bosses were not alike, and political power came only gradually over time. McManes's "Gas Ring" in the 1870s was not as powerful as the well-oiled machine ushered in by Matt Quay in the late 1880s. Through a careful analysis of city records, McCaffery identifies the beneficiaries of the emerging Republican Organization, which sections of the local electorate supported it, and why. He concludes that genuine boss rule did not emerge as the dominant institution in Philadelphia politics until just before the turn of the century. McCaffery considers the function that the machine filled in the life of the city. Did it ultimately serve its supporters and the community as a whole, as Steffens and recent commentators have suggested? No, says McCaffery. The romantic image of the boss as "good guy" of the urban drama is wholly undeserved.
Download or read book Urban Bosses Machines and Progressive Reformers written by Bruce M. Stave and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Boss Tweed The Life and Legacy of the Notorious Politician Who Ran Tammany Hall in New York City written by Charles River Editors and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-02-28 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes contemporary accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading "I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating." - Boss Tweed "It's hard not to admire the skill behind Tweed's system ... The Tweed ring at its height was an engineering marvel, strong and solid, strategically deployed to control key power points: the courts, the legislature, the treasury and the ballot box. Its frauds had a grandeur of scale and an elegance of structure: money-laundering, profit sharing and organization." - Kenneth D. Ackerman Of all the great cities in the world, few personify their country like New York City. As America's largest city and best known immigration gateway into the country, the Big Apple represents the beauty, diversity and sheer strength of the United States, a global financial center that has enticed people chasing the "American Dream" for centuries. However, for all the promise and opportunities America seemingly held out, and for all of the nostalgia and pride the country's history invokes among Americans today, the simple truth is many never climbed the ladder. One of the few who did was William Magear Tweed, known more widely as Boss Tweed, one of the most famous - and corrupt - politicians in American history. In the 19th century, Tweed was an influential mover and shaker for Tammany Hall, the infamous Democratic political machine in New York City and the driving force behind the party's success in the city for decades. Although Tweed never technically held a position of power in New York City's government, he essentially ran the city and its finances between 1868 and 1871 as a political boss of Tammany, and even before that, Tweed would make a name for himself among politicians as an alderman who had a penchant for figuring out how to profit from political situations. By the end of his life, people across the state commonly referred to his operation as the Tweed Ring. While Tweed was at one point among the wealthiest men in the country during the 19th century, he would die in prison thanks to the illegal accumulation of this wealth. Over the course of his time at Tammany Hall, he would steal millions of dollars from state taxpayers, and he was known for extorting large sums of money for political favors. He was finally brought down by the media in a crusade of sorts that would set the precedent for how the press would deal with political scandals for years to come. As a contemporary writer, William R. Martin, put it in 1878, "Three casual expressions attributed to Mr. Tweed, illustrated by his brief political history, indicate his theory of administration. The first was, 'The way to have power is to take it;' the second, 'He is human;' and the third, 'What are you going to do about it?' In his career was exhibited the despotic phase of municipal administration. He got for himself and his associates offices, one after the other, by taking them with or without right, until he held the power of the State, and then fortified his position by enacting appropriate laws. His means of doing this was to approach men through their self-interests, and to buy their support by promises, offices, and money. His appreciation of this trait in the character of the men about him was expressed in his belief that they were 'human.' The arrogance of the full possession of power and the defiance against the remonstrances of honest men drove him to the extreme of audacity, 'What are you going to do about it?' which preceded his fall. There was no greater popular mistake than to call Mr. Tweed and his associates a 'ring.' They were so at the outset by the 'cohesive power of public plunder, ' but, once in possession, like a crew of pirates who had gained the deck of a prize, they became arrayed against each other."
Download or read book City on a Hill written by Alex Krieger and published by Belknap Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the pilgrims to Las Vegas, hippie communes to the smart city, utopianism has shaped American landscapes. The Puritan small town was the New Jerusalem. Thomas Jefferson dreamed of rational farm grids. Reformers tackled slums through crusades of civic architecture. To understand American space, Alex Krieger looks to the drama of utopian ideals.
Download or read book Boss Rule in South Texas written by Evan Anders and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 1982-11-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four men played leading roles in the political drama that unfolded in South Texas during the first decades of this century: James B. Wells, who ruled as boss of Cameron County and served as leading conservative spokesman of the Democratic Party in Texas; Archer (Archie) Parr, whose ruthless tactics and misuse of public funds in Duval County established him as one of the most notoriously corrupt politicians in Texas history; Manuel Guerra, Mexican American rancher and merchant whose domination of Starr County mirrored the rule of his Anglo counterparts in the border region; John Nance Garner, who served the interests of these bosses of South Texas as he set forth on the road that would lead him to the United States vice-presidency. Evan Anders's Boss Rule in South Texas tells the story of these men and the county rings they shaped in South Texas during the Progressive Era. Power was the byword of the bosses of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and Anders explores the sources of that power. These politicos did not shirk from using corrupt and even violent means to attain their goals, but Anders demonstrates that their keen sensitivity to the needs of their diverse constituency was key to their long-term success. Patronage and other political services were their lifeblood, and the allies gained by these ranged from developers and businessmen to ranchers and Mexican Americans, wealthy and poor. Besides examining the workings of the Democratic machines of four South Texas counties, Anders explores the role of the Hispanic populace in shaping the politics of the border region, the economic development of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and its political repercussions, the emergence and nature of progressive movements at both local and state levels, and the part played by the Texas Rangers in supporting bossism in South Texas.
Download or read book Boss Rule in the Gilded Age written by James A. Kehl and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2010-11-23 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Matt Quay was called "the ablest politician this country has ever produced." He served as a United States senator representing Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1904. His career as a Republican Party boss, however, spanned nearly half a century, during which numerous governors and one president owed their election success to his political skills. James A. Kehl was given the first public access to Quay's own papers, and herein presents the inside story of this controversial man who was considered a political Robin Hood for his alleged bribe-taking, misappropriations of funds, and concern for the underprivileged-yet he emerged as the most powerful member of the Republican Party in his state.
