For clue for Irish Freedom in the cause of liberty, with a sinuous of euros. Hell do phd in American History from rep as universe units currently direct or a Bikini University center for history, and policy new jersey. Terry is joined onstage by the incomparable triumph for it. They will bring to life the voices of politicians, social workers and immigrant during the air of tammany hall. We always pleased when the Irish Arts Center at the opportunity to invite cyanide or to our stage. Thank you for joining us tonight. At there will be a questionandanswer period for the audience towards the end of the evening. Well have a microphone pass around and we hope youll stick around after the show. And without further ado unlike to welcome terry to the stage. [applause] thank you, rachel. And thanks to all of you and thanks to our actors. Yes, i do have bubonic plague. Theres a reason for my questionable voice. Im sorry about that. If i seem rude or than usual to most people, its because i didnt want you to get the bubonic plague. We are here today to talk about the history that isnt as little as a should be i think, but luckily thanks to the inspiration of the man i dedicated the book to, peter quinn, i learned quite a bit about tammany hall over the last few years and would like to share some of that story with you tonight. Most of us i think it would be fair to say have heard of tammany hall. Some even know that tammany hall was an actual building. And there it is. Some may know that tammany hall was in essence the Democratic Party in manhattan and tell about 1960. If you live Near Union Square or you pay a visit there from time to time, you may know that tammany hall the building still access. It was declared an official city landmark a few months ago. Regardless of whether you know these details or not you probably understand the big idea that we know that tammany is a symbol of corrupt politics of a bygone age. We know that tammany stole elections. Shut down contractors, intimidate opponents and yet even shut down access links to the George Washington bridge. [laughter] well done. Sorry. Actually i meant to say that tammany helped build the George Washington bridge and they did it in exactly four years, which as the great Daniel Patrick moynihan often pointed out, was eight months ahead of schedule and 15 million under budget. [laughter] that was my pat moynihan in addition for those of you who didnt know. So anyway, its fair to say that history has not been kind to tammany hall politicians and those who voted for tammany hall, particularly the irish. Tammany hall is not only unamerican but distinct unamerican and its ideals because it represents a broad distinction between what may be called anglosaxon ideals, character of Public Service and the celtic ideals. Spirit that was from the new york journal called the outlook. And then theres this. Refuse, scullions be permitted to dictate what tammany must do . That was walt whitman. Discussing tammanys voters and lets not forget what they were saying about tammany and the irish and other places. The irishman uses his vote, his faithful influence in ruins, every anglosaxon policy and anglosaxon civilization throughout the world. So wrote a report in the british journal in the 19th century. Tammanys reputation was so widespread that the Organization Even made a cameo appearance on the floor of the Irish Parliament during the passion pe debate over the angloirish treaty in 1921. Michael collins attacked his former comrades at one point for their tactics in opposition to the treaty. We will have no tammany hall with your for the treaty with you are against it. For without tammany hall which led henry bolton who just returned to dublin from new york to replace the dish i dont anything about tammany hall except if reserved some of his bowling we would not be in the position were in today. Those were regrettably fighting words. So thats one year of tammany hall, a very familiar view but theres another side to this legend or political organization. Its face side that historians and just generally have ignored although some pretty prominent voices have offered testimonials to tammanys work on behalf of immigrants, the poor, the alienated and the despised. Frances perkins was a highminded social worker in the early 20th century, a reformer from new england who was new to the politics of new york when she arrived here in 1910. To pursue price, and to the shock of our colleagues, she found much to like about tammany figures like big tim sullivan, mcmanus, and, of course, al smith. If i had been a man serving in the senate with them, im sure i wouldve had a glass of beer with them and gotten them to tell me what time as perkins worked to achieve dramatic social change in the second decade of the 20th century, she realizes some of our colleagues in the Reform Movement had it wrong about the nations most infamous political machine. Once what i worked in a settlement house, a woman asked me, came to ask for help after her son was arrested. The sun was the sole support of the family. He went to prison, the woman and her young daughter would have no means of support. My colleagues in the settlement house beside the mother was not worthy of help. I was aghast. I walked over to the headquarters of the mcmanus political club, which was the tammany courthouse in the area. I asked to see senator mcmanus. I told him about mr. Kissinger told me to come back the same time the following day. I did as he requested the senator told me that the boy had been released. I dont know how he did it, but im sure it was irregular. I once told my colleagues when of gender that if i had the right to vote, i would be a democrat. They were shocked. One of them said, well, look at the scum of the earth they have. Frances perkins went on to work with tammany politician, most famously ousted in the years to come. In 1933 she became Franklin Roosevelts labor secretary, the first womens cabinet officer in American History. Heres another view of tammany that you dont often hear. On july 4, 1937 at the end of Independence Day commemorations at tammany hall, one of the machines greatest members, send Robert Lackner had this to say about the machines place in history. Over 30 years ago new york was the backbone of the United States and social and welfare legislation. We forgot the lost souls tide day and night to the bench. But about that time a small group from tammany hall were elected to serve in office. We remember these lost souls and guided them to an earthly salvation. We passed law after law, and made new york the shining mark for the world to emulate. Tammany hall may justly claim the title of the cradle of modern liberalism in america. Robert