Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics

by Terry Golway

A major, surprising new history of New York’s most famous political machine―Tammany Hall―revealing, beyond the vice and corruption, a birthplace of progressive urban politics. For decades, history has considered Tammany Hall, New York's famous political machine, shorthand for the worst of urban graft, crime, and patronage personified by notoriously corrupt characters. Infamous crooks like William "Boss" Tweed dominate traditional histories of Tammany, distorting our understanding of a critical chapter of American political history. In Machine Made , historian and New York City journalist Terry Golway convincingly dismantles these stereotypes; Tammany's corruption was real, but so was its heretofore forgotten role in protecting marginalized and maligned immigrants in desperate need of a political voice. Irish immigrants arriving in New York during the nineteenth century faced an unrelenting onslaught of hyperbolic, nativist propaganda. They were voiceless in a city that proved, time and again, that real power remained in the hands of the mercantile elite, not with a crush of ragged newcomers flooding its streets. Haunted by fresh memories of the horrific Irish potato famine in the old country, Irish immigrants had already learned an indelible lesson about the dire consequences of political helplessness. Tammany Hall emerged as a distinct force to support the city's Catholic newcomers, courting their votes while acting as a powerful intermediary between them and the Anglo-Saxon Protestant ruling class. In a city that had yet to develop the social services we now expect, Tammany often functioned as a rudimentary public welfare system and a champion of crucial social reforms benefiting its constituency, including workers' compensation, prohibitions against child labor, and public pensions for widows with children. Tammany figures also fought against attempts to limit immigration and to strip the poor of the only power they had―the vote. While rescuing Tammany from its maligned legacy, Golway hardly ignores Tammany's ugly underbelly, from its constituents' participation in the bloody Draft Riots of 1863 to its rampant cronyism. However, even under occasionally notorious leadership, Tammany played a profound and long-ignored role in laying the groundwork for social reform, and nurtured the careers of two of New York's greatest political figures, Al Smith and Robert Wagner. Despite devastating electoral defeats and countless scandals, Tammany nonetheless created a formidable political coalition, one that eventually made its way into the echelons of FDR’s Democratic Party and progressive New Deal agenda. Tracing the events of a tumultuous century, Golway shows how mainstream American government began to embrace both Tammany’s constituents and its ideals. Machine Made is a revelatory work of revisionist history, and a rich, multifaceted portrait of roiling New York City politics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 8 pages of illustrations

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, American History, New York, The United States Of America, American

400 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2014

About the author

Terry Golway is a senior editor at POLITICO, supervising coverage of New York State politics. He is a former member of the New York Times editorial board and former city editor and columnist at the New York Observer. He has a Ph.D. in U.S. history and has taught at the New School, New York University, and Kean University.

Reviews

[Porter Broyles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am REALLY enjoyed this book, it may be the best book I'll read this year.

Most people, myself included, don't know much about Tammany Hall beyond the fact that it was a corrupt political machine in the 1800's and early 1900s. We know the name Boss Tweed and that he was corrupt. But do we really know anything about them?

I sure as heck didn't.

Yes, Tammany Hall had a big corruption case in the mid 1800s, but which party didn't? Golway points out that while every major organization had corruption, the only leader to be imprissoned was Boss Tweed.

So what was different about Tammany Hall?

Terry Golway makes a convincing argument that the primary crime that Tammany Hall was in creating and organizing that spoke for poor Irish Catholics. Irish Catholics were easy targets in the 1800s/1900s, so they became the big bad evil.

So what made Tammany Hall special?

Tammany Hall did a lot for lower income people, which was part of the criticism of the group. It fought against efforts to "disenfranchise" people (e.g. voter restrictions) because that was one of the hotbutton issues in Ireland.

It supported the Catholic Churches adoption agencies and fought protestant preferences on the placement of orphans. Catholic orphanages tried to connect kids with their families and communities, the norm in NYC at the time was to ship them out to other communities.

It fought against some of the blue laws (there were laws in NYC making it illegal to play sports on Sundays, and they decried the fact that people could be arrested for playing baseball on the only day many people had off.)

