McGuinness of Greenpoint
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Peter J. McGuinness (1888-1948) was a highly successful Irish-American Brooklyn  Democratic politician who, in the 1930s and  1940s, was a living anachronism. After World  War II, when Tammany Hall was dying out  and reform and fusion were the new political  forces reshaping New  York City politics,  McGuinness ruled his ward as the last  Tammany-Hall style ward boss in the city. His  nearly thirty years of political rule in  Greenpoint were a product of old-school  Democratic machine politics that he learned as  a local boy and as a teenager in the Bowery  watching Tammany Hall sachem, Big Tim  Sullivan.
Though McGuinness utilized certain elements of Tammany machine tactics, he was  also a radical departure from Tammany cor - ruption, and his ability to convince voters of  his honesty allowed him to survive when  Tammany politicians could not. His rule in  Greenpoint has often been unfairly compared  to other machine politicians, but McGuinness'  unprecedented hold on political power and enduring popularity were unique. He understood that the key to political power was to  provide honest service to local constituents,  and no politician ever was more attentive to  the needs of his constituents than  McGuinness.
In a profile in the  American Mercury  mag - azine in 1933 Peter Pringle called  McGuinness, "The last of a noble line." He  compared McGuinness to the modern politi - cian whose speeches were written for him and  who had nothing really to say. Pringle said that  he belonged to "An older almost vanished  school" and noted that McGuinness had "no  guile, trickery or deceit." (American Mercury,  p.435) He spoke his mind and he spoke on  any topic under the sun. He relied on his gut  instincts and said exactly what he thought.  McGuinness flourished in the days before  focus groups determined what a politician said  or did not say. What he said for years resonated with his Greenpoint constituents.
Even in the late 1940s, when the  New   Yorker did a long profile on McGuinness,  McGuinness of Greenpoint   Photo:  Peter J. McGuinness was  born in Greenpoint in  1888, the third of fourteen  children. As a political  leader, city official, and  Alderman representing the  Fifteenth Assembly  District, he was a fighter  for the interests of people in  Greenpoint. He sought,  among other things,  restoration of ferry service  to Manhattan,  construction of a new  subway line, a new bridge  over the Newtown Creek, a  bridge connecting Brooklyn  and Queens, several  playgrounds, and a huge  swimming pool for  McCarren Park. Courtesy  of Geoffrey Cobb.
NYIHR_P30_Cobb_V29_FinFin_2.indd   309/13/16   8:23 PM   the reporter was taken aback by what a throwback McGuinness was to the bygone  Tammany sachems. He was a large powerful  man who physically resembled old time Irish  ward bosses. Like Tammany ward bosses his  speech was that of the working class, and he  had a large booming voice like the Tammany  chiefs of the past. Even his physical appearance  reminded the  New   Yorker writer of Tammany  sachems: McGuinness is an anachronism. His  approach to politics was outdated before  he was born. His language went out  along with cops in jardiniere hats. His  face seems improbable in the mid-  twentieth century. Newspaper cartoon - ists say they can get a perfect caricature  of the old-time boss by drawing the con - temporary McGuinness true to life,  which in fact seems larger than life.  Nast and Keppler, they maintain, never  created anything half so plausible as  McGuinness. (Rovere, p. 21)  growing up in greenpoint McGuinness came of age in the day before  most politicians were college-educated men.  He never went to high school, but he had  made up for his lack of formal education with  shrewdness, charm, and an unbelievable wit.  He was a larger-than-lifer figure who had huge  charisma, but also an innate sense of the needs  of his constituents and a genuine concern for  their well-being.  Much of McGuinness' success was due to  his being so similar to his constituents.  McGuinness was the son of a foreman in a  brass factory. One of fourteen children,  McGuinness grew up in Greenpoint, one of  the most heavily industrialized areas in the  world. His constituents were the working class  and were often waterfront hands or factory  workers who also had little formal education.  He even spoke like them and took pride in his  working-class Brooklynese speech.