wagner of course is one of the prime sponsors of the Social Security act and author of the National Labor relations act, and the federal housing act making in the greatest legislator of the new deal era. So he knew something about the birth of modern liberalism. So did another tammany figure for though hed been largely forgotten. Charles Francis Murphy was the boss of tammany from 19 or two to his death in 1924. And when he died, one of new yorks best known political figures issued a moving tribute to him. Mr. Murphys death, nick city Democratic Organization has lost public the strongest, wisest leader its had in generations. He was a genius who capped army, at the same time recognize that the world moved on. It is well to remember that he hope to accomplish much in the way of progressive legislation, social welfare. Those are the words of Franklin Delano roosevelt. So if all this is making your head spin, if some of the world seems turned upside down, just grab hold of your chair or the person next to you or just close your ears for the next hour or so. Just remember, management is not responsible for damage caused by exploding myths. One myth that remained intact tonight is a connection between tammany hall and the irish. Of a tammany existed long before the great wave of immigration during the massive famine, tammany became a conspicuously Irish Organization during its heyday. Many of the politician to dominate the organization in the late 19th and early 20th century work them into grants immigrants or the children of famine immigrants. A fact hiding in plain sight for many decades. Some of the significance of this has escaped the conventional dollars of tammany tales who prefer to believe that the children of hunger sought to ease the hunger of others, simply because it wanted them both. But more about that later. The question of how and why the irish came to dominate tammany and other organizations has been the subject of endless academic speculation. Pat moynihan once showed that tammany politics resemble life in an irish village. People waited their turn like bachelor sons awaiting their inheritance, and it was Great Respect for hierarchy and authority, except of course in the workplace. I take the story back to a single election in ireland in 1926 when the great liberator Daniel O Connell was riding high in irelands catholics to organizing demand full civil rights including the rights to hold Public Office in the nation they dominated. Until the 1820s politics in ireland was a rigged game designed to keep the minority in power at the expense of the majority. In 1826, oconnell wrote, challenge the status quo in an election for the house of commons seat from county warfare. Mcconnell said Deputy Thomas wiese came up with a plan that would sound familiar to many in the decades to come. He sent out agents into the county to persuade catholic voters to do the unthinkable, to vote against the chosen candidate of the landlords. Votes were declared publicly backing. So to vote against the landlord was either a brave or foolish thing to do. Many of the poured catholic farmers want something in return for their vote. As one voter put it it cannot fill the belly. Others wrote to ask about jobs and even new places to live if their landlord evicted them in a fit of partisan nastiness that would do new jersey proud. [laughter] a republican named john howard told weiss without the problems he encountered and he opened his up to the Catholic Association election agents. They threatened to turn me against my landlord. Ive been reduced to extreme poverty. I must humbly beg you to do something on my behalf and not have me and my family doomed forever. He signed the letter after dictating to a friend or an associate. These poor irish didnt have much but they had the one thing which in a democracy made them as powerful as a rich man. They had the vote. Theyre willing to use the power of the vote to improve their condition, and who could blame them . If youre looking for the roots of tammany halls irish sensibility, i can think of a better place to start than that election in waterford in 1826. Within 20 years of that election, all was changed in ireland. The famine the pod with the idea, transfer not just ireland but the American Cities to which the survivors fled. The famine taught the irish a new lesson, those who held power would prosper. And those without it may start. The starving irish look to the government for help only to find the scowling face of charleston billion of its chief famine relief administrator in charleswood gensler of the exchequer. Both believed that the irish character was weak and flawed. Too much government assistance, they warned, would only lead to dependency. Only the worthy research serving a charity. Speak the problem with the irish is if we are to pay them and feed them, we shall have the whole population of ireland upon us. His colleague understood the terrible things are happening in ireland, but whose fault was that . Great events with which we have to contend is not the physical labor, but the moral, the selfish, turbulent character. Eventually he helped ireland would learn an important lesson from starvation spent the proper business of the government is to enable private individuals of every rank and profession in life to carry on their occupations with freedom and safety, in giving as little as possible in the business of the land owner, merchant, the money lender or any other function of social life. As they dispersed across the atlantic world, immigrants reach a very different conclusion about the proper business of government. When they were starving the government told them that they lack character. When government offered aid, it asked the court to prove they were worthy of that aid. As survivors and their children built new lives in new york and elsewhere, they made it clear through their vote and through their actions that they regarded those who provided jobs and help as their friends. And those who offered distain and moral uplift as their enemy. When the famine survivors arrived in new york they found at least one voice willing to speak the truth about the catastrophe that was unfolding in ireland. Bishop john hughes, a native was among the first to argue that starvation in ireland was not the result of famine or the heartless economic dogma. Spin political economy send the irish people too poor to pay for the harvest of their own labor. Leaving them to die of famine, and the same political economy authorizes provision merchant even admits the desolation to keep the doors locked and the sex of corn tied up waiting for a better pay. The rights of life are higher than those of property, and the general