Tammany Hall

Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, is a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society.

It is the Democratic Party political machine that plays a major role in controlling New York City and New York State politics and helping immigrants, most notably the Irish, rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s.

It controls Democratic Party nominations and patronage in Manhattan from the mayoral victory of Fernando Wood in 1854 through the election of John P. O'Brien in 1932.

Tammany Hall is permanently weakened by the election of Fiorello La Guardia on a "fusion" ticket of Republicans, reform-minded Democrats, and independents in 1934, and, despite a brief resurgence in the 1950s, it ceases to exist in the 1960s.The Tammany Society is named for Tamanend, a Native American leader of the Lenape, and emerges as the center for Democratic-Republican Party politics in the City in the early 19th Century.

The "Hall" serving as the Society's headquarters is built in 1830 on East 14th Street, marking an era when Tammany Hall becomes the city affiliate of the Democratic Party, controlling most of the New York City elections afterwards.The Society expands its political control even further by earning the loyalty of the city's ever-expanding immigrant community, which functions as a base of political capital.

The Tammany Hall ward boss or ward heeler – "wards" are the city's smallest political units from 1686 to 1938 – serves as the local vote gatherer and provider of patronage.

Beginning in late 1845, Tammany power surges with the influx of millions of Irish immigrants to New York.

From 1872, Tammany has an Irish "boss," and in 1928 a Tammany hero, New York Governor Al Smith wins the Democratic presidential nomination.

However, Tammany Hall also serves as an engine for graft and political corruption, perhaps most infamously under William M. "Boss" Tweed in the mid-19th century.Tammany Hall's influence wanes in the 20th Century; in 1932, Mayor Jimmy Walker is forced from office, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt strips Tammany of Federal patronage.

Republican Fiorello La Guardia is elected Mayor on a Fusion ticket and becomes the first anti-Tammany Mayor to be reelected.

A brief resurgence in Tammany power in the 1950s is met with Democratic Party opposition led by Eleanor Roosevelt, Herbert Lehman, and the New York Committee for Democratic Voters.

By the mid-1960s, Tammany Hall ceases to exist.

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