Greenpoint was one of the most heavily  Democratic areas of the city during  McGuinness' life, and people took a huge  interest in local political contests. There were fifteen active Democratic clubs in the neighborhood and even minor elections were hotly  contested. Greenpoint campaigns were passionate affairs and tensions often ran high.  Successful local politicians were often large  tough men like McGuinnes, who stood six feet  two and often weighed twohundred and sev - enty pounds. Street oratory was how votes  were won, and the politician who could shout  down not only hecklers but also opponents  won elections. McGuiness related how, as  young men, opponents in political contests  threw spoiled fruit and vegetables as well as  soaked loaves of bread from rooftops in working-class Greenpoint.  McGuinness was not just born with the  physical build to be a blue-collar politician, he  also had the personal skills needed to succeed  in elections. By the time he was seven he knew  everyone in his neighborhood, and all his life  he had an amazing ability to recall names and  faces. When he was just eight-years old he  began his career in local politics. Young Pete  was charming and extremely gregarious person  who could make people laugh. The local ward  captain, realizing that the boy had the ability  to get out the vote, tapped him to remind people in his district to vote. McGuinness turned  out between thirty and forty voters to cast ballots for William Jennings Bryant, an achievement that an adult might have been envious  Geoffrey Cobb is a Brooklyn  historian who teaches at the  High School for Service and  Learning on the historic  Erasmus Hall campus. He  has recently published  Greenpoint: Brooklyn's  Forgotten Past  and is  currently working on a book  about Peter J. McGuinness  titled King of Greenpoint.  Mr. Cobb has lived in  Greenpoint for more than  two decades. ©2016.  Published with permission   of Geoffrey Cobb.  Photo:  Greenpoint is a densely  populated, heavily used  neighborhood in  northern Brooklyn.   Once a richly verdant  area, by the midnineteenth century   it was changing from  agricultural to industrial  activities. By the early  twentieth century,  industries operating there  included shipbuilding,  oil refineries, printing,  glassworks, and  foundries. During  McGuinness' political  career, the population  was largely working-class  Irish, German, and  Polish families. Courtesy  of Geoffrey Cobb.
NYIHR_P30_Cobb_V29_FinFin_2.indd   319/13/16   8:23 PM   of. McGuinness' love of politics was born and  as a young man, long before he could vote, he  was active in his local Democratic Club, the  Jefferson Club, where he was given the job of  election-day messenger and later ward captain.  When McGuinness was fourteen in 1902  he found work in the Bowery delivering cigars  to the local saloons in the area. The saloons  were de-facto political clubs and were all under  the control of the "King of The Bowery," Big  Tim Sullivan, who made sure that anyone  hired in a bar in his area was loyal to him.  Sullivan must have met the young  McGuinness and given him his approval.  the influence of big tim McGuinness and Sullivan shared many similarities in addition to their Irish-Catholic roots  and their intimidating bulk. Both had started  out as newspaper boys, and both men had  known poverty as children. The two men also  worked from their childhoods to support  younger siblings. They were both generous  men who had concern for the poor, probably  because both could remember want and deprivation. Both saw their roles as district leaders  involving help to the poor and both men  reached into their own pockets to aid needy  constituents.  McGuinness observed how Sullivan ran  the local machine and won the loyalty of vot - ers. He would later emulate many of the  Sullivan techniques when he became political  boss of Greenpoint. Sullivan understood one  fact of political life in New  York City perfectly  well. He understood that running the Bowery  was a profession and his power was dependent  on the perceived benefits of his constituents.  He knew he had to work to help his constituents. Sullivan summed up the situation:  "When you get down to brass tacks it's the  work that does the business." (Welch, p. 47)  One of the keys to McGuinness' enduring  success was the work he did every night in his  political clubhouse. He would meet with his  constituents and try to solve their personal  problems. McGuinness' services included legal  advice, interceding with judges and the police,  helping to find jobs, securing government benefits, cajoling landlords, playing the role of family court judge, and a host of others.  Sullivan's machine might have been corrupt, but it served the people at a time when  there was no safety net. The machine offered  jobs, legal support, social events, fuel, food, and  shelter if necessary. The emerging machine  itself was a profession. Party leaders wanted  three things: votes, spoils and power. Tammany  Hall survived countless scandals because it did  not merely take: it gave back to an impover - ished community. McGuinness' club, The  Greenpoint People's Regular Democratic Club  would be incredibly similar to Sullivan's lower  East Side club, and McGuinness internalized  the lessons about service and maintaining  power Sullivan expressed.  