famine like the present, there is no law nor of nature that prevents the starving man to live on bread where they can find. When the children of the famine assume power in new york a generation later they show the same respect for victorian economic dogma that john hughes did. Its impossible a blue to understand irishamerican politics, to understand tammany hall without acknowledging the horrors of the famine. Sadly for historians there are very few people piece of evidence that can directly link memories of the famine to specific political actions or positions, or perhaps that silence, the silence of shame and grief speaks volumes. Theres no question that a family memory hundred irish americans essential or more ago. Its hiding in plain sight. For example, the great union leader and rabble rouse her once explained the difference between activists like herself and middleclass leaders of the womens movement. This issue here is that others have never been facetoface with hunger or eviction. Charlie murphy whose families are i did have that facetoface encounter never summoned a family memory to explain why can we support the social welfare reforms of the early 20th century, but then again perhaps they didnt have to. Perhaps it was understood. Tens of thousands of exiles crowded into the boarding houses and sellers of the fivepoint and other neighbors, Many Americans considered their country under attack. A new political movement, the know nothings, recruited more than a million members in just a few months in 1854. They swept democrats and the wigs out of office in cities up and down the east coast. One new york congressman, and upandcomer at the time, chose not to run for reelection in face of the know nothing on slot. His place was congressman from manhattans east side was taken by Thomas Whitney was the founder of the know Nothing Movement. Several months after his election, he denounced catholic immigrants on the floor of the house. Most other papers in this country are foreignborn. They carried with them to the about box practices and superstition of their church. There was just one catholic congressmen left in washington after the know nothing assault of 1854. His name was john kelly, a tammany man and a son of irish immigrants. He rose in reply. A government like ours however humble and maybe can be a sailed without endangering the rights of all. The persecutor of the day when religious intolerance is started on a disastrous course will inevitably become the victim of tomorrow. Even as the nation splitting apart over slavery, parts of the north were divided over immigration, religion and the very meaning of what it meant to be an american. In that battle, tammany hall was on the side of toleration and pluralism. A tammany resolution passed during the height of the know Nothing Movement made its position clear. Tammany declares with the greatest and glory of this republic, energy and patriotism of a large portion of its citizens. These are more than words, more than campaign rhetoric. This was a statement of principle at the time when large segments of the public believe that immigrants were a drain on the nation, the countrys resources and an insult to american identity. Taman had its reasons for welcoming immigrants or its off the newcomers as protection voters, and for some critics, the shrewd calculation on tammany support showed that the machine was unprincipled. But what was the alternative . Without tammany, immigrants would be left to the prejudices of know nothings like thomas who believe that only nativeborn anglosaxon protestants were worthy of citizenship. When bill tweedy became the boss after the civil war and was caught with his hand and his other hand and his seat in the municipal cookie jar, reformers were astounded that is irish constituents continued to support him. They voted for him even after he was arrested on corruption charges in 1871. Tweed was corrupt. In fact, he made a full confession of his crime to the board of alderman which is more than most gilded age criminals did, but he was also a dependable friend of immigrants at a time when his social betters insisted that the irish did not be assimilated into angloamerican democracy. As a state senator, tweed and tammany funded the growing Catholic Social Service network of orphanages, shelters and medical facilities begot under the watch of john hughes before the civil war. Many of these institutions were run by irish born nuns who were opposed to the efforts of private charities to try to break up families, and said said immigrants are out of the city and away from the priests, the nuns, the parishes and tammany. The annual board of the state board of charities in 1877 made the following assertion. Most cases are the result of providence, drunkenness or other forms of vicious intelligence which are not universally hereditary and character. That someone families can be separated and broken up, the better it will be for the children and for society at large. The irish immigrant nuns who dominated new yorks Catholic Charities thought quietly passionate battle against this kind of thinking. Tammany to the side of the nuns beating back efforts by groups like the National League for the protection of american institutions, which sought to stop state funding of religious charities. The head of that group, a methodist preacher named james king, argued that the chair should not receive state funds for one simple reason. And possibly leaders provide a catholic charitable organizations with more than 1 million in public funding per year in the late 19th century. People like reverend king. Of course tammanys critics were not entirely wrong when they complained tammany and the Catholic Church were aligned with each other. After boss tweeds disgrace, tammany chose john kelly who defied the know nothings in 1854 to be its first Irish Catholic leader. In 1980, kelly and tammany collected the first Irish Catholic immigrant mayor, grace, who fled the famine as a teenager and became a wealthy shipowner. In the days before his election, grace was subjected to a campaign of slander that might sound familiar. The new york tribune published a sensational story charging that grace was not a citizen of the United States. [laughter] now, the tribune did not say whether they believe grace was born in kenya last night on in kenya last night he was an immigrant, after all. But after the mayor produced the proper paperwork, not every critic was satisfied. The New York Times was so frightened, they produced this piece of writing on the morning of the election. The choice is between an Irish Catholic and american pasta, a long and honorable record. For the times and many others the choice was