William Magear Tweed, often erroneously referred to as William "Marcy" Tweed, and widely known as "Boss" Tweed, was an American politician most notable for being the political boss of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party's political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th-century New York City and state.
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was an American political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society. It became the main local political machine of the Democratic Party and played a major role in controlling New York City and New York State politics, and helped immigrants, most notably the Irish, rise in American politics into the 1960s. Tammany typically controlled Democratic nominations and political patronage in Manhattan after the mayoral victory of Fernando Wood in 1854, and used its patronage resources to build a loyal, well-rewarded core of district and precinct leaders; after 1850 the vast majority were Irish Catholics due to mass immigration from Ireland during and after the Irish Famine.
John Francis Hylan was the 96th Mayor of New York City, from 1918 to 1925. From rural beginnings in the Catskills, Hylan eventually obtained work in Brooklyn as a laborer on the elevated railroad. During his nine years with the company, he worked his way to engineer, and also studied to earn his high school diploma. He continued by earning a law degree. He practiced law for nine years, and also participated in local Democratic politics.
Charles Francis "Silent Charlie" Murphy, also known as Boss Murphy, was an American political figure. He was also the longest-serving head of New York City's Tammany Hall, a position he served from 1902 to 1924. Murphy was responsible for transforming Tammany Hall's image from one of corruption to respectability as well as extending Tammany Hall's political influence to the national level. Murphy was responsible for the election of three mayors of New York City, three governors of New York State, and two U.S. senators, even though he was never listed as a leader of Tammany Hall.
James Aloysius O'Gorman was an American attorney, judge, and politician from New York. A Democrat, he is most notable for his service as a United States Senator from March 31, 1911 to March 3, 1917.
Robert Lawrence Moran, was a Bronx politician who served as president of the Board of Aldermen of New York City from 1918 to 1920, filling a vacancy after Alfred E. Smith was elected Governor of New York. Nominated by the Democratic Party to succeed himself as board president, Moran faced Republican Representative Fiorello H. La Guardia in the election of 1919, losing by a plurality of 1,363 votes. Moran has the distinction of being the only citizen of The Bronx to ever exercise the authority of mayor of New York City, even though this honor came to him only in his capacity as acting mayor during Mayor Hylan's absences from the city.
Irwin Steingut was an American lawyer, businessman and politician. At the time of his death he had served as a member of the New York Assembly longer than anyone in history. Early in his career he teamed with Brooklyn boss John H. McCooey, who turned Brooklyn into a solidly Democratic power base and dominated its politics for a quarter of a century until his death in 1934. Steingut thereafter became the de facto leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. Throughout almost all of his legislative career Republicans held a majority in the New York Assembly, and much of that time Steingut was the Minority Leader. In 1935 for the one year the Democrats had the majority, Steingut was Speaker of the Assembly.
The 1917 New York City mayoral election replaced sitting mayor John P. Mitchel, a reform Democrat running on the Fusion Party ticket, with John F. Hylan, the regular Democrat supported by Tammany Hall and William Randolph Hearst.
Peter J. Hamill was an American politician who served in the New York State Assembly from 1917 to his death. A native of Lower Manhattan, he was affiliated with Tammany Hall from an early age and became a Tammany Hall leader in his Assembly district. In late 1929 he was chosen as the Minority Leader of the Assembly to replace Maurice Bloch, who had died of complications from an appendectomy. Hamill would himself be stricken with appendicitis a week later and die from complications of the surgery a week after that.
Michael F. Blake was the chief clerk of the New York City Board of Aldermen from 1892 to 1907 and a Municipal Court Justice in New York City from 1908 to 1928.
The New York City Board of Aldermen was a body that was the upper house of New York City's Common Council from 1824 to 1875, the lower house of its Municipal Assembly upon consolidation in 1898 until the charter was amended in 1901 to abolish the Municipal Assembly and its upper house, and its unicameral legislature from 1875 to 1897 and 1902 to 1937. The corresponding lower house was known as the Board of Assistants or the Board of Assistant Aldermen from 1824 to 1875, while the upper house was known as the Council from 1898 to 1901. In 1938 a new charter came into effect that replaced the Board of Aldermen with the New York City Council.
Elections were held to elect the New York City Board of Aldermen on November 5, 1929, in concert with other such contests as the Mayor, the Comptroller, the President of the Board of Aldermen, Borough presidents, County Sheriffs, and other miscellaneous questions.
Elections were held on November 2, 1937 to fill the New York City Council, which had just been formed to replace the New York City Board of Aldermen. The new Council comprised 26 members elected via proportional representation by borough, in contrast to the 65-member Board of Aldermen elected by district. This was done in response to the large majorities the Democrats often received in the Board of Aldermen. Each borough was entitled to one member of the council for each 75,000 votes cast, and an additional member for each remainder greater than 50,000. Brooklyn was entitled to nine members of the Council, Manhattan six, Queens and The Bronx five each, and Richmond one.
Elections of New York City's borough presidents were held on November 5, 1929, in concert with such contests as the mayoralty, Comptroller, aldermen, County Sheriffs, Aldermanic Board President, and other miscellaneous questions on the ballot. Democrats were elected in all Boroughs except Queens. This and Democratic victories in other contests were all a part of what was considered "a Crushing Defeat to [the] City G.O.P. [delivered]" by Tammany Hall.
An election was held to fill the Municipal Assembly of the newly-created City of Greater New York on November 2, 1897. The charter of the new city had created a bicameral Municipal Assembly, consisting of an upper Council and a lower Board of Aldermen. Each chamber was elected from specially-made districts. In addition, the president of the Council was elected in a separate election on the same day.
The 1929 New York City mayoral election was held on November 5 in concert with other municipal elections. Democratic incumbent Jimmy Walker defeated Republican challenger Fiorello H. La Guardia in what was considered "a Crushing Defeat to [the] City G.O.P. [delivered]" by Tammany Hall. Socialist candidate Norman Thomas also ran, as did Socialist Labor candidate Olive M. Johnson and former Police Commissioner Richard Edward Enright for the Square Deal Party.
Augustus F. Pierce was an American politician who served as the Tammany Hall leader of the Bronx's 8th assembly district in New York City until his death in 1934. An employee of the city since 1907, at the time of his death he worked for the Department of Sanitation.
New York City was divided into wards between 1683 and 1938. These were used for the election of various municipal offices, and would later be used to construct the boundaries of larger electoral districts. Prior to the formation of the so-called City of Greater New York in 1898, what is now New York City comprised multiple municipalities that had different histories with wards.
John P. Nugent was an American labor organizer and politician from New York.
