Plunkitt always considered himself to be a man who was a "Practical Politician"
How did he practice this theory of politics?
Give at least 3-4 examples of how he did this.
George Washington Plunkitt was for many years the leader of the Tammany Hall political machine in New York City, which became synonymous with corruption throughout the 19th Century and well into the 20th. He was not at all an ideological man but admitted that his main purpose in politics was purely self-interested, and he assumed that everyone else was similarly motivated by attaining wealth and power. Plunkitt had contempt for reformers, philanthropists and do-gooders, and regarded politics as just another business in which he and the others bosses purchased votes in exchange for services and patronage. Despite Tammany’s reputation for theft of public funds, going back to the era of William Marcy Tweed, he insisted that he and the other bosses were not criminals but simply partook in “honest graft” (Riordon 10). If he became aware that the city had a public works contract, for example, he would buy up all the land in the area secretly then resell it for a huge profit. In this was he went from being an impoverished young man to a millionaire by the time he retired. If a corporation needed a favor in return for a campaign contribution, he regarded this as no different from a church taking donations for its own good works, and asked “why shouldn't we take it like other missionary societies?” (Riordan 72). When Tammany obtained a job for someone, such as a Supreme Court justiceship, the beneficiaries were expected to kick back part of their salaries, as a sign of gratitude and loyalty to the organization. This was how the political machines ran for decades in New York and many other cities, rewarding their friends and punishing their enemies. Plunkitt just thought that this was the American way, and denounced the reformers who established a professional civil service and established a system of primary elections in order to undermine the bosses. From his point of view, all such changes of the status quo were a threat to constitutional democracy, which he thought had been created by political parties and practical men like himself. During his career, he thought he had accomplished a great deal for New York, including the construction of the George Washington Bridge, the Museum of Natural History and many city parks. If these jobs and contracts went to reward Tammany’s political supporters, Plunkitt regarded this as simply the natural course of events, and noted correctly that all political parties followed the same practices at the time.
According to Plunckitt, Tammany Hall encouraged patriotism and love of country in its followers.
How did the machine do this?
Give several examples of Tammany's encouragement of patriotism and love of country.
Plunkitt thought that there was no group on men in the United States more patriotic than the Tammany Society, since their job was to help give the poor, the working class and the immigrants a stake in American society. By giving them patronage and services, they showed that the country really would help them advance, and when the civil service reformers professionalized this work, the lower class young men who were shut out because of their lack of formal education began to embrace socialism or anarchism instead. According to Plunkitt, then, the political machines were a sort of safety valve that prevented the urban poor and immigrants from becoming radicalized, and indeed the later social welfare policies of the Democratic Party also served this function. Tammany also taught its supporters about the real meaning of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence during its great Fourth of July celebrations, while the “reformers, with Revolutionary names parted in the middle, run off to Newport or the Adirondacks to get out of the way of the noise and everything that reminds them of the glorious day” (Riordon 68). They had patriotic speeches and picnics with thousands of people in attendance, and during the Spanish-American War even offered to raise their own regiment. For Plunkitt, Tammany was actually the living embodiment of Lincoln’s idea of government of the common people rather than the elites or the privileged few, and it offered the masses many ways to get ahead that would otherwise be unavailable to them.
How does Plnckitt see the working relationships of Tammany and the New York state government?
Is there a cooperation between the two or is there a conflict there?
How does Tammany see itself working with the national government?