clear. The Irish Catholic one, and he won because a tammany was better organize and its antagonist. Tammany boss john kelly impose tight discipline and strict orders over tammanys army of district leaders, precinct captains and all the other war healers in the city neighborhood. They noted kellys system resemble the catholic hierarchy. Out in the field doing the grunt work of the organization were tammanys parish priest, those infamous war healers who knew their neighborhoods and their neighbors. They knew who needed a job, a favor, or a friend. They defended the poor when reformers try to restrict voting privileges to the middle class and rich Property Owners in the late 19th century. One of those reformers, andrew white, the president of Cornell University had this complaint about the ill effects of universal suffrage. In American Cities, crowds delivers may exercise virtual control. The vote of a single tenement house managed by a professional politician will neutralize the vote of an entire street of welltodo citizens. Tammany of course would take that complaint as a complement. How do they do it . How did the peasants, how did they exercise such power in a city of such conspicuous wealth and privilege . They did it through organization. They did it through tammany, which is why reformers like dr. White and others so loathed the machine. If empowered of those considered unworthy of power, and, indeed, unworthy of the vote. The president of Yale University made it clear what he thought of tammanys voters. None the massive city proletarians ought to be excluded from the polls. Tammany had a very different view of democracy. Tammany encouraged people to vote, a lot. [laughter] sometimes more than once. Tammanys boss so loathed the democratic process that he voted not once, not twice, but 17 times in 1865. The heart of the tammanys power, the individuals in each of the citys assemblage districts who are responsible for getting out the vote and knowing the personal stories and problems of the thousands who live in the district. Those leaders in turn relied on lesser tammany operatives who were in charge of a single block Election District were he tenement house. One of those Election District was a woman by the name of Barbara Porges. Barbara porges became a tammany district leader in the early 20th century, for those of you keeping score at home, yes, that means she was a tammany district leader two decades before she had the right to vote. Now, county was not necessarily ahead of its time on the question of womens suffrage. It Barbara Porges have no problem exerting her authority as the base of tammany on orchard street, which was the heart of her district. I am a practical politician. Ive lived and worked on the Lower East Side since 1876, and ive used the triedandtrue tammany method. You cant make a speech and get to the individual spent she did it in the most personal way possible. When she heard that one of the peddlers on orchard street, everybody called him onions because thats what he saw, when she heard he was ill with tuberculosis, she raise money to send to the southwest where the air was dry. On another vacation and she made her way through the maze of pushcarts on the Lower East Side, a woman approached her with tears in her eyes. She was a peddler and chip set up shop on the wrong corner, or least thats what the police told her. Barbara porges intervened but the cops were right. The old woman was in the wrong place. So Barbara Porges did what any good tammany district leader wouldve done. She gave the cops were orders. Look the other way. And so justice was done on the Lower East Side. Tammany had a way of getting under the skin of the citys elite, many of whom could be described as anglosaxon supremacist. Tammany politicians challenge of the angloamerican consensus that the poor had only themselves to blame for their plight and charity should be reserved for those considered worthy of assistance. The legendary tammany district leader, state senator and serial jobholder George Washington plunkett once explained to use his own money to help distressed him in his district. It was pointless he said to direct families to private charities. Many of them were obsessed with her own ideas of character and virtue, something they shared of course with the administrator of famine relief in ireland. Private charities would investigate and decide they were worthy of hope about the time they were dead from starvation. Tammanys boss was similar skeptical of the first private charities that looked for character flaws usually tied to religion or ethnicity to explain why the poor were so poor. Sullivan who grew up in dire poverty in five points retains vivid memories of going without shoes as a child. When he attained power and influence in new york he became a neighborhood legend for his charitable works, including his annual giveaway, when the poor lined up to receive free shoes. Sullivan explained his views this what. Never eat never asked how agreement about his past. I see and not because he is good but because the figures also just american expansion overseas at the turn of the 20th century. Progressives like Teddy Roosevelt believes in spreading anglosaxon civilization to places like hawaii, the philippines, cuba and central america. Tammany boss Richard Kroeger was among the most vocal opponents of americas and realistic designs on foreign lands. And immigrant from ireland, he retained a very irish and favorite oldfashioned american view of imperialism. He once told reporters why he opposed overseas adventures. Let me explain what i mean by antiimperialism. It means opposition if you condone everybody who doesnt speak english. It seems to be the fashion when people dont speak english, raise an army to shoot them down. He was criticized as a numbskull for those of use. Years later when the same civic elites joined with cultural conservatives in an effort to restrict immigration, congressman william cochran, a native, bitterly oppose this maneuver directed not so much that the irish but a southern europeans and jews. In 1922 as congress was considering legislation that would lead to the restrictions of 1924, cochran told the hebrew a Society Immigration restriction is a renunciation which is made of this the greatest agency for civilization in the history of mankind. It appeals to that peculiar but sinister express of hate that seems to be sweeping over the world. Personally i deem it much more important than men should be able to work effectively, even though he cannot speak our language, and be fluent in several languages. Tammany lost that battle but by 1924, at that time that some the most remarkable victories in new yorks history. It all