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In this episode of Life Matters, Brian focuses on the very specific nature of a very specific political party: the Democrat Party of the United States. He finishes with a comparative and contrastive look at the striking difference between a Democracy and a Republic. As an explanatory template, he uses a recent publication from a Democrat Party operative and New York Times contributor, Terry Golway. The book is, Machine Made; Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics. While Brian clearly disagrees with the principles and nature of Tammany Hall, he recommends the book itself as a valid expose, and an unflinching examination of machine or collectivist politics. It was mastered in New York City and spread through much of New York, and is continuing to this very day. Golway, himself, states that the corrupt society of Saint Tammany or "Tammany Hall", founded in 1786, is the template being employed by the modern Democrat Party today. Stuffing ballot boxes, blanketing precincts with empty ballots, collecting and completing them, absence of ballot signature verification, less than honest voting tabulation were all a regular part of the Tammany machine. Boss Tweed, one of its more notorious “bosses”, is perhaps the most infamous for gleefully celebrating his questionable methods, and eventually being exposed for obvious political corruption. Though caught, he was obviously less than penitent. Many famous names from American history, Roosevelt and LaGuardia, are now familiar to us because they spent considerable efforts in attempts to limit the corrupt influence of Tammany on the city and state of New York. When the Irish potato famine (1846-1852) drove millions to emigrate to the US, Tammany workers awaited them at the New York docks. Tammany "ward heelers" then knew where they lived and obliged them with employment if they could. All social and religious interests were accommodated and all accommodation came with political obligation. The machine was set. The resources of government and its influence would lubricate the machine. After exploiting the Irish immigrant population, Tammany spread its tentacles into the new Italian immigrant populace. Fiorello La Guardia was one who spoke out powerfully against the evils and corruption of racial exploitation, groupthink and machine politics as practiced by Tammany. Before him, Theodore Roosevelt sought and received an appointment as a police commissioner in New York City in 1895, specifically because Tammany used the authority of government, as embodied in the police, to enforce its policies. Roosevelt was tenacious and popular with the press, but largely ineffective. But because of his commitment to stand against corruption and the evil of Tammany, he "rose like a rocket" in New York politics. But Roosevelt could not finish the job. The Tammany machine has not gone away. It still exists. It has morphed into the backbone of New York politics. Its methods are openly used by the modern Democrat party, and Terry Golway's, Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics. makes no bones about that.
For the final installment of our series, join us for the meteoric fall of Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall. And like most falls from public grace, his was full of backstabbing and intrigue, making it all the more spectacularly dramatic!Sources:Ackerman, Kenneth D. Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York. Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2006. Golway, Terry. Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics. Liveright Publishing Corporation, a Division of W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Join us for part 2 where we learn how a small group of men, led by Boss Tweed, came up with a scheme to rob the New York City treasury blind, and still appear legal.Sources:Ackerman, Kenneth D. Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York. Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2006. Golway, Terry. Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics. Liveright Publishing Corporation, a Division of W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Corruption, greed, strong arm politics, war, and the forging of modern day New York City, Boss Tweed was at the center of it all, pulling the strings from the well oiled political machine, Tammany Hall. Join us for one of the man whose name and likeness has come to be synonymous with corrupt city politics.Sources:Ackerman, Kenneth D. Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York. Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2006. Golway, Terry. Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics. Liveright Publishing Corporation, a Division of W.W. Norton & Company, 2015. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
In The Past Lane - The Podcast About History and Why It Matters
This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, I speak with historian Terry Golway, author of, Frank and Al: FDR, Al Smith, and the Unlikely Alliance That Created the Modern Democratic Party. It’s a remarkable story of two unlikely allies – one a patrician who went to Harvard and the other the son of immigrants who did not graduate 8th grade – and how they came together to remake the Democratic Party in the 1910s and 1920s. This transformation led to the New Deal, a revolutionary period in American history that changed the relationship between the American people and the federal government. In the course of our conversation, Terry Golway explains: Who Al Smith was and how he played a key role in the transformation of the Tammany Hall political machine into an agent of reform in the 1910s and 1920s. How Franklin Delano Roosevelt transformed from an elitist, good government reformer to a committed advocate of progressive reform. How Al Smith and FDR pioneered in making the New York State Democratic Party the agent of progressive reform and how these ideas and programs formed the foundation of the New Deal. How Al Smith played a key role in resisting the KKK’s influence in the Democratic Party. How Al Smith and FDR, once great allies, had a falling out once FDR became president. And how they later reconciled. How the constituency that made up the new Democratic Party – the urban, immigrant, African American working-class – came to be known as the New Deal Coalition and how it played a key role in national politics from the 1930s through the 1970s. Recommended reading: Terry Golway, Frank and Al: FDR, Al Smith, and the Unlikely Alliance That Created the Modern Democratic Party (St. Martin’s Press) Robert Chiles, The Revolution of ’28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, and the Coming of the New Deal Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 Terry Golway, Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics William E. Leuchtenburg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal: 1932-1940 Eric Rauchway, Winter War: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the First Clash Over the New Deal Robert A. Slayton, Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith More info about Terry Golway - website Follow In The Past Lane on Twitter @InThePastLane Instagram @InThePastLane Facebook: InThePastLanePodcast YouTube: InThePastLane Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) Kevin McCleod, “Impact Moderato” (Free Music Archive) Andy Cohen, “Trophy Endorphins” (Free Music Archive) Ketsa, “Follow the Course” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson Podcasting Consultant: Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting Podcast Editing: Wildstyle Media Photographer: John Buckingham Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © In The Past Lane, 2019 Recommended History Podcasts Ben Franklin’s World with Liz Covart @LizCovart The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod Backstory podcast – the history behind today’s headlines @BackstoryRadio Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod 99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries DIG history podcast @dig_history The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today’s news @WhiskeyRebelPod American History Tellers @ahtellers The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1 The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now Retropod with @mikerosenwald
Terry Golway Senior editor of Capital New York and .author of Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern Politics.talks about the feud between Andrew Cuomo and Bill DiBlasio
For most Americans, Tammany Hall is a symbol of all that was dishonest, corrupt, illiberal, and venal about urban government and the political machines that ran it in the past, a shorthand for larceny on a grand scale. Not so, says Terry Golway. In his new book Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics (Liveright, 2014) Golway argues that Tammany, a popular nickname for the Democratic organization of the County of New York (better known as Manhattan), introduced a “new politics” and a “new social contract” to America. Tammany, he shows, encouraged voters in an undemocratic republican era to look to accessible local figures for protection from the devastations of laissez-faire capitalism in a time before the safety net. Arguing that the Irish who escaped the potato famine brought with them lessons about the importance of power and the usefulness of “transactional” relationships between voters and elected officials, Golway believes that Tammany came to represent the modern way of practicing democracy: interest-based politics. While many of its flaws cannot not be denied, he writes, the popular narrative has also been shaped by the reformers of the past, who tended to mix their critiques with class-based fear and moralism, if not outright anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-urban sentiment. William “Boss” Tweed personifies the organization for most, although his reign lasted just two years. A better representative, Golway thinks, is Charles Murphy, the longest-running leader of the party chapter, and the man who nurtured the careers of two young legendary, nation-changing reformers, and proud Tammany men: Robert Wagner and Al Smith, forerunners and major architects of the New Deal. Sure to stir a little debate, Golway's book is revisionism in a good spirit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For most Americans, Tammany Hall is a symbol of all that was dishonest, corrupt, illiberal, and venal about urban government and the political machines that ran it in the past, a shorthand for larceny on a grand scale. Not so, says Terry Golway. In his new book Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics (Liveright, 2014) Golway argues that Tammany, a popular nickname for the Democratic organization of the County of New York (better known as Manhattan), introduced a “new politics” and a “new social contract” to America. Tammany, he shows, encouraged voters in an undemocratic republican era to look to accessible local figures for protection from the devastations of laissez-faire capitalism in a time before the safety net. Arguing that the Irish who escaped the potato famine brought with them lessons about the importance of power and the usefulness of “transactional” relationships between voters and elected officials, Golway believes that Tammany came to represent the modern way of practicing democracy: interest-based politics. While many of its flaws cannot not be denied, he writes, the popular narrative has also been shaped by the reformers of the past, who tended to mix their critiques with class-based fear and moralism, if not outright anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-urban sentiment. William “Boss” Tweed personifies the organization for most, although his reign lasted just two years. A better representative, Golway thinks, is Charles Murphy, the longest-running leader of the party chapter, and the man who nurtured the careers of two young legendary, nation-changing reformers, and proud Tammany men: Robert Wagner and Al Smith, forerunners and major architects of the New Deal. Sure to stir a little debate, Golway's book is revisionism in a good spirit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For most Americans, Tammany Hall is a symbol of all that was dishonest, corrupt, illiberal, and venal about urban government and the political machines that ran it in the past, a shorthand for larceny on a grand scale. Not so, says Terry Golway. In his new book Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics (Liveright, 2014) Golway argues that Tammany, a popular nickname for the Democratic organization of the County of New York (better known as Manhattan), introduced a “new politics” and a “new social contract” to America. Tammany, he shows, encouraged voters in an undemocratic republican era to look to accessible local figures for protection from the devastations of laissez-faire capitalism in a time before the safety net. Arguing that the Irish who escaped the potato famine brought with them lessons about the importance of power and the usefulness of “transactional” relationships between voters and elected officials, Golway believes that Tammany came to represent the modern way of practicing democracy: interest-based politics. While