In the last post (click here to read part 1) I introduced you to George Washington Plunkitt. Plunkitt was a notable figure in the Tammany Hall political machine in New York City. In 1905 he dictated a book. An unusual book that laid out, without varnish or obfuscation, how political machines work. His chapter titled […]
Category: United States History
Honest and Dishonest Graft—George W. Plunkitt
Honest and dishonest graft was a way of life in 19th century politics. In my last post I mentioned the great political cartoonist Thomas Nast. Nast burnished his fame with his cartoons identifying the corruption and graft of the Tammany Hall political machine in New York City politics. But I realize many of my readers […]
Thomas Nast and Santa Claus
Thomas Nast and Santa Claus go together. More on their relationship shortly. But first, who was Thomas Nast? Thanks largely to Thomas Nast, the political cartoon is an art form. Even if you don’t look at them regularly, you know the style. Most feature recognizable caricatures of public figures along with short text. The actions […]
Thaddeus Stevens, the Man Who Should be an Icon
It’s unlikely you know much about Thaddeus Stevens. Unless you enjoyed his portrayal by Tommy Lee Jones in the 2012 movie Lincoln, you may not recognize his name at all. This is unfortunate and deserves to be rectified. Thaddeus Stevens is, in fact, one of the great American statesman of the mid-19th century. Before the […]
Racial Exclusivity in Cotter, Arkansas
The idea of racial exclusivity is a simple one. Create racial homogeneity through coordinated and planned action. Just such a program was carried out in Arkansas in the first decade of the 1900s in the town of Cotter. While the events in Cotter lack the outright violence described in my previous posts about Springfield, Illinois, […]
The Brownsville Affair & the 25th Infantry
If you’ve read my book The Buffalo Soldier, (click here to check it out!) you may remember it includes the 25th Infantry Regiment of the US Army. They were stationed at Fort Missoula in Montana in 1896. The 25th was also among the first of the short-lived bicycle regiments in the US Army. The same […]