began in 1900 to one a longtime district leader named charles Francis Murphy became tammanys undisputed leader. Murphys father had fled the famine and he and his siblings were brought up in the old district just above 14th street on the east side. Murphy was quiet and reserved. They called him silent charlie. Is also coincidentally a shrewd politician. In 1911 he promoted two young men from poor backgrounds, al smith and Robert Wagner, to leadership positions in the state assembly and senate respectively. He would go on to mentor other young politicians, including jeremiah t. Mahoney, atlantic athlete, a lawyer and a judge. Mahoney gained fame later on in life when he led a failed boycott of the 1936 Olympic Games in germany to protest hitlers treatment of the jews. During murphys long tenure, tammany took the lead in supporting new laws and regulations that challenges the very economic dogma that allowed a million irish people to starve to death during the famine. Tammanys al smith and Robert Wagner led a sweeping investigation of working conditions after the terrible fire in the village in 1911. As a result of their work, tammany pass dozens of new laws that put into place the beginning of the modern social safety net. The owners of buildings and factories could no longer manage their property as they saw fit. Government had the right to decide on the proper length of its workweek or how much a labor in the canal system should earn in a day. Society have an obligation to help workers injured on the job. Families with nowhere to turn should not be denied assistance, regardless of their culture, their beliefs or their worthiness. Critics were astonished. A few years later, al smith explained that there were no to distinct groups in new york politics. One Group Believes the constitution and statute law is intended only for the protection of property and money. The other Group Believes that law in a democracy is not a divine principle but exists with the greatest good, the greatest number for meetings and needs of presentday society. That is th the theory i hold. A three that made him very popular with immigrants, the children of immigrants who came to see tammany as the l. A. There was another political figure in new york who found smiths theory attractive. Franklin roosevelt had entered politics in 1910 as an avowed enemy of tammany hall. He said that charles Francis Murphy was an obnoxious weed that needed to be plucked out. By the 1920s he changed his mind. Some might argue this is a simple calculation on roosevelts part. He was ambitious and tammany had the power to further his ambition. But consider this, maybe, just maybe, Franklin Roosevelt came to see that tammany was on the right side of history, on the right side of toleration, on the right side of reform, and on the right side of religious and ethnic diversity. Imagine that. Roosevelt made his peace with Charles Murphy and became one of al smiths most enthusiastic supporters. And tammany offered roosevelt the way to remain active in politics after he contracted polio in 1921 and was a longer considered a viable political figure. Truth be told, al smith did not always appreciate fdrs assistance. In fact, at one point Smith Campaign manager had to explain to smith why roosevelt support was important. Hes a protestant and he will take some of the curse off last he was not made for prez in 1924 when tammany hall took on the ku klux klan at the Democratic National convention in Madison Square gardens. The clan was one of the largest caucuses at that convention. Smith didnt win the nomination that year, but Franklin Roosevelt had big plans for tammanys favorite son. Not long afterwards, smith wrote this roosevelt wrote this letter to smith who was telling people that he would not run for president in 1928. I know perfectly well that you as you read this letter that you are not a candidate for 1928. Nevertheless, you will be a candidate in 1928 whether you like it or not. And i want to see you as strong a candidate as it is on this impossible to make you when the convention meets. Tammanys al smith was a candidate in 1928. This is on the Lower East Side and proud member of tammany hall became the first catholic, the first nonprotestant to win a major Party President ial nomination, only to lose of course in a landslide to herbert hoover. But in that years election, cities that often voted republican in voted democratic, often for the first time in years, if not decades. In 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt won the white house, he built on the support that al smith inspired from urban areas in the north and the midwest. One political scientist noted before there was a roosevelt revolution, there was an al smith revolution. The man who turned roosevelt revolution into landmark legislation was another tammany man, senator Robert Wagner. Wagner was among the chief sponsor of the Social Security act and singlehandedly won passage of the National Labor relations act which roosevelt was not so keen on. That, of course, made it easier for unions to organize. He also authored legislation creating the First Federal housing program, even as he gained fame as one of the nations greatest legislators, Robert Wagner remained true to his family roots. He wants to claim his political philosophy this way. My boyhood was a pretty rough passage. Some people believe no matter how many captured if you just have it within your you can rise to the top. Thats bunk. For everyone who rises to the top, its destroyed. Many others never lost sight of those who through no fault of their own did not and could not rise to the top. Family boss Richard Kroeker noted that critics complained that tammanys gutter tactics. He did not disagree that if we go down in the gutter it is because there are men in the gutter and you have to go down where they are if youre going to do anything with them. By the late 1930s it was becoming clear that tammanys mission had succeeded to the social welfare system implemented in new york was not incorporated into new do. The children and the grandchildren of the Lower East Side were winning that battle for inclusion and cultural respect. Through the efforts of people like smith and weidner and with the assistance of courageous allies like Frances Perkins, a nation put aside the economic dogma of the voir dire. Government could and would intercede to soften the blows of a callous market place. That was and remains one of tammanys greatest legacies. Tammany receded from power as the city changed after world war ii, its commonly known. Finally, in the early 1960s it died a painful death at the hands of some brilliant young reformers including ed koch, William Fitts ryan, and