Plunkitt had complete contempt for the state government in Albany and the Republican Party that controlled the rural areas upstate. At one point, he insisted that New York City should secede from the state and become independent, using violence if necessary. He described the relationship as one of slavery to the “hayseeds” who ran the state government (Riordon 25). Throughout the book, he uses this disparaging term constantly to refer to the rural Republicans who despised New York City and its bosses and immigrants, imposed unfair taxes on them and attempted to control the city and its public works for their own benefit. Many states that had large metropolises like Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia also had a very hostile relationship between the urban areas and the rural hinterlands that continues to the present. Not coincidentally, if New York City had become its own state, Tammany would have controlled it along with all the patronage jobs and contracts. At this time, the national government was still very small and had only a minor influence at the state and local level, and Plunkitt was not particularly concerned with national or international issues. All politics was certainly local to him and the other Tammany bosses, and he thought the national Democratic Party was wasting its time with issues like imperialism and the war in the Philippines. He argued that “you can't get people excited about the Philippines. They've got too much at home to interest them” (Riordan 83). In the 1908 election, Plunkitt thought that the main issue should be repealing the Pendleton Civil Service Act and similar laws that had been aimed at denying patronage jobs to Tammany Hall. These laws were in fact “destroyin' all patriotism, ruin in' the country and takin' away good jobs from them that earn them” (Riodan 84). He also thought that the party should oppose the new system of primary elections for the same reason, since it took the power of nominating candidates away from the city bosses.
The Civil Service is seen by Plunkitt as a very bad thing for Tammany, New York City, and the country as a whole. Give 3-4 examples of this reasoning.
Plunkitt had contempt for the new civil service as being run by college boys who could pass the examinations, which at the time meant that most of them would be Republicans. He noted repeatedly that his constituency was not wealthy or well-educated and looked down on those who were. Only the Tammany machine could get jobs for its supporters who were “men who want to serve their country but can't get jobs in the city departments on account of the civil service law” (Riordan 18). All the examinations were designed to test young men who had higher education in the arts, sciences and humanities which few of Plunkitt’s constituents could have afforded. This did not mean that they were stupid or incapable, only that the colleges and universities were expensive and mostly reserved for young men from a certain class and religious background that the Tammany supporters could not meet. Jobs obtained from the political machine were often their only real means of advancement in society as it existed at that time.
He was even in favor of public ownership of municipal services as long as the civil service law was repealed and the political parties controlled the jobs. He even favored municipal ownership of public services, or gas and water socialism as it was called at the time, provided that the jobs could be awarded on the basis of rewards and political patronage rather than subject to the system of civil service examinations (Riordon 55).
How does Tammany Hall work to keep itself in power?
How does Plukckitt say that he and other leader of Tammany were able to raise themselves from their beginnings and make a success of themselves?
Most of the Tammany politicians were men of poor or working class backgrounds but learned early on that they could advance themselves in politics. Plunkitt knew that the Tammany machine valued men who could brink it votes, and he got his start by organizing his friends and neighbors into a club. He and his fellow bosses had little formal education, no inherited wealth or abilities as public speakers, but they learned how to organize and turn out the vote. They also knew that they had to reward their friends and supporters with jobs and services, at least until the professional civil service came into being. Politics was a business or profession just like any other, and he learned about it not in college but from real life experience at a young age. All the Tammany bosses played “politics every day and night in the year, and his headquarters bears the inscription, ‘Never closed’” (Riordon 86). His typical day would include attending funerals, helping voters who were in trouble with the law or in need of a job or a place to live, going to neighborhood events and religious services. In many respects Plunkitt was similar to a modern social worker and perhaps a very effective one, but he expected those who received assistance to vote for Tammany. He seemed proud of his chosen profession and how he had started at the bottom and worked his way up over many years. Plunkitt did not drink and asserted that most of the other Tammany bosses were only social drinkers, regardless of their reputation for being tied with the liquor and saloon interests. Certainly the rural Protestants in the state were hostile to them and their immigrant constituencies, but he argued that like anyone else in business, alcoholics would not remain successful very long. He recalled that he once had an excellent assistant who “was one of the best hustlers in town” at getting votes, but by the time of the election he would often be drunk all the time so Plunkitt finally got rid of him (Riordon 76).
WORKS CITED
Riordon, William L. Plunkitt of Tammany Hall. Digiread.com, 2010.
