100% absolutely based. I am digging into Fernando Wood over in 1850s NYC, as he was the first Mayor to publicly court newer Americans i.e. Germans and Irish in order to get into office.
I always found these 20th c big city ethnic machines to be interesting. They were sort of destroyed by the early progressive movement which sought to root out this sort of corruption in favor of non elected experts. On the other hand they may have sowed the seeds of their own downfall by their own antagonistic ethno narcism aimed against the old wasp ruling class. Their crusades to weaken the wasp class combined with aims to further ethnic gibs, mass democracy against Republicanism and looser immigration policy worked against them once they assimilated into the broader “white American” identity
Although one could argue groups like the Irish, poles, Italians etc by the mid century were strong bulwarks against the civil rights movement perhaps due to assimilation or perhaps due to pure group self interest. Jews on the other hand due to their propensity for intellectualism sought to ally themselves with the intellectual movements of the era which tilted in the leftist direction
100% absolutely based. I am digging into Fernando Wood over in 1850s NYC, as he was the first Mayor to publicly court newer Americans i.e. Germans and Irish in order to get into office.
I always found these 20th c big city ethnic machines to be interesting. They were sort of destroyed by the early progressive movement which sought to root out this sort of corruption in favor of non elected experts. On the other hand they may have sowed the seeds of their own downfall by their own antagonistic ethno narcism aimed against the old wasp ruling class. Their crusades to weaken the wasp class combined with aims to further ethnic gibs, mass democracy against Republicanism and looser immigration policy worked against them once they assimilated into the broader “white American” identity
Although one could argue groups like the Irish, poles, Italians etc by the mid century were strong bulwarks against the civil rights movement perhaps due to assimilation or perhaps due to pure group self interest. Jews on the other hand due to their propensity for intellectualism sought to ally themselves with the intellectual movements of the era which tilted in the leftist direction