One feature of the Sullivan machine  McGuinness most likely brought back to  Greenpoint was Christmas dinner. Sullivan  reached into his own pocket to host Christmas  dinner for literarily thousands of his poorest  constituents. The constituents were not only  fed, but the fathers were give work boots and  the children were given toys. McGuinness' club  also distributed a huge amount of free food to  the poor during McGuinness' Christmas parties, especially during the Depression where by  some estimates half the population was out of  work. In 1932 his club distributed as many as  two-thousand baskets to the poor, and in many  cases these baskets literally were the only food  many of the Greenpoint poor had at  Christmas. McGuinness said, "I came face to  face with conditions of poverty in Greenpoint  there are more than a thousand people who are  on the point of actual hunger." (McGuinness,  Collected Papers, vol.9, p. 145)  Neither Sullivan nor McGuinness condemned the poor. They saw them as victims  and not as morally deficient. McGuinness  once responded to the claim that Greenpoint  had the most poverty among surrounding sections of the city:  God must have loved the poor people  if he centered them all in Greenpoint.  While my folks are poor they are honest.  Why shouldn't the garden spot suffer. It is  the second largest district for factories  NYIHR_P30_Cobb_V29_FinFin_2.indd   329/13/16   8:23 PM   and industry in the country. Well the  depression hit business and them places  shut down So with no work the people in  GP are up agin it.  (McGuinness,  Collected Papers, vol.9, p. 187)  his rise to power  Although McGuinness admired and emulated  Sullivan, his rise to political power was very  different. The Whyos, a lower East Side street  gang aided Sullivan who was also helped by  his ownership of bars. Quickly, Tammany  Hall recognized Sullivan's ability to attract  votes and convinced him to join its ranks.  Much of Sullivan's power derived from his  close links to gamblers and other criminal elements, as well as from the Tammany organization. Sullivan used gang members to vote  often as paid "repeaters" as well using them to  intimidate opponents away from the polls.  Sullivan's rise to power was as much a result of  dirty politics as his own genuine popularity.  McGuinness rose to power in a com - pletely different manner. His rise to power  was honest and, instead of being embraced by  the political machine, he ran against it.  McGuinness was fed up with the graft and  corruption that he saw in Greenpoint as well  as the machine's indifference to the plight of  the common people in Greenpoint.  McGuinness, unlike Sullivan, was a true  reformer who had nowhere near the amount  of ties to the underworld that Sullivan had.
McGuinness's entire political career was  unlikely. McGuinness returned to Greenpoint  from the Bowery and started working as a ste - vedore in Orr's lumber yard in 1908. Unlike  Sullivan, and highly unusual for a longshoreman, McGuinness never drank alcohol.  McGuinness first political activity began four  years later when he became part of a group  called "The Native Borns," which was an  anti-immigrant group that his enemies later  charged was designed to kick the Poles out of  Greenpoint.  Much of the political support that pro - pelled McGuinness into power came from his  fellow longshoremen at Orr's. One incident  gave birth to his rapid rise in the Local 955 of the local longshoremen's union which, it was reported, McGuinness recounted years later: "It was at a meeting of the local in  Germania Hall," Pete recounted. "I  was in the Gents' Room. I was sitting  down. These two [union] delegates  come in and start talking. They don't  know no one is there. I'm a son of a  bitch, they're divvying up one hundred  thirty-two bucks they just took in dues.  The sweats running down me back. I  pull up me pants and go for them. I  flang one of them through a glass panel  door and knocked (out) the other cold.  Then I marched them into the room  where the Lumber Handlers was. Me  and a friend made them empty their  pockets on the table. They come up with  a hundred and fifty. I made a motion  we teach them a lesson by using the  other eighteen for beer and bologna  Photo:  Big Tim Sullivan, at  left, was born in   1862 and began work  as a newsboy and   shoe shiner. His  entrepreneurial and  organizing skills   caught the attentions of  political leaders, and   he became official  Tammany leader of  Manhattan's  heterogeneous Third  Assembly District when  he was appointed by  Tammany Boss Richard  Croker in the 1890s.  He maintained a  reliable political  machine in the District  and kept it operating  smoothly for years.  Courtesy of Richard   W. Welch.
