5. CHEATING IN CHICAGO? Who'd have figured? A legendary figure in Chicago's history of political high jinks is Sidney "Short Pencil" Lewis, who was accused of erasing votes for Richard J. Dailey during the 1955 Democratic mayoral primary. (This determines who will be the next Chicago mayor.)
According to author James Marriner, "short pencil" also referred to other unfair Sidney Lewis tactics like providing voters with a stubby pencil that made it difficult to mark their ballots, or putting the pencil on such a short string that they couldn't mark the whole ballot and instead were encouraged to vote straight ticket, for Democrats, of course.
6. CHEATING IN BASEBALL. When the New York Giants' Bobby Thompson hit his famous "shot heard 'round the world" homer off Brooklyn Dodgers' pitcher Ralph Branca in 1951, it might not have been the answer to a thousand prayers so much as careful planning, er, cheating.
The Giants used a telescope for most of the season to steal the opposing teams' pitching signs, a fact confirmed 50 years later by reporter Joshua Prager. The elaborate scheme required the team running an electrical line to te dugout to quickly relay the info.
Bobby Thompson went to his grave denying that he knew a fastball was coming his way.
Showing posts with label Dirty Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dirty Politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Chicago's Mayor Levi Boone-- Part 2
From Wikipedia. Continued from October 11th.
This is where Levi Boone's history gets really interesting.
In the 1855 election for mayor, Boone received support from Temperance people and the American Party (known better as the "Know-Nothings." He ran on an anti-immigrant platform and won.
There were claims that voted from the Bridgeport district, largely Irish and German immigrants, weren't counted.
One of Boone's first moves in office was to establish the first Chicago police force. He also banned all immigrants from city jobs.
Soon afterwards, he raised the city liquor licenses from $50 to $75 a year and thenk, as a Temperance proponent, he enforced a law already on the books, but not enforced, the closing of taverns on Sundays. This move led to the Lager Beer Riot, which I will write about later.
After the riots, Irish and German immigrants joined together to defeat Boone and the Know Nothings the next election.
During the Civil War, Levi Boone was held 38 days at Camp Douglas under suspicion that he had helped a Confederate prisoner escape.
He was buried at Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery in 1882.
Some Chicago Politics Don't Change. --Cooter
This is where Levi Boone's history gets really interesting.
In the 1855 election for mayor, Boone received support from Temperance people and the American Party (known better as the "Know-Nothings." He ran on an anti-immigrant platform and won.
There were claims that voted from the Bridgeport district, largely Irish and German immigrants, weren't counted.
One of Boone's first moves in office was to establish the first Chicago police force. He also banned all immigrants from city jobs.
Soon afterwards, he raised the city liquor licenses from $50 to $75 a year and thenk, as a Temperance proponent, he enforced a law already on the books, but not enforced, the closing of taverns on Sundays. This move led to the Lager Beer Riot, which I will write about later.
After the riots, Irish and German immigrants joined together to defeat Boone and the Know Nothings the next election.
During the Civil War, Levi Boone was held 38 days at Camp Douglas under suspicion that he had helped a Confederate prisoner escape.
He was buried at Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery in 1882.
Some Chicago Politics Don't Change. --Cooter
Monday, October 11, 2010
Chicago's Mayor Levi Boone-- Part 1
On an earlier post, I mentioned that a former Chicago Mayor by the name of Levi Boone had been held at the Confederate prison in Chicago, Camp Douglas, because of his supposed Southern leanings.
I decided to use good old Wikipedia and find out some more about him. And, an interesting read it was. Chicago politics at its best, even as far back as the 1850s.
Levi Boone was born in Kentucky in 1808 and died Jan. 24, 1882. He was the great-nephew of one Daniel Boone. After graduating from medical school, he moved to Illinois and set up a medical practice in Hillsboro. In 1832, he served in the Black Hawk War.
He arrived in Chicago in 1835 and helped to establish the Cook County Medical Board.
he was a longtime temperance advocate and claimed that the scriptures provided a basis for slavery.
More to Come. --DaCoot
I decided to use good old Wikipedia and find out some more about him. And, an interesting read it was. Chicago politics at its best, even as far back as the 1850s.
Levi Boone was born in Kentucky in 1808 and died Jan. 24, 1882. He was the great-nephew of one Daniel Boone. After graduating from medical school, he moved to Illinois and set up a medical practice in Hillsboro. In 1832, he served in the Black Hawk War.
He arrived in Chicago in 1835 and helped to establish the Cook County Medical Board.
he was a longtime temperance advocate and claimed that the scriptures provided a basis for slavery.
More to Come. --DaCoot
Monday, November 10, 2008
Dirty Politics
The October 19th Chicago Tribune ran an article in their Perspective section on 10 Things You Might Not Know About DIRTY POLITICS by Mark Jacob. They run these ten Things You Didn't Know columns several times a month and they are always interesting.
And, of course, this being Chicago, who would have any idea about such a thing. "It can't happen here."
Before we forget about the election and all the mudslinging. We were fortunate in Illinois not to be one of those "Battleground" states. Mudslinging and bad talk was all I heard while visiting family in North Carolina the last year. We didn't have much here in the Prairie State.
Anyway, here goes:
1. In Britain, operatives showed up in nursing homes with pre-marked absentee voter ballots in what was called "Granny Farming."
2. At one time, Roman Catholics were considered scary. Al Smith, a Catholic running for US president in 1928, was called a "rum-soaked Romanist." His opponents circulated pictures of New York's Holland Tunnel with captions saying it was the beginning of a tunnel to the Vatican.
3. In the 1946 Georgia primary for governor, Eugene Talmadge appealed to white racists by hiring a look-alike of his opponent to ride around in a limousine with two cigar-puffing blacks in the backseat. It worked, but Talmadge died the night before his inauguration.
More to Come. That Mark Jacob is One Funny Guy. --Cooter
And, of course, this being Chicago, who would have any idea about such a thing. "It can't happen here."
Before we forget about the election and all the mudslinging. We were fortunate in Illinois not to be one of those "Battleground" states. Mudslinging and bad talk was all I heard while visiting family in North Carolina the last year. We didn't have much here in the Prairie State.
Anyway, here goes:
1. In Britain, operatives showed up in nursing homes with pre-marked absentee voter ballots in what was called "Granny Farming."
2. At one time, Roman Catholics were considered scary. Al Smith, a Catholic running for US president in 1928, was called a "rum-soaked Romanist." His opponents circulated pictures of New York's Holland Tunnel with captions saying it was the beginning of a tunnel to the Vatican.
3. In the 1946 Georgia primary for governor, Eugene Talmadge appealed to white racists by hiring a look-alike of his opponent to ride around in a limousine with two cigar-puffing blacks in the backseat. It worked, but Talmadge died the night before his inauguration.
More to Come. That Mark Jacob is One Funny Guy. --Cooter
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