They also supported many of the ideas and principles that FDR later adopted. FDR has been accused of taking Al Smith's platform (a Tammany man) and adopting it as his own.

[Olivia Caruso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coincidence, the young upcoming musical artist/philosopher Matthew Edward Hall is a double direct descendant of St. Tammany. He says his mother was brainwashed into undervaluing ancestry thus never even discovering her connection to St. Tammany and a line of Principle Chiefs & kings and never developed herself due to falling for the Anti-intellectual program in Mainstream America. He's also born on the same day as William Penn Oct. 14th by Sacred chance. Tammany Hall was also on E 14th St. He's so wise for being so young, and an environmentalist to the max. Hopes the Virus opens our eyes to the greater pandemic of air pollution deaths. Took just one century for Automobiles to destroy the paradise of Southern California. He's also grown tremendously in musical skill since discovering his connection and i predict great success not only for him, but intellectualism and environmentalism. I've been watching him very closely and this is how i discovered this fantastic book which also greatly opens my eyes.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Machine Made has a lot to say about both revising the history of a much maligned organization and providing a warning about the promise of technocratic policy proscriptions.

The first point, the revision of the reader's view on Tammany Hall, is crucial in some respects. Tammany was a shitty organization from the perspective of efficient public policy, probably to an extent the author does not fully communicate in his rush to extol its virtues. On the other hand, it was a democratic organization actually responding to newly enfranchised voters. The fundamental premise of Tammany Hall was that civic organizations could organize lower income, immigrant voters in such a way as to make government work for them using only their votes (or recognize them at all, in the case of 19th century New York). And the fact of the matter is that patronage and clientelism of the sort practiced by Tammany was exactly what destitute immigrants in NYC needed from their government, which otherwise had no programs for them. Libertarian ideology did not put food on the table in the late 19th and early 20th century any more than it does today and an unemployed, starving man is not going to think a great deal about the relative efficiency of the way he is supplied help by the government (i.e. Tammany in exchange for votes). One can imagine oneself as one of the copiously quoted New York Times reporters, legitimately horrified by the patronage system---clientelism is a corrupt, arbitrary way for government to be involved in lives---yet then realize that that reporter had no interest in pushing any forward looking plan for the Irish poor despite hating Tammany.

From a modern perspective, I think the book magnificently communicates a practical, ugly populism that violates modern leftist notions, drawn from the early progressive movement, of what government programs should be like and how they emerge (I am guilty as charged here). American leftism intellectually took the Teddy Roosevelt path of enlightened technocracy and belief in carefully constructed plans to manage government. But real democracy at work is conflict, often redistributional. It is nasty, in the trenches politics that generates polarization, harsh words, etc. Government institutions to serve the poor are created because they are necessary politically when there is simply no way for established interests to deny their creation in the face of organized voters demanding help. Rarely is some high-minded, efficient solution going to emerge spontaneously that monied interests will simply agree upon and bloodlessly implement. Golway argues that government patronage and a crude sort of welfare state emerged in NYC because Irish immigrants (and later others) came to the country and simply would not accept ideological platitudes about the market economy given their experience during the famine. The interaction between the New Deal and Tammany in the last 2-3 chapters is a fascinating look into how technocracy and street level leftism collide and interplay.

Overall, the prose is solid and primary source quotations are provided liberally with great effect. I think the weakness of the book is in being so dogmatic about its thesis, the rehabilitation of Tammany, to the extent that it repeats it in almost every chapter for paragraphs at a time. I think the author needs to trust the narrative and primary sources to make his point for him after introducing the ideas in the introductory chapters and get out of the way a bit.

[Matt Brady · Rating 3 out of 5]

wish machine politics was still around because "boss" is a cool appendage to a name.

[Frank Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

One rarely reads a book written these days that is filled with such open-faced Irish resentment, resentment against the British, against the WASP establishment of America, against self-styled progressives and reformers, against anti-Catholic bigotry. Such sentiments may be a bit of a throwback, but they don't get in the way of a good story, which is the unheralded accomplishments and well-noted tribulations of New York City's Tammany Hall political machine.

