Jersey City 1949: Past Is Prologue ~ Mini-Documentary on the End of The Hague Era

Past Is Prologue: Jersey City in 1949, End of The Hague Era from Proscenium on Vimeo.

This mini-documentary surveys the demise of the infamous political machine of Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague. For 35 years, Boss Hague ruled New Jersey. His influence reached the highest levels of the Democratic party up to and including the FDR White House. In 1949, a team of opposition candidates known as the Freedom Ticket brought down the Hague machine by winning election to the City Commission. A former Hague lieutenant, John V. Kenny, became mayor. But unlike Mayor Hague, Kenny presided over a fractious City Hall. Challenges to his authority from fellow commissioner James F. Murray, Sr. led to divisions and conflicts within the new administration that would have been unimaginable during the Hague Era.