NYIHR_P30_Cobb_V29_FinFin_2.indd   339/13/16   8:23 PM   sandwiches for the whole local. Me  friend seconded it, and it passed unani - mous." (Rovere, p.23)  Both McGuinness and Sullivan were politicians in areas where the Irish-American and  native born populations were shrinking. Part  of the key to Sullivan's success was his ability  not only to reach out to the large Jewish and  Italian populations of his district, but also to  incorporate these groups into his political  machine. While McGuinness sought to downplay his role in the Native Borns and deny the  group's xenophobic intentions, nevertheless  the Polish population continued to claim that  he did not reward them with jobs in proportion to their size, and his opponents repeated  the charge. McGuinness certainly never  enjoyed the warm relations that Sullivan did  with other ethnic groups. mcguiness & world war i McGuinness owed his political career in large  part to World War I. Prior to the War  McGuinnes tried to run for alderman as an  independent Democrat and lost badly. In 1919 after the War he was elected alderman, defeating William McGarry, the choice of the Brooklyn Democratic machine of John McCooey, because his activities on the home front in Greenpoint made him much more popular. In 1917 when the United States entered the war the xenophobic Native Borns were transformed into "The Greenpoint Patriotic League" under McGuinness' leadership. McGuinness was not yet thirty years old,  but he astutely recognized the power of patrio - tism and he played on it masterfully.  McGuinness claimed that the Democratic  Party's district leader, boss James McQuade  was not doing enough to boost the morale of  Greenpoint's soldiers. He ordered his followers  to canvass the neighborhood for money to buy  presents for the men going off to war.  Naturally, this was a popular cause. The draft - ed men entrained for camp in public.  Whenever a batch of Greenpoint boys left,  they were given a send-off by McGuinness and  his partisans, carrying the banners of  McGuinness organizations, and by the Full  Military Brass Band of Professor William J.  Connolly, a musician who was one of  McGuinness's most important political allies.  McGuinness would borrow a white horse from  Orr's, and he would ride regally and majestically at the head of the farewell parade The local draft board was run by his  childhood friend John MacCrate, and Pete  found out the names of the local boys who  were going off to war, sat down with the draftee and the soldier's family and re-assured the  apprehensive parents. McGuinness presented  each draftee with a bon voyage package containing food, cigarettes, soap, razor blades,  and an inspirational leaflet by McGuinness  himself. The Patriotic League continued to  send packages to the soldiers even when they  were stationed in France, and many grateful  soldiers wrote letters home to the local news - paper, the  Greenpoint Star,  thanking the  Patriotic League and casting McGuinness's  work in a positive light.  After the War Pete formed an organization  to help local boys re-enter the job market.  These men and their families felt sincerely  Photo:  McGuinness was a large  man who, in his younger  years, had been a bouncer,  a middleweight boxer,  and a teamster.  Time  magazine once  characterized him as "an  enormous man with an  enormous voice...[and]  the bearing of a Roman  Emperor." Courtesy of  Geoffrey Cobb.
