Plunkitt
1
Eric Willis
Professor Dice
History 1302
October 14, 2014
Summary of
“Plunkitt of Tammany Hall”
George Washington Plunkitt was a New York City politician for close to 40 years. He worked his way up from being a helping hand around the district headquarters as a boy, all the way up to being a district leader and a State Senator. In this book he gives his very frank and straight forward views on politics and how a person becomes successful at being a politician. The following is a summary of his views as he put them forth.
The first thing Plunkitt wants his audience to understand is the difference between what he calls
“Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft.” Plunkitt defines honest graft as using your political office to foresee opportunities for which he could make a profit off of. Plunkitt defines dishonest graft as doing thing illegally such as stealing from the city treasury or doing things illegal within your office to make a profit. As Plunkitt puts it “I seen my opportunities and I took ' em.”(3) He makes this distinction because over the years many different organizations and people have accused the politicians of
Tammany Hall of making money through illegal means with there political positions.
The next thing Plunkitt discusses is how to be a Statesman and this is actually broken up between a few chapters. To be a Statesman Plunkitt says you should to start off in politics early and not to worry about going to college because everything someone learns in college will have to be unlearned if you go into politics. His example is himself as a young man going to the district leader and telling him that he has command of more votes than just his own. As Plunkitt puts it “ What I did was get some marketable goods before goin ' to the leaders.”(8) He states that his “marketable goods” gave him
2 status, respect, and a little bit of rank with in his party; as he increased the number of votes he commanded or as he would say he increased the quantity of marketable
Eric Willis
Professor Dice
History 1302
October 14, 2014
Summary of
“Plunkitt of Tammany Hall”
George Washington Plunkitt was a New York City politician for close to 40 years. He worked his way up from being a helping hand around the district headquarters as a boy, all the way up to being a district leader and a State Senator. In this book he gives his very frank and straight forward views on politics and how a person becomes successful at being a politician. The following is a summary of his views as he put them forth.
The first thing Plunkitt wants his audience to understand is the difference between what he calls
“Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft.” Plunkitt defines honest graft as using your political office to foresee opportunities for which he could make a profit off of. Plunkitt defines dishonest graft as doing thing illegally such as stealing from the city treasury or doing things illegal within your office to make a profit. As Plunkitt puts it “I seen my opportunities and I took ' em.”(3) He makes this distinction because over the years many different organizations and people have accused the politicians of
Tammany Hall of making money through illegal means with there political positions.
The next thing Plunkitt discusses is how to be a Statesman and this is actually broken up between a few chapters. To be a Statesman Plunkitt says you should to start off in politics early and not to worry about going to college because everything someone learns in college will have to be unlearned if you go into politics. His example is himself as a young man going to the district leader and telling him that he has command of more votes than just his own. As Plunkitt puts it “ What I did was get some marketable goods before goin ' to the leaders.”(8) He states that his “marketable goods” gave him
2 status, respect, and a little bit of rank with in his party; as he increased the number of votes he commanded or as he would say he increased the quantity of marketable
Cited: Plunkitt, George W, and William L. Riordon. Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics. New York: McClure, Phillips & Co, 1905. Print.