The Night I Fell In Love With Politics

The night of June 10, 1960 at Camden City Hall.
A crowd of 500 -- tipped off that something BIG would happen!

I grew up in a gritty, industrial working class town of about 100,000 people who lived and worked across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. It was a highly-charged political town. Politics was everywhere and my father, as a foot soldier for the locally entrenched Democrat political machine, was in the thick of it. 

It all proved that the late Speaker of the US House Tip O'Neill was right when he famously said "all politics is local".

For nearly a quarter century (from 1936 to 1959) Camden, NJ mostly prospered under the iron-fisted reign of Democrat Mayor George Brunner, who ran a street-smart political organization whose tentacles reached into every neighborhood, every block, every home, and nearly every aspect of life in the city. 

But in 1959, in a stunning upset, the Brunner machine was dethroned by a reform-minded, fiery red head named Al Pierce, who was supported by the local Courier Post newspaper under the banner "Save Our City." Pierce was the Judas who was orginally appointed by Brunner to serve on the local Board of Education only to later turn on the mayor and the army that he built. His election stung the Old Guard in a way they were determined to avenge.

So, in a touché moment for the ages, on June 10, 1960 the new Mayor Pierce's own city commissioners (who had been elected to office on his team) joined the lone Brunner era holdover to strip Pierce of his title as Director of Public Safety and reduce his role to that of a figurehead. And is was all perfectly legal under the city commissioner form of government. Pierce was now Mayor in name only and his elected former allies were now his enemies. 

It was stunning. It was unprecedented. And it rocked my hometown to the core.

I was only 14 years old at the time but I was there the night it happened. I witnessed it all  -- close up and personal. I was there because my daddy was there and if the event involved politics, I was at his side. Other kids went to baseball games with their dad. I went to political events, and I loved it.

And that night -- the night when the long knives came out -- I fell in love with the real life drama of politics. Yes, it was messy, conniving, ruthless and cut throat -- downright Shakespearian, come to think of it. And it was also revealing and instructive -- especially to an impressionable teenager who was molded by the seemingly innocent 1950s.

Once the meeting ended, the night's losers-turned-victors celebrated across the street from Canden's City Hall at the town's premier restaurant, and I was there for that too. As we entered the festivities, a big burly guy at the piano played "Pennies From Heaven" while celebrants wined and dined into the night. Who picked up the tab? Nobody asked and nobody cared. The Old Guard was back -- but not for long, as it turned out.

After awhile,  Al Pierce fought back, beginning the electoral process of changing the city's form of government so he could regain his power. And, he eventually succeeded at the ballot box once again and was elected to an iron-clad position as mayor. Unfortunately, by that time, Camden entered a downhill slide from which it has never fully recovered. 

What did I learn on June 10, 1960 -- the night I fell in love with politics?

I learned that in politics, losers could be winners or visa-versa. And it can happen in an instant. I learned that yesterday's bum could be tomorrow's hero. I learned that in politics there really are no rules. You can make up the rules as you go along and/or change them at any time. I learned that politics is real life with real life results in a world where friendship is temporary, at best. 

I saw that while it may be made up of lofty dreams and aspirations, politics ain't no game. It's brutally consequential. And, I learned that in life nothing is permanent, there are no guarantees and you can't "lock in" anything. 

These are tough, hard truths. And I get that. But I was seduced. 

Why? I suppose it's because I saw a big carnival ride that combined the elements of a house of horrors, a roller coaster, a merry-go-round and the tunnel of love: joyous one minute, dreary the next; loving today, loathsome tomorrow; top 'o the world now, back in the pits in a blink.

As President Trump would say: "This much I can tell you." Politics (especially if you were exposed to it at an early age, as I was) will go a long way toward preparing you for whatever may lie ahead if you learn its lessons and proceed accordingly!