William M. Tweed

William M. "Boss" Tweed (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878) was an American politician and head of Tammany Hall, the name given to the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in History of New York City politics from the 1790s to the 1960s. He was convicted and eventually imprisoned for stealing millions of dollars from the city through political corruption and graft.

Political career

Tweed himself was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1852, the New York City Board of Advisors in 1856, and the New York State Senate in 1867.

Financiers Jay Gould and Big Jim Fisk made Boss Tweed a director of the Erie Railroad, and Tweed in turn arranged favorable legislation for them. Tweed and Gould became the subjects of political cartoons by Thomas Nast in 1869.

In April 1870 Tweed secured the passage of a city charter putting the control of the city into the hands of the mayor (A. Oakey Hall), the comptroller, and the commissioners of parks and public works. He then set about to plunder the city. The total amount of money stolen was never known, but has been estimated from $25 million to $200 million. Over a period of two years and eight months, New York City's debts increased from $36 million in 1868 to about $136 million by 1870, with little to show for the debt.

Tweed defrauded the city by having contractors present excessive bills for work performed- typically ranging from 15 to 65 percent more than the project actually cost. This extra money was divided among Tweed and his subordinates. The most excessive overcharging came in the form of the famous Tweed Courthouse, which cost the city $13 million to construct(the actual cost for the court house was about 3 million), leaving about 10 million for the pockets of Tweed and his gang. The city was also billed $3,000,000 for city printing and stationery over a two-year period.

While he was known primarily for the vast corrupt empire, Tweed was also responsible for building hospitals and orphanages, widening Broadway along the Upper West Side, and securing the land for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Tweed's arrest and subsequent flight

Tweed's demise came when one of the plunderers, dissatisfied with the amount he received, gave The New York Times evidence that conclusively proved that stealing was going on. The newspaper was apparentely offered 5 million dollars to not publish the evidence. In a subsequent interview about the fraud, Tweed's only reply was, "Well, what are you going to do about it?" However, accounts in The New York Times and political cartoons drawn by Thomas Nast and published in Harper's Weekly resulted in the election of numerous opposition candidates in 1871. Tweed is attributed with exclaiming, "Stop them damned pictures. I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents can't read, but, damn it, they can see pictures!"

In October 1871, when Tweed was held on $8,000,000 bail, Jay Gould was the chief bondsman. The efforts of political reformers William H. Wickham (1875 New York City mayor) and Samuel J. Tilden (later the 1876 Democratic presidential nominee) resulted in Tweed's trial and conviction in 1873. He was given a 12-year prison sentence, which was reduced by a higher court and he served one year. He was then re-arrested on civil charges, sued by New York State for $6,000,000, and held in debtor's prison until he could post $3,000,000 as bail. On December 4, 1875, Tweed escaped and fled to Cuba.

His presence in Cuba was discovered by the U.S. Government and he was held by the Cuban government. Before the U.S. Government could arrange for his extradition, Tweed bribed his way onto a ship to Spain. Before he arrived, the U.S. Government discovered his eventual destination and arranged for his arrest as soon as he reached the Spanish coast. The Spanish authorities identified him, purportedly recognizing him from one of Nast's cartoons, and extradited him; he was delivered to authorities in New York City on November 23, 1876, where he died in the Ludlow Street Jail, just a few blocks from his childhood home, two years later on April 12, 1878, at the age of 55.

He was buried in the Brooklyn Green-Wood Cemetery.

Trivia

• Boss Tweed was portrayed by Jim Broadbent in the 2002 film Gangs of New York.
• Tweed's middle name does not appear on any surviving documents. Tweed invariably gave his name as William M. Tweed on the many government orders he signed. The M must stand for Magear, the middle name of his son William Magear Tweed Jr, since a son named Junior has the same name as his father. Magear was Tweed's mother's maiden name. The oft-used but incorrect middle name Marcy originated in a joking reference to New York Governor William L. Marcy (1833-1838), the man who said "to the victor belongs the spoils". See Hershkowitz, below.
• Boss Tweed was of Scottish-Irish descent.

References

• Boss Tweed, Gotham Gazette, New York, 4 July 2005.-Source.
• Sante, Luc (2003). Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.

Further reading

• Kenneth D. Ackerman, Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Politician who Conceived the Soul of New York (2006).
• Mandelbaum, Seymour J. Boss Tweed's New York (1965) (ISBN 0-471-56652-7)
• Hershkowitz, Leo, Tweed's New York: Another Look (1977).

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