William M. Tweed Quotes
I don't care a straw for your newspaper articles, my constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures.
Paine, Albert Bigelow. Th. Nast: His Period and His Pictures. Macmillan, 1904, p. 137.
Tweed was the powerful boss of New York City’s corrupt political machine—Tammany Hall. The newspapers had been attacking Tweed and Tammany Hall for several years but they never resonated with the public. The cartoons of Thomas Nast however were not only understood by illiterates, but the cartoons caused an emotional reaction against Weed and his organization which led to their downfall.
Given the early year, with television available in only New York and large cities and hardly any viewers, it is fascinating that White could see the importance of the new medium. Masters of old media tend to underestimate the power and advantage of new media.
William Magear Tweed, often erroneously referred to as "William Marcy Tweed" (see below), and widely known as "Boss" Tweed, was an American politician most notable for being the "boss" of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th-century New York City and State. At the height of his influence, Tweed was the third-largest landowner in New York City, a director of the Erie Railroad, a director of the Tenth National Bank, a director of the New-York Printing Company, the proprietor of the Metropolitan Hotel, a significant stockholder in iron mines and gas companies, a board member of the Harlem Gas Light Company, a board member of the Third Avenue Railway Company, a board member of the Brooklyn Bridge Company, and the president of the Guardian Savings Bank.
