Political Machine

During the later nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth century, most large U.S. cities were governed by political organizations called political machines. Political machines were hierarchically organized political parties whose leaders strove to dominate local politics. In cases when one person controlled the party, he was referred to as the “boss”; when several shared the leadership, they were called a “ring.” Beneath the boss or ring were the ward leaders who, in turn, were above the lowest level in the hierarchy, the precinct captains. Examples of strong machines that coalesced in major cities were the Pendergast machine in Kansas City, Missouri; the Cox machine in Cincinnati, Ohio; the Hague machine in Jersey City, New Jersey; the Reuf organization in San Francisco; and the Tweed Ring in New York City.

The political machine relied heavily on patronage to gain and retain power within the city. This entailed establishing a reciprocal, although generally unequal, relationship with some of the citizens and businesses in the community. Patronage, the exchange of favors for political support, characterized these relationships. Some of the exchanges involved significant financial resources. For example, businesses might receive large contracts for building infrastructure, such as paving the streets or constructing municipal buildings. In return, these business owners would deliver votes for the machine and provide significant financial resources to party leaders. More commonly, citizens in the community, often immigrants, were asked to vote for the party candidates and to persuade family and friends to do the same in exchange for municipal jobs with the city. Jobs, however, were limited, so often all the party activists had to offer the immigrants were “social benefits,” such as friendship, flowers at weddings and funerals, and perhaps advice on how to cope with the various problems they encountered.

Leaders of many of these machines were corrupt, often stealing public monies and pocketing bribes from businesses that received contracts. Many bosses were by no means ashamed of these practices, referring to them as “honest graft” or resigning themselves to the fact that sometimes politicians must “rise above principle.” Some bosses and their underlings were prosecuted for their illegal activities. For example, both William Marcy Tweed in New York City and Abe Reuf in San Francisco were convicted and served jail terms.

Robert Merton, a sociologist, presented a functional explanation for the rise of political machines that related the structure and functioning of machines to the political institutions that preceded them and to the needs of the different elements of the growing cities' populations. He contended that most cities lacked a centralization of political authority in the decades following the Civil War. Therefore, the public sector was ineffectual, and the political machines developed to fill the void. Machines centralized power under the bosses and rings and were able to fill the needs of businesses and immigrants moving to the cities. In spite of their espousal of the ideology of business competition, most businesses, Merton argued, wanted to negotiate with the party for contracts that would enhance their profits. Machine leaders were willing to oblige. They were often just as willing to address the concerns of leaders of criminal enterprises as of legitimate businesses.

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