Plunkitt of Tammany Hall

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall PDF

Author: William L. Riordon

Publisher: Courier Dover Publications

Published: 2020-08-12

Total Pages: 83

ISBN-13: 0486841936

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This volume presents the candid wit and wisdom of George Washington Plunkitt (1842-1924), a longtime New York City ward boss and Tammany Hall player. Plunkitt, a cynically honest practitioner of machine politics, reveals the secrets to the political success of Tammany Hall operatives, freely discussing his patronage-based appointments and exercise of power for personal gain.

Honest Graft

Honest Graft PDF

Author: William L. Riordon

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Published: 2006-11-10

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 9781881089582

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William L. Riordon's compiling and embroidering of Boss Plunkitt's boastful comments on machine politics constitutes a minor classic in American social history. in an introduction to this edition of the political boss's remarks, James S. Olson, chairman of the history department at Sam Houston State University, and James W. Mooney of American University engage in a provocative exchange over how the boss mentality as Plunkitt expressed it is to be judged. Thereby they complicate and enrich a reader's perception of the practical devices and ethical ambiguities of popular politics. "Tammany Hall was far more than a disinterested detached city government for several million poor, working-class New Yorkers. It was also a successful city government delivering municipal services, a social welfare agency assisting the immigrant poor and their children in adjusting to the new country, a political interest group giving working-class people at least a modest voice in an economic world increasingly dominated by rich corporations." --James S. Olson "In essence: the machine politicos, for all their genuine resonance with their constituencies, saw the average voter as a creature of appetite; the scientific progressives, for all their hauteur, expected something better of the public and were prepared to work for it." --James W. Mooney

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall PDF

Author: George Washington Plunkitt

Publisher:

Published: 2011-02

Total Pages: 82

ISBN-13: 9781611044683

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This little classic, which was once titled "Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft," was written by George Plunkitt. It provides an entertaining if somewhat discouraging description of why politics is driven by money and why reformers are merely a flash in the pan. Another topic covered in the book, "The difference between honest graft and dishonest graft" is equally alive and well among modern politicians. A modern politician accused of exactly the type of real estate speculation Plunkitt uses as his example of "honest" graft occurred just a few years ago. The politician sat on a committee that determined the site of government project and bought up the land before the project was revealed to the public. When confronted his response was, "I didn't break any laws." As Plunkitt would have said, he was only practicing honest graft. Plunkitt was a crony of the infamous William M. "Boss" Tweed, who created and presided over a Democrat, ward based patronage form of government in the City of New York in the mid to late 19th century referred to then as and now "Tammany Hall." Plunkitt was one of his side-kicks who participated in all of the perks of office and had the ability to discuss his "work" with justifications worthy of the best wit of Mark Twain. It is no coincidence that this little jewel of amateur literature has remained in print for over 100 years.

Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics

Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics PDF

Author: Terry Golway

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2014-03-03

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0871407922

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“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).

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall PDF

Author: William L. Riordon

Publisher: Bedford/st Martins

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9780312096663

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Written by reporter Riordan in 1905, this masterpiece of Americana reveals the political skill of the "honest graft," as perfected by George Washington Plunkitt, the ward boss of New York's supremely powerful Fifteenth Assembly District.

The Shame of the Cities

The Shame of the Cities PDF

Author: Lincoln Steffens

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2012-03-08

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0486147665

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Taking a hard look at the unprincipled lives of political bosses, police corruption, graft payments, and other political abuses of the time, the book set the style for future investigative reporting.

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall PDF

Author: George Washington Plunkitt

Publisher: Book Jungle

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 88

ISBN-13: 9781438500713

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Tammany Hall was one of the most colorful political machines in U S history and George Washington Plunkitt was in the thick of it. George Plunkitt was an early 20th century New York politician. Plunkitt was a powerful State Senator. He was a wealthy man earning his wealth from what he termed "honest graft". He was a member of Tammany Hall and believed in the patronage system and using power for personal gain. Plunkitt described honest graft as buying land that he knew would be needed someday for a pubic use and then selling it at an inflated price. Dishonest graft would be buying land and then using his influence to have a project built on it. This series of talks by an extremely interesting politician is a wonderful glimpse into the famous Tammany Hall.