NYIHR_P30_Cobb_V29_FinFin_2.indd   349/13/16   8:23 PM   grateful to Pete and later they would become  some of his staunchest supporters. McGuinness  decided to attack the local political machine for  its inactivity and failure to effect positive local  changes. In 1918 McGuinness took the unusual step of supporting MacCrate in his bid for  Congress, even though MacCrate was a  Republican. He encouraged MacCrate to enter  the Democratic primary, and his childhood  friend won in a divided contest.  Part of the reason MacCrate amassed so  many votes in a heavily Democratic district  was that McGuinness managed the campaign  for his friend. He charged that the sitting  Congressman was missing a huge number of  votes on the floor of the House, tarring him  with the name "Vanishing Joseph Flynn."  MacCrate's election to Congress was a shock to  the local political machine, but there was far  more to come.  The following year McGuinness himself  ran for alderman against the candidate of the  district leader, James McQuade. The odds  seemed heavily stacked against McGuinness.  The incumbent not only had patronage, but  he had the backing of the Brooklyn  Democratic leader, McCooey.  However, McGuinness ran a masterful  campaign. He began his attack on the  McQuade machine by blaming it for  Greenpoint's pollution, lack of civic improve - ments, and declining real estate values. His campaign showed an understanding of the power of the media that older ward politicians never had. The press was his first forum. Every time he learned of a new grievance, he wrote a letter to the local newspaper blaming McQuade and his organization. A local writer who would later become his coleader, Julia Conlon, aided him in writing these letters. McGuinness held McQuade responsible for Greenpoint's lack of playgrounds and schools, for the deplorable condition of its pavements, for the reeking pollution from the factories, for the stench in Newtown Creek, for gypsy encampments, and for the fact that livestock was being herded through the streets of Greenpoint. "These animals," he wrote of the cattle in passage to slaughter, "knock over baby carriages with babies in them, and they knock down Greenpoint mothers, and the bulls kick them and knock them down, running into store windows and kicking them and breaking them. Why does Greenpoint have to put up  with this? What's our  dude leader Jim  McQuade and his  alderman and his  assemblyman doing to  stop these beasts?"  Other neighborhoods,  he complained, were  getting public baths  and showers, but  Greenpoint, which  lacked indoor sanita - tion, was not. "What's  the matter with Park  Avenue Jim  McQuade?" he  demanded to know.  "Don't he think his own people are good  enough to have baths and showers? What we  need around here is fighting leaders. Why  shouldn't Greenpoint be right up there with  Flatbush and places like that?" (Rovere, p.37)  McGuinness pretended to be scornful of  politicians in general and presented himself as  an outraged private citizen who had been driven to action by the ineptitude of the political  establishment. "I have to laugh," he wrote to  Photo:  An early view of the  McCarren Park Pool in  Greenpoint. The pool  was built during  McGuinness' political  career and was  constructed by the  Works Progress  Administration in  1936. As originally  designed it could hold,  at one time, 6800  swimmers. Closed in  1984, it was  re-designed and  re-opened in 2012.  Courtesy of New York  City Department of  Parks & Recreation.
NYIHR_P30_Cobb_V29_FinFin_2.indd   359/13/16   8:23 PM   the editor of another Greenpoint newspaper,  the Weekly Star, "when I think of these big  bluffs of politicians coming into this district  around election time, getting on the platform  and telling the people what they will give them,  and when elected you will never see the old  blowhards again. If you ask me, all this is Mr.  McCooey's work. Now, I say, let Mr. McCooey  and his officeholders refuse us these improvements, and we'll show them what Greenpoint  can do. Who is this McCooey, anyway? Does  anyone ever see him around Greenpoint? Our  motto here should be Greenpointers work for  Greenpoint." (Rovere, p.38)  McGuinness made district leader  McQuade the issue, even though he was running against Alderman McGarry. McGuinness  compared favorably to McQuade in many  respects. McQuade was a short, squat, and  essentially dull Irish-American who spent  most of his time at the race tracks and in the  saloons of Greenpoint, places that  McGuinness never patronized. McGuinness was frank and naturally exuberant; McQuade was inclined to be sly and lugubrious. Nevertheless, McQuade was a reasonably popular leader and was powerfully entrenched.  Most expected McQuade's candidate McGarry  to prevail. In the Democratic primary,  McGuinness won by fewer than five hundred  votes in a three way race , but he won the general election by more than two thousand votes.  He would shortly become, by many estimates,  the most colorful alderman in the history of  New   York City.
