Augustus F. Pierce ( 1877 – January 16, 1934) was an American politician who served as the

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

leader of

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

's 8th assembly district in New York City until his death in 1934. An employee of the city since 1907, at the time of his death he worked for the Department of Sanitation.

Early life and family

Augustus F. Pierce was born c. 1877 to Franklin and Jane Pierce (née McGinnis) in New York. In the 1910 United States Census he was listed as married to Loretta Pierce (b. 1888) and had an eight-year-old son; the family resided in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Political career

Pierce campaigned for

John P. O'Brien John Patrick O'Brien (February 1, 1873September 22, 1951) was an Irish-American politician who served as the 98th Mayor of New York City from January 1 to December 31, 1933. Life and career O'Brien was born on February 1, 1873, to Mary and Patr ...

in the 1933 mayoral election in the Bronx.

Fiorello H. La Guardia Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City fro ...

, an enemy of Tammany Hall, won that election, which took place on November 7, but opponents of La Guardia still had a reasonable chance to block his measures in the

Board of Aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

. Bronx alderman Alford J. Williams died in December 1933, and the Board convened on January 16, 1934, to elect his successor. Pierce was in the audience of the meeting to support Thomas Dolen, the Tammany Hall leader of the borough. John S. McGinley, a member of the Recovery Party and ally of La Guardia's, was elected as Williams's successor by a vote of 42 to 19, thus stripping Tammany Hall of control of the Board which it had had since consolidation in 1896. This vote was unexpected and made possible by the defections of 14 aldermen allied with Tammany Hall's citywide leader John F. Curry and 21 allied with Curry's Brooklyn ally John H. McCooey. Minutes after the vote Pierce collapsed from a heart attack in the chambers of the Board, and minutes later was pronounced dead at the scene. His death was directly attributed to the vote result. He was buried in the Gates of Heaven Cemetery. McCooey died less than a week after Pierce; these deaths spelled the end of Curry's hold on Tammany Hall, and of Tammany Hall's hold of the city.

James Farley James Aloysius Farley (May 30, 1888 – June 9, 1976) was an American politician and Knight of Malta who simultaneously served as chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Postmaste ...

, the Democratic leader of New York state, announced his support of La Guardia to Democratic U.S. President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, giving La Guardia access to federal funding and consolidating his control over the city.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, Augustus Politicians from the Bronx 1877 births 1934 deaths New York (state) Democrats