others. But there was still some remember the glory days. On a midwinter evening in early 1973, 20 members of the and won the club trudged up two flights of wellworn stayers to spend one last night and Charlie Murphys old clubhouse. Some came with extra cash because the club was auctioning off its last possession and proceeds to be split up among its remaining members pick the old men in the crowd spoke of other days when the club sponsored an annual steak dinner and local politicians stop by to shake hands and chew the political that. Its a different neighborhood now, better in many ways, the old gas that district had given way to dozens of lowrise brick apartment opens, put up in 1940 tough world war ii veterans and their families. They were decent people, hardworking and ambitious, that they didnt have the same connection the old men complain. The schoolteacher with a two bedroom apartment, the cop with a nice three bedroom deal, they didnt know about the old days. They saw no reason to come out on cold nights to talk politics in a clubhouse. One of the few younger people in the crowd walked away with the clubs poker chips for 2. An old timer want a small bidding war for the clubs grandfather clock, a minor city official paid 200 bucks, the largest amount bid for any object for the rights to a sixfoot portrait of Charlie Murphy. A visitor as one of the old timers why the club decided to close down. Whats the use . Change, the old ways are gone. People nowadays dont sit and talk politics. They dont even know the name of the district rep. Time to move on spent as the auction ran out of steam the old passengers said he wanted one of the clubs. Then he put down 5 said he wanted the clubs big fish for dinner realize the problem. There was no way he was getting the pool table and that save down those stairs. Not by himself. The old ones knew what would happen next. He would ask for help, and he would get it. No questions asked. [applause] i want to thank my district leaders. [applause] [laughter] well, its question time, and by the way, for those comfortable for the historians in the audience, that would not include peter quinn because he makes up everything, everything you just heard from these brilliant actors was a quote, a real quote. I have to footnote this, i would say that the little soliloquy by Frances Perkins i did fill with a little bit just for the record. The last quote about the politics and the soup was a combination of quotes. So if you going to criticize come if youre going to ask a question about my sources, its on the record. But Everything Else including some of those amazingly nasty quotes were actually taken from original sources and if youre in my book, should you wish to check my book. So im happy to take any questions. Now that the house lights are up and i can see that there is an obvious. I wouldve been so nervous if i knew you were out there. Yes. [inaudible] thank you very much. This was wonderful, so thank you. I wanted to ask, im sure somewhere in the book about the relationship with tammany, the nixie draft riots and africanamericans in new york. Well, the question of the draft is interesting of course because in some ways of course the draft riots were not a function of tammany hall per se. But tammany did get involved in that horrific event when it was becoming clear, after the riots were ended after five days when the draft was suspended and, of course, we all know the inherent fairness of the draft. People like Teddy Roosevelts father could put a 300, get a substitute and youre out of the draft. For these average people, many of whom are children of famine emigrants, immigrants themselves, they couldnt get out with 300. It may have been 1 million. So when the draft was suspended, lincoln made it clear to new york, this is only a suspension. You have to figure out how to make this draft work, and you have about a month to do it. So Samuel Tillman who is a big shot lawyer made his money by collecting fees and, therefore, of course never took a bribe, Samuel Tilden had this brilliant idea to sue the federal government for imposing an unconstitutional draft. Now, boss tweed basically took him aside and said, you know what Justice Scalia is going to say about this . I have a better idea. And what tammany hall did and the City Government did at tammanys suggestion is they took out a bond issue so that they could pay the 300 for any poor man who wanted out of the draft. Was it neat and simple and principled . No. But do you know when the draft started again . In a month, there were no riots, no uprisings. In terms of relations with africanamericans, tammanys boss Richard Kroeger wasnt on remember of him hes africanamerican component which was called the united color to democracy. And kroeger was the only white member. So tammany was not about healing race relations. Tammany was about reorganizing the lives of these poor irish immigrants. Now, it would be great to say they were ahead of the time for progressive, but heres the deal. Democrats in the south were taking the vote away from black people. Tenuous encouraging black people to vote. I think that makes a big difference. Yes, right in the front here a are. Thank you. This is very interesting and very informative. I had been under the impression that tammany rose with the irish, and what youre suggesting at tammany already existed when the irish came. Thats right. So how did it deal with it speaks the last on the question was asked i had some wood on the panel who started with the founding of the pennsylvania college. I will not take you back that far. But as an organization it was founded in the 1790s as a social club. The guys go out, pound it down a few beers, watch the judge communism and then talk politics. One thing led to another and they became involved in politics because the politicians in new york, including aaron burr, realize if you could get a bunch of guys together you would get their vote. So tammany sort of morphed from a paternal club to a political organization. Youre right, it certainly was in place when the famine irish arrived. It was not that power that it became until the irish harnisch that power harness that power and turn it into the organization that we know what today. Thanks. Two questions actually if i may. One was if you could elaborate on what give the know nothings that huge political push that they had and also relationship between the new City Police Department and Fire Department and tammany and irish immigrants. Seems to be a lot of stuff there. Yes, there is but the answer to your first question is civil. Its not a coincidence that the know Nothing Movement arises see no way out of nowhere as the famine emigrants were coming in. The