Few know that Tammany Hall (or the Columbian Order) was created in 1792 as a social group for nativist and working-class whites, which was soon taken over by Aaron Burr and turned into a powerful political machine. In 1817 Irish immigrants even unsuccessfully tried to break up a Tammany meeting to vote support for the Irish immigrant Thomas Addis Emmet for state assembly. These same immigrants helped the patrician DeWitt Clinton, who had abolished the anti-Catholic test oath in 1806 in New York City, beat the nativist and Democratic Tammany candidate. As late as the 1840s, the Irish rallied not to Tammany Hall, but to Bishop John Hughes's "Carroll Hall" ticket, which overturned the Public Schools Society's Protestant monopoly on teaching in New York.

Of course the potato famine, and the international advocacy of Irish nationalists like Daniel O'Connell, reshaped political life in New York, and eventually led to the complete takeover of Tammany by the Irish. Although Golway has to gingerly step around the obvious failures of the Scottish Boss Tweed in this era, he fully embraces his replacement, the first Catholic head of Tammany, "Honest John" Kelly, and even the obviously criminal Richard Croker. The true hero of the book, however, is "Silent Charlie" Murphy, the saloon-owning Tammany boss of 1902 to 1924, who birthed Governor Al Smith, Senator Robert Wagner, and eventually midwifed the rise of the rural patrician Franklin Roosevelt to the presidency. It might be a bit of a thin thread, but Golway argues that much of the New Deal can be traced to the revolutions in welfare and regulation birthed in Tammany's New York.

While Golway is clearly too sanguine on the legacy of Tammany, and too embittered about past opposition to it, overall he tells an important story with the vigor it deserves. Given his material, he makes a surprisingly good case, and makes it well.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected the focus here to be on Tammany Hall as an organization, but actually the book is more interested in its connection to the Irish-American community and how the more progressive Tammany organization under Charles Murphy backed the Al Smith administration and FDR’s early career, influencing contemporary American politics to a considerable degree. I haven’t read much on Irish-American politics, or Irish political history, but this made for an interesting opening in that regard that I might pursue further reading on. The author is clearly very sympathetic to Tammany as a voice for the Irish community and as a populist political machine (even if it was one where the machine bosses enjoyed disproportionate enrichment); with that in mind, the most interesting part of the book for me was the (highly critical) portrayal of the reformist movements that challenged Tammany’s control over city politics. The author links these reformers to nativist and anti-Catholic sectarian groups that mirrored similar positions taken by political actors in the UK, and notes the unabashed racism and opposition to mass suffrage advocated by many reform elites (particularly as they recognized that they were being outnumber by waves of Irish immigrants around mid-century).

The author also links Tammany to larger debates over whether the government should provide a social safety net to its poorest constituents (contrasted with more laissez-faire approaches), and whether such assistance should be conditioned on assessments of the recipients’ spiritual or moral virtue – a Protestant nativist reform position that gradually buckled to the more generally applied social relief programs of Al Smith and Roosevelt’s New Deal. It’s a very interesting history on the whole, but the prose gets overly purplish in a number of places, and I think I will need to dig into more histories of the progressive movement and Al Smith and Roosevelt in particular to get a better handle on some of the transformations the author attributes here.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd always thought of Tammany Hall as bywords for corrupt municipal government, characterized by graft and patronage. Terry Golway's engaging history of the organization has upended that view.

This book aims to rehabilitate Tammany's image, and it succeeds admirably. Golway explains Tammany's support among the Catholic Irish in New York - many of whom were traumatized by the Potato Famine which was the impetus for fleeing Ireland - by contrasting its approach to social welfare with that of the Anglo-Protestant elite. He demonstrates that Tammany was a staunch and effective advocate of the rights of immigrants during an era when Anglo-Americans questioned whether people holding different cultural and religious traditions could ever become part of the American mainstream.

This is a fascinating look at urban politics and power. In his bid to mount a vigorous defense of Tammany, however, Golway seems unwilling to detail the corruption that flourished during certain periods of Tammany rule. He dispenses with William 'Boss' Tweed, for instance, in a few short pages.

