Tweed, William Magear

Tweed, William Magear (1823–1878), political leader.Born in New York City of Scottish ancestry, Tweed worked as a chairmaker and brushmaker. A volunteer fireman, he was elected a Democratic alderman in 1851, and as a member of Tammany Hall, New York City's Democratic organization, he served a term in Congress (1853–1855) and in 1868 went to the New York State Senate, while retaining considerable political control of New York City and the loyalty of a largely immigrant and working‐class constituency, including many Irish Catholics.

“Boss” Tweed's political machinations and close ties to the railroad entrepreneurs Jay Gould and James Fisk also brought him increasing criticism. In 1870, he was named a member of a state‐mandated “board of audit” intended to oversee bills relating to construction of a new County Court House. In 1871, the Republican New York Times headlined “Tweed Ring graft” related to the Court House. Political cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840–1902) relentlessly caricatured him in Harper's Weekly. The state Democratic leader, Samuel J. Tilden, alleged that Tweed and his associates had defrauded the city of at least thirty million dollars and engaged in bribery, electoral fraud, and judicial corruption. Tweed was indicted in 1872 for failing to properly audit bills. The first trial resulted in a hung jury, but the second produced a conviction, and Tweed served a year in jail. Upon his release, he was arrested on related charges and imprisoned. Late in 1875, he fled to Spain followed by agents of the U.S. State Department. He was extradicted and in 1876 again convicted on the audit charge. He died in prison.

Politics and prejudice played a major role in the anti‐Tweed campaign. Tweed's nemesis Thomas Nast hated Catholics and Irish immigrants. Judge Noah Davis, a partisan Republican politician, presided over Tweed's second trial before a jury handpicked by the state prosecution. Along with his often repeated misdeeds, Tweed accomplished much for New York City. As a state senator he introduced or supported bills that created Riverside Drive; widened Broadway; improved Central Park, Columbus Circle, and Prospect Park; and incorporated the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Stock Exchange, and Lenox Library, forerunner of the present New York Public Library. Little of this is remembered; Nast's cartoons are.
See also Anti‐Catholic Movement; Democratic Party; Gilded Age; Immigration; Municipal and County Governments; Nativist Movement.

Bibliography

Seymour J. Mandelbaum , Boss Tweed's New York, 1965.
Leo Hershkowitz , Tweed's New York: Another Look, 1977.

Leo Hershkowitz