Boss Tweed: The Life and Legacy of the Notorious Politician Who Ran Tammany Hall in New York City
Written by Charles River Editors
Narrated by Scott Clem
4/5
()
About this audiobook
“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. If they had been a ring, their compactness of purpose might have constituted a government, but they had so little hold upon or conf
More audiobooks from Charles River Editors
The East India Company: The History of the British Empire's Most Famous Mercantile Company Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gnosticism: The History and Legacy of the Mysterious Ancient Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mossad: The History and Legacy of Israel’s National Intelligence Agency Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nineveh: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Assyrian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ur: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Sumerian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arnold Rothstein and Meyer Lansky: The Lives and Legacies of the Gangsters Who Reformed Organized Crime in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegends of the West: Deadwood, South Dakota Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cambrian Period: The History and Legacy of the Start of Complex Life on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mysteries of the South: Ghosts, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in Dixie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Life and Legacy of the Father of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Midwest: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in America's Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Trial of Lizzie Borden: The History of 19th Century America's Most Famous Murder Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madame de Pompadour: The Life and Legacy of French King Louis XV’s Chief Mistress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denisovans: The History of the Extinct Archaic Humans Who Spread Across Asia during the Paleolithic Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of the Dead: The History and Legacy of Ancient Egypt’s Famous Funerary Texts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Medieval England: The History of England from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Tudor Dynasty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fermi Paradox: The History and Legacy of the Famous Debate over the Existence of Aliens Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Boss Tweed
Related audiobooks
The Money Men: Capitalism, Democracy, and the Hundred Years' War over the American Dollar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Civil War by Other Means: America's Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR-Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear City: New York's Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Motor City: The History of the Fur Trade Outpost that Became Detroit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Comeback: America's New Economic Boom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wall Street Bombing of 1920: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Anarchist Attack on New York City Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Panic of 1792: The History and Legacy of America’s First Financial Crisis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crisis!: When Political Parties Lose the Consent to Rule Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack Bart: The Life and Legacy of the Wild West’s Most Notorious Gentleman Bandit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Puppetmaster: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCharles Ponzi and the Ponzi Scheme: The History and Legacy of 20th Century America’s Most Famous Con Artist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Other Peoples' Money and How The Bankers Use It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crusaders, Gangsters, and Whiskey: Prohibition in Memphis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fatal Risk: A Cautionary Tale of AIG's Corporate Suicide Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Great Upheaval Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Political Biographies For You
John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward's Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Assassination Vacation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romney: A Reckoning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Team of Rivals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dressed for a Dance in the Snow: Women's Voices from the Gulag Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Peril Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Truman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Boss Tweed
3 ratings0 reviews