# Michael Tiernan — The Titan character guide

> Michael Tiernan in The Titan by Theodore Dreiser.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Tiernan, Tiernan, Smiling Mike Tiernan, Mike, Mikey

**First appearance:** 0003-iv-peter-laughlin-co

## Snapshot

Six-foot-one, bovine-headed proprietor of four of Chicago's filthiest saloons, Smiling Mike Tiernan sells his first-ward vote to whoever pays and holds the river-levee in his hairy hands.

## Who they are

From ditch-digging to a city council seat, Tiernan has parlayed The Silver Moon and its gambling and prostitution revenues into a ward machine that Cowperwood and McKenty must either buy or break. He has always managed to down the McKenty opposition in his ward, which makes him a dangerous loose end in the coming franchise fight. His genial bulk and casual corruption embody the sordid machinery on which Chicago's grand financial schemes quietly depend.

## In the story

### [An Election Draws Near](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_titan_se/chapters/xxxvi-an-election-draws-near)

Feigns loyalty to McKenty while conspiring with Kerrigan and Gilgan; feels undervalued after ten years of service.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_titan_se/characters/michael_tiernan
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_titan_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_titan_se/characters