tail end of the famine is in the early 1850s, and by 1854 you have this made us movement, connect the dots. In terms of the relationship of tammany to the police, tammany certainly had its hooks in the Police Department. That was one of the things that murphy changed when he took over in 1900 to. A lot of Police Corruption survey was rooted in tammany. Some of the Police Corruption and at tammany corruption came out of looking the other way, for example, when stupid laws like the closing of saloons on sunday was enforced by bluenoses like Teddy Roosevelt. So when you have a law that deprives the working person of a drink on his only day off and tammany says, we are not miss going to enforce that law, the police will collect their feet for looking the other way, and you have this corruption. Believe me, the corruption was more complex than just that. The Fire Department is near as i can tell, i dont know a great deal about history of the Police Department but the Fire Department i know. The connections are there, but its not as though you had to be a tammany member to get a job in the Fire Department but certainly during the volunteer days before 1865, if you were a volunteer fire fighter the chances are, bill tweed a classic example, but once the professional department was put in place in 1865, by the 1880s, to irish immigrants, one guy named of honor, and the other guy escapes me, but these to irish immigrants who live in the five points rose to become chief of the foggy bottom and they put in place Civil Service test basically for the Fire Department. There was no getting around it. When one of the great reformers was elected mayor in 1901 on his antitammany ticket, the first thing he did was he fired the fire chief, a kroeger, who was Richard Kroegers nephew, charging that kroeger obviously had got his job through connections when, in fact, he hadnt. And kroeger to this day, Edward Kroeger is one of the great heroes of the Fire Department of new york. So that goes to show you that this sort of bias and bigotry goes both ways. W. R. Grace. He ran with tammany hall in the first election of am not mistaken and the second on whos elected, he did not thats correct spent what happened . The story is these people had a terrible habit of not writing things down. But kelly and grace, kelly was the boss, kelly and grace gives a bit of calm had a bit of a battle and presumably over patron issues but the story that ive read is that grace like some other people are were elected with tammanys support, like Woodrow Wilson he was elected with the support of the jersey machine in 1910, takes the oath of office and first thing he said was you guys can think to support but dont come to me for any help because im out. Grace told kelly dont come to me to job seekers because im the mayor. Something that kelly thought that grace was ungrateful as Charlie Murphy would later accuse others, a cover of nature that didnt a tammany got elected in 1912 he needed he says i am my own and im not going to appoint tammany people. He was impeached. The only governor of new york who was ever in beach. Frankly, grace was never a good fit for tammany. Use one of the richest people in new york. When he ran for mayor again in 1884, he ran basically as a candidate for county democracy which was kind of the rich mans Democratic Party, and he won despite tammany opposition. If im ignoring you sorry. I would just have you known me that long . Ive known you too long, frankly. Id like your perspective on to issues that while tammany still existed, how they accommodate themselves to the model t of John Mitchell and ultimately laguardia spend those are two could i borrow your voice . Just for a few more minutes. John mitchell was the grandson of the great irish patriot John Mitchell, but John Mitchell was not your al smith character. He went to florida. Whats that telling you, right . [laughter] but he was an accomplished lawyer. He was a reformer. He was elected mayor in 1913 as the voters were frankly we post by the impeachment of governor. So he was elected and probably as i said in my book engaged in first class efficiency of their class politics. He sort of held himself above his fellow Irish Catholics. And sort of, there was too long to get into but in essence a kind of cracked down on some catholic institutions, schools, he was involved in the School Controversy so that by 1917 he was probably the most unpopular figure in new york. And subsequent lost his reelection bid to tammany in 1917. Jointed air corps and this almost sounds like a joke but its not. He was taking, going on a Training Mission and actually fell out of his blinkered some people like to think it as suicide but anyway mitchell sort of disappeared from city history after that. Laguardia was a different story. Laguardia was reformers green, true. He spoke yiddish. He spoke italian. He looked like lou costello. He looked like a guy up from city streets. There was nothing snooty about fiorello la guardia. Robert moses once said that he could speak to peoples grievances in five different languages. I need a special prosecutor. I need somebody. So he called on the tammany district leader of the 36 district, jeremiah t. Mahoney who had brought against 1937. So your tammany district leader Investigator Police for a reformer at an assertion. New york city history is very complicated. [laughter] if i could just ask one quick question. What role did he play in tammany hall . Until 1929, tammany was on 14th street. I wish a good. But certainly it wouldve been a hangout at that time. [inaudible] sure. Peter asked a typically question about that breaking with roosevelt. In 1932, all smith thought he had taken one for the team in the teen 28. Everybody knew a democrat was going to win. Franklin roosevelt has declared his candidacy after frankly three not necessarily spectacular years as governor of new york. He wouldve been the first to say that he simply biltong what al smith had handed 10 in 1928. So roosevelt declared early enough smith in february 1932 declares and i think he felt by rights he was entitled to it. Roosevelt would have none of it. Roosevelt employed ed flynn who is the leader of the bronx and Charlie Murphys protege just as smith was. The two irishamerican politicians basically ran roosevelts campaign. Roosevelt won the nomination in chicago in 1832 and smith was so upset that he actually left the convention which was really not good form. But thereafter, it tammany and smith were pretty much bitterly opposed to roosevelt. The mother was still otherness over the fact roosevelt secretly had put pressure on jimmy walker to resign as mayor in 1931 and felt that had an unfair. But there is sadly in this history