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A political machine is an unofficial system of political organization, most prevalent in American cities between about 1875 and 1920, that was characterized by total "behind-the-scenes" control of municipal politics. It was mainly the larger cities that had machines -- Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, etc. -- and each city's machine was run by a "boss", a man who had the allegiance of elected officials and who knew the buttons to push to get things done.The machines formed in cities largely as a result of the waves of immigration to the US in the late nineteenth century; the immigrants were demanding resources far faster than legislation and construction could provide them, and political machines came into being as the charismatic encouraged immigrants to exchange their votes for favors. The power of the bosses was based on their ability to help new immigrants to become established in the U.S.—securing licenses, negotiating rent, helping with naturalization, finding jobs, etc. A boss could have a pothole fixed; he could have someone burn your rival's business and then make sure the fire department never showed up; he could rig an election at any level from ward leader to president (e.g., Matthew Quay and Benjamin Harrison).
The corruption of the political machines, especially Boss Tweed's notorious Tammany HallTammany Hall was the name given to the Democratic political machine that dominated New York City politics from the mayoral victory of Fernando Wood in 1854 through the election of Fiorello LaGuardia in 1934. The eighty-year period between those two electi in New York CitySkyline, with Statue of Liberty New York, New York" redirects here. For alternate meanings, see New York, New York (disambiguation). New York — officially named City of New York and often called New York City to distinguish it from the state of New York,, eventually became too obvious for the middle class to ignore, and by Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt Order 26th President Term of Office September 14, 1901 March 4, 1909 Predecessor William McKinley Successor William Howard Taft Date of Birth Wednesday, October 27, 1858 Place of Birth New York City Date of Death Monday, January 6, 1919's time the Progressive EraIn the United States, the Progressive Era was a movement of reform that began in America's cities in the 1890s and lasted through the 1910s. Reformers sought change in labor and fiscal policies in different levels of government; initially it was successfu was established. By the end of World War IWorld War I (also known as the First World War , the Great War the War of the Nations and the "War to End All Wars") was a world conflict occurring from 1914 to 1918. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers, or involved so many in the field of, so many immigrants had been socialized that the machines had no real reason to be; nevertheless, some of them lingered as late as the 1960sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around. Some cities are accused of machine politics even today.
In recent years, historians have reevaluated political machines. If machines were undemocratic, they were at least responsive. If they were corrupt, at least they were able to contain the spending demands of special interests.
1 Notable "Bosses" and their political machines
