William "Boss" Tweed
(1823-1878) held a number of political offices and various jobs, but has been noted with a role in journalism and the Tweed
scandal. He was also active in social clubs, Tweed joined Tammany which was a fraternal organization for Democratic
Parties. Tweed formed a group which was a spin off from Tammany and today that group is known as the "Political
Machines". The sole purpose of that group was to win votes for a political candidate. When he joined Tammany he gained
enough rank to create the political machine, and he was the Grand Sachem. In 1870, Tweed was appointed commissioner
of Public Works in New York City.
By this, he enable to carry out
wholesale corruption. He was basically the "Boss". Tweed controlled everything to what was paid to who did what. He was the
master of what he did best. He purchased 300 benches for $5 each and resold them for $600 each to the city. He
also organized the building of City Hall Park. The first person to discover Tweed's mishaps was Thomas Nast, a
cartoonist for the Harper's Weekly, who contacted The New York Times who in turn ran an article on
July 21st. Tweed was eventually sentenced to 12 years for corruption. He fled to Cuba then later Spain.
William Tweed died in prison at the age of 55.
Presented by: Alaina Shamp, Becca Wilkinson, Bethany Ellis, Terell
Brown
