Plunkitt of Tammany Hall

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall PDF Author: William L. Riordon
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486841936
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 83

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Book Description
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.

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall PDF Author: William L. Riordon
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486841936
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 83

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Book Description
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
ISBN: 9781881089582
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
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:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description


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
ISBN: 0871407922
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
“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: George Washington Plunkitt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781611044683
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Book Description
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.

The Shame of the Cities

The Shame of the Cities PDF Author: Lincoln Steffens
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486147665
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
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.

The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 628

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Book Description


Bossism and Reform in a Southern City

Bossism and Reform in a Southern City PDF Author: James Duane Bolin
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813193648
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
William Frederick "Billy" Klair (1875-1937) was the undisputed czar of Lexington, Kentucky, for decades. As political boss in a mid-sized, southern city, he faced problems strikingly similar to those of large cities in the North. As he watched the city grow from a sleepy market town of 16,000 residents to a bustling, active urban center of over 50,000, Klair saw changes that altered not just Lexington but the nation and the world: urbanization, industrialization, and immigration. But Klair did not merely watch these changes; like other political bosses and social reformers, he actively participated in the transformation of his city. As a political boss and a practitioner of what George Washington Plunkitt of Tammany Hall referred to as "honest graft," Klair applied lessons of organization, innovation, manipulation, power, and control from the machine age to bring together diverse groups of Lexingtonians and Kentuckians as supporters of a powerful political machine. James Duane Bolin also examines the underside of the city, once known as the Athens of the West. He balances the postcard view of Bluegrass mansions and horse farms with the city's well-known vice district, housing problems, racial tensions, and corrupt politics. With the reality of life in Lexington as a backdrop, the career of Billy Klair provides as a valuable and engaging case study of the inner workings of a southern political machine.

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall PDF Author: William L. Riordon
Publisher: Bedford/st Martins
ISBN: 9780312096663
Category : Political corruption
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
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.

A Republic No More

A Republic No More PDF Author: Jay Cost
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1594038686
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
After the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” Franklin’s response: “A Republic—if you can keep it.” This book argues: we couldn’t keep it. A true republic privileges the common interest above the special interests. To do this, our Constitution established an elaborate system of checks and balances that disperses power among the branches of government, which it places in conflict with one another. The Framers believed that this would keep grasping, covetous factions from acquiring enough power to dominate government. Instead, only the people would rule. Proper institutional design is essential to this system. Each branch must manage responsibly the powers it is granted, as well as rebuke the other branches when they go astray. This is where subsequent generations have run into trouble: we have overloaded our government with more power than it can handle. The Constitution’s checks and balances have broken down because the institutions created in 1787 cannot exercise responsibly the powers of our sprawling, immense twenty-first-century government. The result is the triumph of special interests over the common interest. James Madison called this factionalism. We know it as political corruption. Corruption today is so widespread that our government is not really a republic, but rather a special interest democracy. Everybody may participate, yes, but the contours of public policy depend not so much on the common good, as on the push-and-pull of the various interest groups encamped in Washington, DC.