McGuinness first words in the House of  Alderman are still recalled: "Mr Chairman,  Mr. Chairman, I demand a point of order. I  am Peter J. McGuinness and I represent the  15 th  A.D. , Greenpoint, the garden spot of the  world." (Fugelsang, p. 54 )  He would become perhaps the most volu - ble member of the Board of Aldermen ever.  He made speeches almost every session, and  these speeches were long. "There's nothing I  liked like giving a hot spiel," he said. "I guess  Photo:  Peter McGuinness  referred to Greenpoint as  the "garden spot of the  world," and sponsored in  McCarren Park garden  projects where children  from Greenpoint and  other Brooklyn  neighborhoods could grow  their own vegetables.  Courtesy of New York  City Department of Parks  & Recreation.
NYIHR_P30_Cobb_V29_FinFin_2.indd   369/13/16   8:23 PM   me pals are glad I don't do that anymore. I was  getting to be a gasbag." (Rovere, p. 33)  According to one observation about  MacGuinness speech-making:  Years of windjammer oratory had a  curious effect on him, not unlike the  effect of too many blows to the head on  a fighter. He is speech-drunk. Just as an  old pug will come out swinging at the  sound of a dinner bell, so McGuinness  will break into a speech at the mention  of George Washington, Pope Pius XII,  Franklin D. Roosevelt, or any other  name that is hallowed in his kind of  politics. (Rovere, p.33)  as legislator & district leader  McGuinness proved himself to be a very able  legislator. He had a unique ability to reach  across the aisle and form friendships with his  political opponents. When "The Little  Flower," Fiorello LaGuardia, defeated the  Democratic candidate for mayor McGuinness  graciously stated, "The Little Flower is a most  splendid gentleman. Under him, we know  the poor people of this city will be looked  after, irregardless of what may befall. What he  done, he done honest and he done good."  (Rovere, p.38)  B. Charney Vladeck, a Socialist alderman  from the lower East Side, was one of his  warmest admirers. "That Irisher!" Vladeck  used to say. "Sometimes he makes me wish I  was a Democrat."(Rovere, p.35 )McGuinness  won Vladeck's friendship by giving  Democratic sponsorship to a number of  Socialist resolutions. "Many's the time, he said  'I used to say, "Cheeny, old pal, if you got  something you really want to get through this  here board, give it to me, and I'll make it Irish  for you." I figure what the hell, if something  was good enough for Cheeny, it was good  enough for the other aldermen. Cheeny give  me a lot of contracts to put through, and all  the Democrats thought they were mine and  voted for them.'"(Rovere, p.35)  In 1924 McGuinness challenged James  McQuade for the position of Democratic district leader. McGuinness and McQuade dis -liked each other and for two months the acrimonious campaign riveted Greenpoint. McQuade had the advantage of having the Brooklyn Democratic machine and its patronage behind his campaign, but McGuinness  proved to be a far superior street orator. On  April 1, 1924, primary day, a huge blanket of  snow covered the area and McGuinness feared  his voters would not turn out in large enough  numbers to win the election. His fears were  unfounded. He won by a few hundred votes  and would remain district leader for the rest  of his life. McGuinness felt that really effective  politicians stayed in the wards as district leaders. He could not understand the tendency of  political bosses to take congressional nominations for themselves. "'I'd never be such a sap  as to send meself to Washington' he says, and  'Believe me, I'm glad I was never in a fix  where anyone else could send me. I'm asking  you, if a man's a leader in New  York, what the  hell business has he got being in  Washington?'"(Rovere, p.22)  The greatest challenge that McGuinness  faced was defending himself against accusations that he used his political club as a front  for bookmakers and professional gamblers. On  March 12, 1927 McGuinness' political clubhouse was raided and he was arrested and  charged with bookmaking. In 1931  McGuinness, waving his Fifth Amendment  rights, testified before the New  York State  Photo:  McGuinness poses as  baseball catcher in a  gag photograph.  McGuiness displayed  great affection for the  people of Greenpoint  and worked diligently  on their behalf. In  1948, during the  funeral procession for  him on the streets of  Greenpoint, flags were  lowered, stores were  shut, windows were  draped in black, and  thousands of people  stood in silence.  Courtesy of Geoffrey  Cobb.
