William M. Tweed, c.1870 This portrait shows William Magear “Boss” Tweed around 1870, at the height of his political power in New York City. Tweed was the influential leader of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that controlled much of New York’s city and state politics in the mid-19th century. Though he rose to prominence as a state senator and a powerful figure in city government, Tweed became infamous for his role in large-scale corruption and embezzlement schemes that defra