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William Magear Tweed
William Magear Tweed
Born- April 3, 1823
Died- April 12, 1827
MEMBER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
From New Yorks 5th District
IN OFFICE: March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855
William "BOSS" Tweed was convicted for stealing an amount estimated by an aldermen's committee in 1877 at between $25 million and $45 million from New York City taxpayers through political corruption, although later estimates ranged as high as $200 million. Tweed began his rise to power in the late 1840's as a volunteer fireman in New York City. He served as an alderman in 1852-53 and then was elected to a term in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1853-55. Tweeds focal point of interest were in state and local affairs, and he withheld a heavy title in Tammany Hall which was the organizational force of the Democratic Party in New York.
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William Tweed was the leader and mastermind behind a controversial political force matured, to be known as "The Tweed Ring". The Tweed ring was responsible for countless injustices such as bribes offered of $600,000 to pass a new charter, taking over control of public services, for example the Department of Public Parks, garnishing huge profits from the development of the upper east side of Manhattan and more. The system was very well organized and illegitimate, yet very intelligent. Despite mass corruption through the various well constructed schemes involved, the development of New York City went full steam ahead and conclusively was accomplished in full. The corruption added up to put New York City in triple it's bond debt all the way up to 90 million dollars. Members of the Tweed ring included corrupt city official consisting of
John T. Hoffman- Inaugurated Governor of New York State.
A. Oakey Hall- Mayor
Richard B. Connolly- City Comptroller
Peter Barr Sweeny- City Chamberlain
CARTOON TO CONVICTION
Tweed and his peers presumed that money could buy their immunity to any altercations that would cross their path pushing their agenda. One man's honor weighed more than its weight in gold in the media. Thomas Nast, one of the most prominent cartoonists of his era came up with simple yet impacting idea that shaped changed the public opinion and contributed to the conviction and following imprisonment of Boss Tweed. During the 1800's many New Yorkers were immigrants of foreign countries and could not speak English which meant they could not read the print in the papers either. It is said that a picture could paint a thousand words, and along came Nast who depicted with his political cartoons what could not be understood by the majority of New York's public in text. Images portrayed below started to gain public interest and caused a hype that Tweed tried to silence with a pay off bribe that Nast turned down and continued on his mission for justice. Had Nast been layed off by Harper Weekly the sequence of event would have been thrown way off course. This came as a shock to Tweed because of his ties to the media and left him and his followers in a vulnerable position for exposure. 
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THE WATERGATE SCANDAL
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Although there is a lot of controversy with the Watergate scandal, i still believe Nixon wasn't such a bad guy. He made some mistakes but he was a good man and got caught up. In the Watergate scandal Nixon tried to get ahead by sending a group to break in and retrieve information to get the tip to win the election. His committee tried to create a cover up story but the power of journalism and the media created such a hype and exposure that he stepped down from office.
On the evening of August 8, 1974, Richard Milhous Nixon announced that he would resign as the 37th President of the United States at noon the following day. Vice President Gerald R. Ford of Michigan would take the oath as the new President to complete the remaining years of Mr. Nixon's term.
Nixon got caught red handed when the video above leaked about his involvement in the scandal which crushed him as a man which after reading about him changed his life after the incident.
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