The Real Man behind Boardwalk Empire's Commodore

Commodore Louis Kaestner in HBO's hit show Boardwalk Empire is in fact based on Louis Kuehnle and as it's implied in the show, the Commodore was an influential figure in Atlantic City politics. The character appears to be a close approximation to Kuehnle. Kuehnle's father was a New York chef that used his restaurant success to move into the Atlantic City hotel business. By the age of 18, his son, Louis, was managing the hotel.



The commodore got his nickname as a result of his position as chairman of a local yacht club. Further, he used his hotel to host the meetings of three Atlantic County power brokers, one of whom was Nucky's father. As one of the three passed away in 1900, the Commodore slid into his position, eventually taking control of the group. He extorted casinos and brothels, as well as a variety of legit businesses in order to fund the Republican political machine. Government employees were forced to kick back a portion of their salaries to the Republican party, since all positions were effectively appointees.



Corruption was also prevalent in the elections, with the Republicans paying the African-American community two dollars per vote. The "voters" would be bused to various voting stations, using the names of deceased, who were still registered to vote. When Kuehnle and the Republicans were facing an uphill battle in getting their candidate elected in the New Jersey governor election of 1910, they increased.their effort. Their candidate lost and newly-elected Woodrow Wilson who promised to eliminate corruption investigated the election. He noticed that there were 3,000 Republican votes suspected as fraudulent in Atlantic City. He elected a commission who fought to get indictments, but was ultimately, unable to convict anyone of importance.



Part of the Commodore's legacy was his vision for the Atlantic City and improving it's infrastructure. Accomplishments included:



* pushed the new, concrete boardwalk

* broke up a telephone monopoly, resulting in lower prices

* broke up a natural gas monopoly, resulting in lower prices

* modernized the trolley system to improve intracity transport

* increased the access fresh water by building a large water main from the mainland wells to Absecon Island



These accomplishments were mitigated by the fact that he often owned a large part of the companies to whom contracts were rewarded, essentially driving the cost up. Since the party controlled the bid awards, they didn't necessarily take the lowest-cost bid. When Kuehnle directly awarded a water contract to a company he owned, Woodrow Wilson's legal team finally had a solid case and sent Kuehnle to prison in 1913. Kuehnle went away for a year and never regained any significant political power.



Aside from his position in the Atlantic City yacht club, Commodore Kuehnle was never elected to an office until he became city commissioner in 1920, well after it was established that Nucky Johnson was in charge. Like his show's counterpart, Louis Kaestner, Kuehnle was a dog lover whose terrier was always by his side.