NYIHR_P30_Cobb_V29_FinFin_2.indd   379/13/16   8:23 PM   Hofstadter Committee investigating corrup - tion. Although many Tammany Hall politicians had the huge sums they secreted into  bank accounts exposed, McGuinness' accounts  showed no large sums and McGuiness successfully defended his reputation as being "As  clean as a whistle." McGuinness charmed  Samuel Seabury, the judge investigating the  case, just as he had everyone else in politics.  Later, Seabury was asked why he kept  McGuinness on the stand for six long hours.  He replied "Because I liked to hear him talk."  (Rovere, p.40)  his achievements In 1931 during his farewell speech to the  Board of Aldermen he summed up his achievements while on the Board of Aldermen: I drove nine gypsy bands out of  Greenpoint as well as cats and dogs that  used to run down the streets. One of the  best things I done was to establish a  farm garden so that children could  learn the value of real vegetables. I got  Greenpoint, three playgrounds, the subway, a million and a half dollar bridge  and two million dollars in paving. I  done good. I thank you.  (Fugelsang,  p.145) McGuinness resigned his position as  alderman to serve in a number of positions  reserved for politicians, but he continued to  serve as Democratic leader of Greenpoint  until his death. In his later years he used his  political clout to secure for Greenpoint its  subway line and the massive McCarren Park  pool, a W.P.A. project that he got for the  area, perhaps as payback for turning out  huge numbers of Roosevelt votes on election  day. McGuinness was elected Brooklyn sheriff and registrar, but both offices were abol - ished by ballot initiatives. He died of a heart  attack in 1948. In the year of his death he  said, "I am very grateful to the people of the  Garden Spot. They have been so kind and  generous to me that I don't know the words  to thank them. Not once have they let me  down." (Fugelsang, p.145) Shortly before  his death he also said, "I have always tried to  the best of my abilities to reflect credit both  to the office and the trust of my neighbors  and friends." He also put into words his love  of his area, "There is no place on God's  green earth like the garden spot of the world  and among all the people of the world there  are no finer ones than our right here in  Greenpoint." (Fugelsang, p.145) After his  heart attack and two days before his death,  he gave a final message to his son for his  constituents," I love the people of  Greenpoint and I am thankful for their sup - port. My political success is due to their loy - alty." ( Greenpoint Weekly Star, June 16, 1964  page 1)  Works Cited Fugelsang, Boniface.  Peter McGuinness and His Political  Contributions to Brooklyn,  Master's Thesis, St. Joseph  College, Brooklyn, N.Y., May, 1964. Greenpoint Weekly Star  Pringle, Henry. "The Gentleman from Greenpoint."  The American Mercury,  April 1933, pages 434-442 Rovere, Richard.  The American Establishment and Other  Reports, Opinions, and Speculations.  New   York:  Harcourt, Brace and World, 1962. Welch, Richard.  King of the Bowery.  State University of  New  York Press, 2009. McGuiness, James Peter. Collected Papers, volume 9.  Brooklyn College Library, Brooklyn, N.Y. NYIHR_P30_Cobb_V29_FinFin_2.indd   389/13/16   8:23 PM
