Triangle: the Fire That Changed America Essay

Sawyer White Klurfeld C-ODD Spring Book Assignment 4/04/11 Some disasters are so impactful, that they forever change the course of history. On March 25, 1911, one such event took place. The infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Fire occurred that day, and left one hundred and forty-six people dead in its wake. While many at the time thought the story would soon pass, and with it all the potential bad publicity, the story of the fire spread quickly, and outraged many people. As a result, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire ended up changing many business and political practices of the time. In his book Triangle: The Fire that Changed America, David von Drehle argues that the fire largely impacted the country. Specifically, von Drehle argues that the Triangle Fire ended up changing New York’s interconnected political and economic scene, and spurred on the creation of stricter safety codes. The political scene of New York was altered greatly as a result of the Triangle Fire. Still dominated by the machine-boss system, New York was prime example of graft and corruption of politicians. Tammany Hall still reigned supreme, even after the fall of Boss Tweed in the 1870s, and it was headed by a man named Charles Murphy. In 1909, when workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory went on strike, owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris used the police and gangsters to get the strikers to give up their cause. The suppliers of these corrupt officers and gangsters were none other than the men at Tammany Hall. “Clearly, Tammany Hall’s one-two punch—the police and gangsters—remained squarely on the side of the owners (pg. 50).” While publicly Tammany Hall was very helpful and generous to the poor, on important issues of business, the machine sided with management every time. Tammany