![]() ![]() The city then dubbed itself as "The World's Playground". Prohibition was effectively unenforced in Atlantic City, and, as a result, the resort's popularity grew further. Purported photograph of the Atlantic City Conference, masterminded by Enoch Johnson.ĭuring Prohibition, which was enacted nationally in 1919 and lasted until 1933, Johnson’s power reached its zenith. Edge rewarded Johnson by appointing him clerk of the State Supreme Court. Hague did not support Wittpenn in the general election, and Edge was elected. Edge provided Hague with a pledge of cooperation and Hague instructed people in his Democratic organization to cross over and vote for Edge in the Republican primary. In addition to raising money for Edge, who was then the state senator from Atlantic County, Johnson engineered Edge's election by reaching out to Democratic Hudson County boss Frank Hague, who disliked Democratic candidate Otto Wittpenn. In 1916 Johnson served as campaign manager for Republican candidate Walter Edge's successful run for governor. As the most powerful New Jersey Republican, Johnson was responsible for electing several Governors and United States Senators. He declined requests that he run for the state senate, believing that it was beneath the dignity of a "real boss" to stand for election. He held many jobs during his rule, including county treasurer, which allowed him to control the county's purse strings, county collector, publisher of a weekly newspaper, bank director, president of a building and loan company, and director of a Philadelphia brewery. According to tradition, Johnson had previously been a teetotaler, but began to drink after his first wife's death. ![]() He also continued other organization corruption, including kickbacks on government contracts. Support of the vice industry was to continue and expand under Nucky Johnson’s rule. ![]() Therefore, the organization inherited by Nucky Johnson permitted the service of alcohol on Sundays (which at the time was prohibited by New Jersey law), gambling and prostitution, in exchange for the payment of protection money by vice industry operators to the organization. ![]() City leaders realized that permitting a vice industry would give the city an edge over its competitors. What many tourists wanted was the opportunity to drink, gamble and have sex. In 1911, local political boss Louis Kuehnle was convicted of corruption-related charges and imprisoned, and Nucky Johnson succeeded him as leader of the Republican political organization that controlled the Atlantic City and Atlantic County governments.Ītlantic City was a tourist destination, and city leaders knew that its success as a resort depended on providing visitors with what they wanted. In 1909, he became secretary of the Atlantic County Republican Executive committee, an important position. In 1908, he was elected Sheriff of Atlantic County when his father’s term expired, a position he held until ousted by a court order in 1911. In 1905, Nucky Johnson became his father's undersheriff, and in 1906 he married his teenage sweetheart, Mabel Jeffries, of Mays Landing. Gardner, a member of the three-man group that dominated the governments of Atlantic City and Atlantic County prior to the rise to power of Louis Kuehnle (the inspiration of the show's Louis "The Commodore" Kaestner). Scott (1854–1907) and Congressman John J. Smith Johnson was, along with Atlantic County Clerk Lewis P. When he was not the sheriff living in Mays Landing, Smith Johnson was under-sheriff and lived in Atlantic City. Since the sheriff could not succeed himself, Smith Johnson spent the next two decades alternating between terms as sheriff and under-sheriff. Johnson was elected sheriff of Atlantic County for a three year term, and the family moved to Mays Landing, the county seat. His nickname “Nucky” was derived from his forename Enoch. Enoch Lewis Johnson was born on Januin Galloway Township, New Jersey to Smith E. ![]()
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