This paper will analyze the effects of bribery and corruption in the political arena in Boston, Massachusetts. The discussion will show that the city of Boston has a long history of corruption, as well as point out the role that some Irish political leaders have played in the political scene during the last century in this particular region.
Boston's history is full of Irish political leaders like Hugh O'Brien, Patrick Collins, Martin Lomasney, Patrick Kennedy, and John F. Fitzgerald. More recent Irish leaders include recent mayors of Boston: James Mich'l Curley (who left Boston with his legacy of political corruption) (Hirsch, 996), Maurice Tobin, and John B. Hynes (O'Connor, xvi-xix).
One of the most legendary of Boston's mayor is the late Mich'l Curley. Curley is also thought to be the first in a line of several corrupt politician who hailed from Boston. From 1914 to 1949, Curley served four terms as mayor. The Democrat was later elected to U.S. Congress and then became governor of Massachusetts, he was later indicted and spent six months of his Mayoral Term in 1947 in federal prison for a mail fraud conviction. What some observers claim is even more unbelievable is that Curley was elected to his fourth term as Boston's Mayor while sitting in jail!
Years ago, when Boston was struggling with the problems of desegregating its schools and complying with court-ordered busing requirements, some political observers felt that the tension was really between two Irish leaders who did not understand each other. Specifically, political problems were not put to rest so long as one Irish judge, Arthur Garrity, fought with Boston's then mayor, Kevin White, who was Irish Catholic.
Before 1967, all of the people who ran for the office of mayor in Boston where white males. However, one female ran for office in 1967, Louise Day Hicks. But Mrs. Hicks was not an outsider to Boston politics, she was a lawyer whose father was a...