Boss+Tweed

[|Boss Tweed]



William Marcy Tweed (1823-1878) was one of the first and most notorious political machine bosses. He was elected to Congress in 1852, the New York City Board of Supervisors in 1858, and the New York Senate in 1867, 1869 and 1871. Thanks in no small part to the political cartoons of [|Thomas Nast], Tweed's name became synonymous with urban political corruption.* As for Tweed, "goo-goos" (good-government reformers) eventually had him indicted for corruption. He had amassed a fortune of more than $12 million dollars for himself and the Tammany Hall political machineby skimming large sums of money off city contracts. He was convicted in 1873 and given a 12-year prison sentence for embezzlement of public funds (reduced by an appellate court to just one year). He was arrested again upon his release from prison and he fled to Cuba in 1875. From there Tweed escaped extradition by traveling to Spain. Spanish authorities, who purportedly recognized him from a [|Nast cartoon]] and believed he was fugitive child-napper, apprehended Tweed and sent him bacl to New York to stand trial. He was sent back to prison in 1876. Tweed died in federal prison two years later at age 55.

Information: http://www.vw.vccs.edu/vwhansd/HIS122/Tweed.html

Pictures: http://www.americanheritage.com/assets/images/articles/web/20051027-boss-tweed.jpg