#285 Boss Tweed's House of Corruption

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2019

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

EPISODE 285: The roots of modern American corruption traces themselves back to a handsome -- but not necessarily revolutionary -- historic structure sitting behind New York City Hall. The Tweed Courthouse is more than a mere landmark. Once called the New York County Courthouse, the Courthouse better known for many traits that the concepts of law and order normally detest -- greed, bribery, kickbacks and graft. But Tammany Hall, the oft-maligned Democratic political machine, served a unique purpose in New York City in the 1850s and 60s, tending to the needs of newly arrived Irish immigrants who were being ignored by inadequate city services. But they required certain favors like the support of political candidates. And that is how William 'Boss' Tweed rose through the ranks of city politics to become the most powerful man in New York City. And it was Tweed, through various government organizations and his trusty Tweed Ring, who transformed this new courthouse project into a cash cow for the greediest of the Gilded Age. How did the graft function during the construction of the Tweed Courthouse? What led to Tweed's downfall? And how did this literal temple to corruption become a beloved landmark in the 1980s? boweryboyshistory.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Bowry Boys episode 285 boss tweeds house of corruption. Hey, it's the Bowry Boys.
0:08.3	Support for the Bowry Boys is provided by our listeners. Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com
0:16.9	slash Bowry Boys
0:20.8	Hi there. Welcome to the Bowry Boys. This is Greg Young and this is Tom Myers
0:25.2	We thought it was a good time to go back to the story of one of the most notorious New Yorkers that ever lived
0:33.1	William boss tweed
0:35.1	This is a subject that we've discussed many times on the show
0:38.9	But today we're going to frame the story of boss tweed and Tamini Hall
0:44.2	Around a building that would actually symbolize the corruption that engulfed both him and Tamini Hall
0:51.6	That would be the so-called tweed courthouse
0:55.7	Now that is the amazing thing about this structure today. It's a building adjacent to City Hall
1:01.5	It's official name back then was the New York County courthouse
1:06.3	Today they actually call it tweed courthouse, which is extraordinary
1:11.0	It's home of the Department of Education. It's fascinating to me that they have embraced this name which actually
1:18.6	Defines the building as a temple of corruption. Yeah, no you keep bringing this up
1:24.1	Yeah, this is like your favorite part of the whole story
1:26.4	I love it is that we're still calling it the tweed courthouse
1:30.7	This building is a landmark to shady spending and a world of graft and kickbacks and
1:39.2	Ironically it was supposed to be a courthouse that would prosecute those very things
1:44.5	And in a way it would and we'll get to that story the ultimate ironic twist at the end of the story
1:52.2	Let's just say that the courthouse it sits on chambers free directly behind City Hall
1:57.6	It's construction initially had a budget of $250,000
	...

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