many of its flaws cannot not be denied, he writes, the popular narrative has also been shaped by the reformers of the past, who tended to mix their critiques with class-based fear and moralism, if not outright anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-urban sentiment. William “Boss” Tweed personifies the organization for most, although his reign lasted just two years. A better representative, Golway thinks, is Charles Murphy, the longest-running leader of the party chapter, and the man who nurtured the careers of two young legendary, nation-changing reformers, and proud Tammany men: Robert Wagner and Al Smith, forerunners and major architects of the New Deal. Sure to stir a little debate, Golway’s book is revisionism in a good spirit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For most Americans, Tammany Hall is a symbol of all that was dishonest, corrupt, illiberal, and venal about urban government and the political machines that ran it in the past, a shorthand for larceny on a grand scale. Not so, says Terry Golway. In his new book Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics (Liveright, 2014) Golway argues that Tammany, a popular nickname for the Democratic organization of the County of New York (better known as Manhattan), introduced a “new politics” and a “new social contract” to America. Tammany, he shows, encouraged voters in an undemocratic republican era to look to accessible local figures for protection from the devastations of laissez-faire capitalism in a time before the safety net. Arguing that the Irish who escaped the potato famine brought with them lessons about the importance of power and the usefulness of “transactional” relationships between voters and elected officials, Golway believes that Tammany came to represent the modern way of practicing democracy: interest-based politics. While many of its flaws cannot not be denied, he writes, the popular narrative has also been shaped by the reformers of the past, who tended to mix their critiques with class-based fear and moralism, if not outright anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-urban sentiment. William “Boss” Tweed personifies the organization for most, although his reign lasted just two years. A better representative, Golway thinks, is Charles Murphy, the longest-running leader of the party chapter, and the man who nurtured the careers of two young legendary, nation-changing reformers, and proud Tammany men: Robert Wagner and Al Smith, forerunners and major architects of the New Deal. Sure to stir a little debate, Golway’s book is revisionism in a good spirit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For most Americans, Tammany Hall is a symbol of all that was dishonest, corrupt, illiberal, and venal about urban government and the political machines that ran it in the past, a shorthand for larceny on a grand scale. Not so, says Terry Golway. In his new book Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics (Liveright, 2014) Golway argues that Tammany, a popular nickname for the Democratic organization of the County of New York (better known as Manhattan), introduced a “new politics” and a “new social contract” to America. Tammany, he shows, encouraged voters in an undemocratic republican era to look to accessible local figures for protection from the devastations of laissez-faire capitalism in a time before the safety net. Arguing that the Irish who escaped the potato famine brought with them lessons about the importance of power and the usefulness of “transactional” relationships between voters and elected officials, Golway believes that Tammany came to represent the modern way of practicing democracy: interest-based politics. While many of its flaws cannot not be denied, he writes, the popular narrative has also been shaped by the reformers of the past, who tended to mix their critiques with class-based fear and moralism, if not outright anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-urban sentiment. William “Boss” Tweed personifies the organization for most, although his reign lasted just two years. A better representative, Golway thinks, is Charles Murphy, the longest-running leader of the party chapter, and the man who nurtured the careers of two young legendary, nation-changing reformers, and proud Tammany men: Robert Wagner and Al Smith, forerunners and major architects of the New Deal. Sure to stir a little debate, Golway’s book is revisionism in a good spirit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For most Americans, Tammany Hall is a symbol of all that was dishonest, corrupt, illiberal, and venal about urban government and the political machines that ran it in the past, a shorthand for larceny on a grand scale. Not so, says Terry Golway. In his new book Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics (Liveright, 2014) Golway argues that Tammany, a popular nickname for the Democratic organization of the County of New York (better known as Manhattan), introduced a “new politics” and a “new social contract” to America. Tammany, he shows, encouraged voters in an undemocratic republican era to look to accessible local figures for protection from the devastations of laissez-faire capitalism in a time before the safety net. Arguing that the Irish who escaped the potato famine brought with them lessons about the importance of power and the usefulness of “transactional” relationships between voters and elected officials, Golway believes that Tammany came to represent the modern way of practicing democracy: interest-based politics. While many of its flaws cannot not be denied, he writes, the popular narrative has also been shaped by the reformers of the past, who tended to mix their critiques with class-based fear and moralism, if not outright anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-urban sentiment. William “Boss” Tweed personifies the organization for most, although his reign lasted just two years. A better representative, Golway thinks, is Charles Murphy, the longest-running leader of the party chapter, and the man who nurtured the careers of two young legendary, nation-changing reformers, and proud Tammany men: Robert Wagner and Al Smith, forerunners and major architects of the New Deal. Sure to stir a little debate, Golway’s book is revisionism in a good spirit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
An interview with Terry Golway, author of Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics. Golway’s book is a new revisionist history of New York City’s political machine, Tammany Hall, which seeks to look at other aspects of the organization aside from corruption. Subscribe in a reader