Synopsis
2010 Reprint of 1905 edition. "This brief classic of streetwise politics was published in 1905 after first appearing as a series of newspaper stories. George Washington Plunkitt was a sort of middle manager of one of the greatest political machines in U.S. history, Tammany Hall, which held power in New York City for much of the period between the Civil War and the 1930s. Most of its men died rich; a few spent their last years in jail. Plunkitt was one of the smarter and luckier ones. And he's remembered today by historians because he was the only one who talked, openly and on the record, to a reporter from the "New York Evening Post" named Riordan, about how to get and keep power. Riordan published Plunkitt's musings from his "office" (a shoeshine stand in the New York County Courthouse) straight, without comment or gloss, and preserving Plunkitt's speech rhythms and slang. The result is a little like hanging out with a Dickens character for an hour or so; the guy is colorful, unabashed when distinguishing between "honest graft and dishonest graft," and at times remarkably prescient: "The Democratic party of the nation ain't dead, though it's been givin' a lifelike imitation of a corpse for several years. . . . The trouble is that the party's been chasin' after theories and stayin' up nights readin' books instead of studyin' human nature and actin' accordin' . . . ." David Loftus.
About the Author
George Washington Plunkitt (1842-1924) was a long-time State Senator from the U. S. state of New York, representing the Fifteenth Assembly District, who was especially powerful in New York City. He was part of what is known as New York's Tammany Hall machine. He was a cynically honest practitioner of what today is generally known as "machine politics," patronage-based and frank in its exercise of power for personal gain. In one of his speeches, quoted in Plunkitt of Tammany Hall (1905), he describes the difference between dishonest and honest graft as working solely for one's own interests and working for the interests of one's party, state, and personal interest whenever they can. Plunkitt was also a big party man, believing in appointments, patronage, spoils, and all of the corrupt practices that were curtailed by the civil service law. He saw such practices as both the rewards and cause of patriotism. He hated the civil service system that he believed would be the downfall of the entire United States governmental system.
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