How It All Goes Down
Philadelphia's Playground
- Besides all the outright racism, there's some other shady stuff happening in Atlantic City, too. Although prostitution is supposed to be illegal, it's quite common—and freely available—in here.
- Although the outside public is well aware of this, mostly due to frequent exposés from the Philadelphia Bulletin, no one seems to care. If a new article comes out, Atlantic City police confiscates the copies "from Boardwalk newsstands as quickly as the papers arrived" (4.4). Yes, you read that right—the police.
- Philadelphians make up the bulk of Atlantic City's clientele. The city of Philadelphia itself is pretty conservative, so leaders in that community are not very happy to have such a den of iniquity nearby. See, Philadelphia was founded by this dude named William Penn, a devout Quaker. Quakers, in case you don't know, believe in a morally steadfast branch of Christianity, hence the hand-wringing over Atlantic City's sins.
- By the end of the 19th century, Philly had grown from a tiny town into an industrial center with over one million residents—many of whom are immigrants lured by "the jobs created by the city's factories" (4.11). Unaccustomed to Philly's strict moralism, these blue-collar workers need some place to let off some steam. They need Atlantic City, where local politicians prevent the laws regulating prostitution, gambling, and booze from being enforced.
- In 1908, this issue is brought before a statewide investigation. The local sheriff stops the investigation in its tracks, though, rigging grand juries so convictions are all but impossible.
- Eventually, a tight relationship develops between local politicians and gangsters. This newly formed power structure is led by three men: "County Clerk Louis Scott, Congressman John Gardner, and County Sheriff Smith Johnson" (4.29). But we're not going to talk about them right now; instead we're going to focus on an upstart kid named Louis Kuehnle. A hotelier by trade, Kuehnle quickly becomes Smith's right-hand man.
- Kuehnle's father emigrated from Germany to New York, where he became a well-respected restaurateur. The family eventually made their way to Atlantic City, where they opened a popular spot called Kuehnle's Hotel; Kuehnle the Younger takes over the business by the time he's eighteen. Pretty impressive, right? Kuehnle quickly becomes a major player in the local scene, eventually earning the nickname of "'the Commodore'" (4.31). That sounds pretty important.
- In fact, our three bosses frequently meet on the front porch of Kuehnle's hotel. Although Scott is ostensibly in charge, everything needs to go through Kuehnle first—and after Scott's death in 1900, Kuehnle officially takes over the top spot. He sets up a system in which Sheriff Johnson collects and distributes cash between the local Republican Party (which Kuehnle leads) and the city's many criminal enterprises.
- With time, Kuehnle becomes powerful, not just in Atlantic City, but throughout New Jersey. Through bribery and voter fraud, he's able to rack up big vote totals for statewide Republican races, giving him a great deal of power within the party.
- Enter Woodrow Wilson. Before becoming president, Wilson is the governor of New Jersey, where he makes "a pledge to wipe out corruption at all levels of government" (4.43). Atlantic City ranks pretty high on that list.
- After his election, Wilson forms the "Macksey Committee," dedicated to rooting out corruption. Although it's a long, drawn-out process—interfered with at every turn by Atlantic City bigwigs—Woodrow finally manages to send Kuehnle to prison for a year. When Kuehnle returns from his long vacation, he discovers that his protégé, Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, has taken control of the city.