Summary Of The Plunkitt Of Tammany Hall

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"The Plunkitt of Tammany Hall" written by William L. Riordon about George W. Plunkitt's multiple talks in defense of his career in the political machine Tammany Hall. George W. Plunkitt was a ward boss of the Tammany Hall Political machine. It was full of corruption which made George W. Plunkitt wealthy. Before people knew about Tammany Hall being corrupt, George W. Plunkitt tried to defend Tammany Hall throughout his political career in order to keep making a lot of money. Some of George W. Plunkitt's talks were on his honest graft against dishonest graft, Civil Service reforms, Tammany Hall being patriotic, and how successful politicians do not drink. The Tammany Hall political machine was corrupt. George W. Plunkitt honestly thought that …show more content…

Plunkitt claims that there is nothing more patriotic than Tammany Hall. George W. Plunkitt compares Tammany Hall with the Civil service law. He says while Tammany Hall is having meetings on patriotism and that people could learn a bit about patriotism by attending the meeting, the Civil service reform people are running away to avoid the noise of patriotism on the 4th of July. He continues to say that Tammany Hall created the custom of giving everyone their own small American flags on the fourth of July and that American Flags are everywhere with Tammany Hall. He even goes as far as to claim that everywhere but the floors are covered in flags and even the window shades had been replaced with flags. George W. Plunkitt tries to make himself look better in the public eye by saying he doesn’t drink alcohol. He claims that successful politicians and business owners do not drink while people who drink alcohol aren't successful. He says that of all the great leaders of Tammany Hall, none of them drink. George W. Plunkitt says that there is nothing wrong with temperance when it comes to business as it allows people to get up in the morning while not feeling …show more content…

Plunkitt talks about how people are calling Tammany Hall leaders illiterate in this speech. He argues that while they aren't professors and bookworms, they are the people who are needed most to lead that district. He then says that while the leaders aren't bookworms, Tammany Hall still has bookworms helping the leaders lead. In my opinion, the book was pretty good. It showed me how corrupt people can think when they believe they aren’t corrupt and that what they are doing is honestly good for the people. It also helps me realize how the people back in the day could have been affected George W. Plunkitt and Tammany Hall. I believe the author did achieve his purpose in showing the world a system of political philosophy as stated in the preface. The writing is a bit motivating as is shows us George W. Plunkitt's many speeches on Tammany Hall and that we should support them. I believe that the book provides justice to George W. Plunkitt and Tammany Hall, mainly because the book is just George W. Plunkitt's speeches. The book is strong in supporting Tammany Hall but George W. Plunkitt's speech could have been smarter, but I don't think that is really something that could have been changed. I'm not sure if the book itself really affected history but the content of the book being George W. Plunkitt's speeches have definitely affected