Political machine Totally Explained

A political machine is an unofficial system of a political organization based on patronage, the spoils system, "behind-the-scenes" control, and longstanding political ties within the structure of a representative democracy. Machines sometimes have a boss, and always have a long-term corps of dedicated workers who depend on the patronage generated by government contracts and jobs. Machine politics has existed in many United States cities, especially between about 1875 and 1950, but continuing in some cases down to the present day. It is also common (under the name clientelism or political clientelism) in Latin America, especially in rural areas, and also in some African states and other emerging democracies, like postcommunist Eastern European countries. Japan's Liberal Democratic Party is often cited as another political machine, maintaining power in suburban and rural areas through its control of farm bureaus and road construction agencies. (American Journey, 2005)
The key to a political machine is patronage: holding public office implies the ability to do favors (and also the ability to profit from graft). Political machines generally steer away from issue-based politics, favoring a quid pro quo (something for something) with certain aspects of a barter economy or gift economy: the patron or "boss" does favors for the constituents, who then vote as they're told to. Sometimes this system of favors is supplemented by threats of violence or harassment toward those who attempt to step outside of it.

Political machines in the United States

In the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century, it was mainly the larger cities that had machines — Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York City, Philadelphia, etc. — and each city's machine was run by a "boss," a man who had the allegiance of local business leaders, elected officials and their appointees, and who knew the buttons to push to get things done. There were benefits and problems because of political machines ruling. Steps were also taken to combat these organizations.
   Many machines formed in cities to serve immigrants to the U.S. in the late 19th century. Many immigrants viewed machines as a vehicle for political enfranchisement. Additionally, many immigrants were unfamiliar with the sense of civic duty that was part of American republicanism. They traded votes power. The main role of the machine staffers was to win elections—usually by turning out large numbers of voters on election day. Occasionally illegal tactics were used in local elections (but rarely in state or presidential elections).
   Civic minded citizens, such as the Mugwumps, denounced the corruption of the political machines. They achieved national civil service reform and worked to move local patronage systems to civil service. By Theodore Roosevelt's time, the Progressive Era mobilized millions of civic minded citizens to fight the machines. In the 1930s, James A. Farley was the chief dispenser of the Democratic Parties patronage system through the Postal Department and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which eventually nationalized many of the job benefits machines provided. The New Deal allowed machines to recruit for the WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), making Farley's machine the most powerful, all patronage was screened through Farley including Presidential appointments. The New Deal machine fell apart after James A. Farley left the administration over the third term in 1940. Those agencies were abolished in 1943 and the machines suddenly lost much of their patronage. In any case the poor immigrants who benefited under James A. Farley's National machine had become assimilated and prosperous and no longer needed the informal or extralegal aides provided by machines. In the 1940s most of the big city machines collapsed, with the notable exception of Chicago. A local political machine in Tennessee was forcibly removed in what was known as the Battle of Athens.
   Machines are often said to have drawn their strength from, and served as a power base for, ethnic immigrant populations. In truth it was primarily Irish immigrants who benefited from the Machine system, which reached its pinnacle under James A. Farley during Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal administration. Also, even among the Irish, help for new immigrants declined over time. It was in the party machines' interests to only maintain a minimally winning amount support. Once they were in the majority and could count on a win, there was less need to recruit new members, as this only meant a thinner spread of the patronage rewards to be spread among the Party members. As such, later arriving immigrants, such as Jews, Italians, and other Southern & Eastern Europeans, rarely saw any reward from the Machine system. At the same time, most of political machines' staunchest opponents were members of the "established class" (nativist Protestants).
   Since the 1960s, some historians have reevaluated political machines, considering them corrupt but also efficient. Machines were undemocratic, but at least responsive. They were corrupt, but they were also able to contain the spending demands of special interests. In Mayors and Money, a comparison of municipal government in Chicago and New York, Ester R. Fuchs credited the Chicago Democratic Machine with giving Mayor Richard J. Daley the political power to deny unions contracts that the city couldn't afford and to make the state assume burdensome costs like welfare and courts. Describing New York, Fuchs wrote, "New York got reform, but it never got good government." At the same time, as Dennis R Judd, and Todd Swanstrom point out in City Politics, ISBN, this view often coincided with a lack of period alternatives. They go on to point out that this is a falsehood, since there are certainly examples of reform oriented, anti-machine leaders during this time. Hazen Pingree is one such example. Though sometimes labeled as a "boss", Pingree in fact didn't operate under the same type of patronage system that characterized the Machines. While this hardly settles the matter in other direction, it's simply important to remember that the legacy of the Political Party Machines in the 19th and 20th centuries remains ambiguous at best.
   Smaller communities as Parma, Ohio in the post-Cold War Era under Prosecutor Bill Mason's "Good Old Boys" and especially communities in the Deep South, where small-town machine politics are relatively common also feature what might be classified as political machines, although these organizations don't have the power and influence of the larger boss networks listed in this article. For example, the “Cracker Party” was a Democratic Party political machine that dominated city politics in Augusta, Georgia for over half of the 20th century. (External Link

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Notable "Bosses" and their political machines

� See also Political boss and .

National Bosses

James A. Farley of New York ran the Democratic National Committee and was Postmaster General under Franklin D. Roosevelt

State Bosses

James A. Farley of New York held all three posts simultaneously and is the only National Boss Ran the Democratic Political Machine that elected Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt to Governorships of New York State.

Thomas B. Catron of New Mexico

Thomas C. Platt of New York

Harry F. Byrd of Virginia

Edward D. DiPrete of Rhode Island

Robert M. La Follette, Sr. of Wisconsin

Huey P. Long of Louisiana

Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania

Albert Jennings Fountain of New Mexico

County Bosses

Daniel P. O'Connell of Albany County, New York

Leander Perez of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana

George Norcross of Camden County, New Jersey

George Parr of Duval County, Texas

Since Richard J. Daley was simultaneously head of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee for all of his reign as mayor of Chicago, some might also classify him as a county boss.

John Stroger of Cook County, Illinois

Joseph Margiotta of Nassau County, New York

City Bosses

A.A. Ames of Minneapolis

Martin Behrman of New Orleans

"Blind Boss" Buckley of San Francisco

Fred A. Busse of Chicago

Edward R. Butler of St. Louis

George Cox of Cincinnati

Edward H. Crump of Memphis

James Michael Curley of Boston

Richard J. Daley of Chicago

Tom Dennison of Omaha

William Flinn of Pittsburgh

Frank Hague of Jersey City

Roy Vincent Harris of Augusta, Georgia

Pete McDonough San Francisco

Robert E. McKisson of Cleveland

William F. Miller of Cincinnati

Tom Pendergast of Kansas City

Abe Ruef of San Francisco

William Tweed of New York City

William S. Vare of Philadelphia

John Henry Whallen of Louisville, Kentucky

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