ThoughtGallery.org > Daniel Czitrom on “New York Exposed”

Daniel Czitrom on “New York Exposed”

On a Sunday morning in early 1892, Reverend Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst ascended to his pulpit at the Madison Square Presbyterian Church in New York and delivered one of the most explosive sermons in the city’s history. Municipal life, he charged, was morally corrupt. Vice was rampant. And the city’s police force and its Tammany Hall politicians were”a lying, perjured, rum-soaked, and libidinous lot.” Denounced by city and police officials as a self-righteous “blatherskite,” Parkhurst resolved to prove his case. The bespectacled minister descended his pulpit and in disguise visited gin joints and brothels, taking notes and gathering evidence. Two years later, his findings forced the New York State Senate to investigate the New York Police Department. The Lexow Committee heard testimony from nearly 700 witnesses, who revealed in shocking-and headline-dominating-detail just how deeply the NYPD was involved in, and benefitted from, the vice economy. Parkhurst’s campaign had kick-started the Progressive Movement.











When: Tue., Jul. 5, 2016 at 6:30 pm
Where: New York Public Library—Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
476 Fifth Ave. (42nd St. Entrance)
212-340-0863
Price: Free
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On a Sunday morning in early 1892, Reverend Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst ascended to his pulpit at the Madison Square Presbyterian Church in New York and delivered one of the most explosive sermons in the city’s history. Municipal life, he charged, was morally corrupt. Vice was rampant. And the city’s police force and its Tammany Hall politicians were”a lying, perjured, rum-soaked, and libidinous lot.” Denounced by city and police officials as a self-righteous “blatherskite,” Parkhurst resolved to prove his case. The bespectacled minister descended his pulpit and in disguise visited gin joints and brothels, taking notes and gathering evidence. Two years later, his findings forced the New York State Senate to investigate the New York Police Department. The Lexow Committee heard testimony from nearly 700 witnesses, who revealed in shocking-and headline-dominating-detail just how deeply the NYPD was involved in, and benefitted from, the vice economy. Parkhurst’s campaign had kick-started the Progressive Movement.

Buy tickets/get more info now