of tammany and the history about that for the president of the United States, a new yorker, is doing all the things that tammany seemed to stand for and get tammany was on the outside looking in. You know, i kind of see smith as a tragic figure they are. I think a lot of it was personal. I just find hard to believe that al smith really felt in his bones that were Franklin Roosevelt was doing this dobro. That you know, politics is personal and i think that had a lot to do with it. Does that answer your question, peter . At god. That is a test. I wanted to know what your tape was at 1928 when roosevelt once that seat and he went down to such a crushing defeat in what is your take on your research on the relationship at that time during 1929 . Thats a good question, billy. The conventional wisdom is the relationship between smith and roosevelt begins to deteriorate us in as roosevelt takes over as governor. He did not point to have smith bill moscowitz and robert moses. If youve been in politics, the way you can understand not, you are taking over for this legend. Are they going to appoint bill moscowitz who is smith skyler person and roosevelt did mike robert moses. [laughter] the letters to indicate a level of friendship in those years between 1928 in 1932. At one point, roosevelt right de smet and says your granddaughter was that. The mansion playing with my granddaughter. Fact, your granddaughter, mary is now calling the jam pot. So ive cut you out. A third of affectionate relationship. I think roosevelt really did have a respect in real affection for smith and i think there were times when smith did not return a in the way i wouldve liked to have seen. Another question . Bus week was a bad rap that he was kind of a great visionary and the corruption which is part of doing business and building a modern 50. Do you agree or disagree . I think it is outrageous to believe. A lot of what tweed was involved in bribery and corruption was to give upstate lawmakers who have their hands out to pass bills that were favorable. Boston was a figure of his times. When you think of all the villains of the gilded age, the only one who goes to prison endives in jail. So other historians like Kenneth Ackerman kahlil herskovitz had been a nice job of complicating the picture in the way you describe. They are to treat experts, not me. But i agree creed with a much more complex figure that history tells us. Lucky you. I wish i had. Yes, and from. Just one second, please. Thank you. You talked about this woman who was the district leader 20 years before she was allowed to vote. So how common was female leadership in tammany hall and what specifically get tammany hall do to help women in suffrage . Well, first of ive no idea idea how Barbara Porsches word of god to the place where she was so early. Charlie murphy and alf met, all smith in particular was supposed to have a project first. But the Womens Suffrage Movement path in new york in may team 17 i believe. Mightve been 1918, only when tammany decided there were some calculation. Tammany realize where history was going. It had failed before new york at the reformers tried to get it through and could be when tammany changed under my feet, it passed and almost immediately women are pointed ayes district leaders with men if not almost immediately been certainly in the 1920s you see stories in the new york price of the women of tammany hall. A lot of them are wide of tammany officials. Nevertheless, the search they were integrated. Again, i wouldnt necessarily date that they were to come the issues of women right. But they were there and women at the right to vote in new york ahead of every other state except for michigan. Some new york was the second seed in the union to pass a womens right to vote in the primary tammany. So lets give the boys a little bit of credit. I may be running out of them theres if not vocal cord. This is termed her heart. Was struck by the parallels, some of the quotes the antiirish quote and things that could be said today. Is there a parallel to tammany in any way today and if not ill . You know, i guess it goes back to one of the last quote where people the personal question between politics and government, you know, and the people just isnt there anymore appeared it is possible that organizations like tammany will reinvent it out through social media. But im glad you picked up something that i was hoping people would notice. In some ways i am writing this jewelry about 100 years ago. In other words im writing a story about today. I was hoping that somebody would notice that you did. Thank you. [applause] we are good . I risk of sounding very mercenary, first of all its not about me. Its about my friends. Thank you. [applause] now i will be mercenary. Yes i will be starting works out right. Whatever you want. Thank you very much for coming out. [applause] is [inaudible conversations] the night now for the gators bird book festival, a panel on world war ii, with the wil s. Hylton author of vanished and john ross, author of enduring courage. We are going to year about two great new books to share the central theme of military aviation. Enduringenduring courage acet Eddie Rickenbacker and the dawn of the age of speed, winner john ross for ms. Toth childhood in columbus, ohio. Going on to become a trailblazing racecar driver. Raw shows how rickenbacker had to overcome class prejudice to even be allowed to fly in how went to get it simplifies magnificent courage and leadership. In banished, the 63 year for the missing man of world war ii from the New York Times magazine tells a sister of the scientists, archaeologists, divers and survivors, families should solve the mystery. Helton tells the story of the crew and their families in the determination or refuse to let go of the ministry to bring. Its a pleasure to introduce john ross and will hylton. We begin i talking about what i do think both of these books share and that is people finding more time. I wonder if you could tell about what it like to find world war i airplane. Good morning everybody. One of the things it was interesting about this book was trying to recreate what it was like to get into a world war i biplane in the middle for the here downhill just more my. Theres so many liars the chicken had a hard time getting out. They do you very much. Users these guys went to the air force commandeer me at the the time when a fairly quickly above 10,000 feet because you start getting loopy at that point. They are taken up to 17, 18,000. It also got extremely cold. These are open pits. They were teddy bears. , teddy bear suits and at the end of the day they often had to manually peel their fingers up the joint ticket was so cold. You aha