Machine Made is repetitive in parts, and could have done with some tighter editing. I didn't need constant reminding of Al Smith's humble beginnings on the sidewalks of the Lower East Side or of how the Potato Famine shaped Irish immigrants' yearnings for political power and personal stability.

Those reservations aside, Machine Made gave me a deep appreciation of Tammany Hall and its important role in promoting social welfare legislation and challenging Anglo hegemony. I'll never again see Tammany as nothing more than a synonym for corruption. As Golway's rich history shows, its legacy is so much more than that.

[Jerrod · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just OK. You get a lot of detail about NYC from the early 1800s on through the 1940s and Tammany Hall's place in it. At a few points in US history, Tammany seemed to have an outsized impact on national politics. There was, however, no central thread that could keep me interested. Years kind of blurred into each other. There was nothing tying everything together. It is still unclear to me how Tammany went from anti-Irish in the early 1800s to being predominantly Irish sometime around the Civil War. For a reader who doesn't mind academic books and info dumps, I can say that this was too academic and too info-dumpy. Most of the writing is standard academic fare, but Golway waxes lyrical at a few points (with unintentional comedic success). For example, discussing the Irish potato famine and it's impact on "collective memory": "There is no question that a bumper crop of bitterness and rage was harvested from the island's blackened potato fields." That is... just... so... bad. I had to laugh at that. At least Golway put some effort into it.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mention Tammany Hall and most people will think of a 19th-century corrupt political machine run by the infamous Boss Tweed. It was that, but it was much more. And it was still around and influential through the 1940s, influencing the careers of non-Tammany-stereotypes like Franklin Roosevelt and Al Smith. There were other corrupt leaders besides Tweed, but there were also reformers who are forgotten, and they did a lot to help the average citizens of New York, especially downtrodden immigrants from Ireland, southern and eastern Europe, including many Jews. This covers the complete history of Tammany Hall from its founding in the 1700s to its disappearance in the mid-20th century. It's well documented and quite interesting - and perhaps surprising to learn how much influence the organization had on national politics.

[Janosmarton · Rating 3 out of 5]

(To see more reviews and learn more about NYC history, visit Janos.nyc.)

The name “Tammany Hall” has long been synonymous with urban political sleaze, personified by fatcat Boss Tweed. Yet during the halcyon days of the Tammany Hall political machine, New York City was transformed into a leading international city. In his 2014 book, Machine Made, Terry Golway highlights some of the great New York political leaders originally schooled in Tammany saloons and questions whether Tammany has been treated fairly by history.

Skeptical going into the book, I soon found that my view of Tammany as an all-powerful, corrupt force had been overly monolithic. Tammany was a major force for about a century, but even in its prime, Tammany was routinely swept out of power when its shenanigans became too much for the public to handle. Through this century, some elements remained constant: Tammany’s reliance on an Irish political base, exemplary record of constituent services, and shady relationships. On the hand, as New York City matured, more was asked of its de-facto Democratic Party, and its role in advancing both Progressive Era and proto-New Deal legislation is undeniable.

The Tammany Society (named for Tamanend, a Lenape chief) was founded in the 1780s, but its story truly began in the 1840s, when waves of Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine completely altered the demographics of New York City and upended its politics. Like future immigrant waves, these Irish were treated poorly and written about disparagingly. Tammany leaders showed them little interest until their rising numbers become unavoidable; by the mid-1850s, one in four New Yorkers were Irish-born. Tammany cultivated this vote. I found these early chapters, which are long on intra-Irish squabbles, pretty unmemorable until the arrival of Bill Tweed.

tweedWilliam “Boss” Tweed, for all of his scoundrel, will endure through history thanks to the Thomas Nast cartoon in which he is depicted as the archetypal political fatcat. The man who bilked the City for millions of dollars and ruled state government was brought down by a New York Times expose that shocked the City’s conscience. Even Golway doesn’t do much to suggest any upside to Tweed’s character, yet our Department of Education building is still named for him. I had forgotten before reading Machine Made that for all of the hype, Tweed’s career wasas long as a NBA basketball player. He held power for about 15 years, but absolute power for only about four, ultimately spending more time in jail than he did on top of the heap, a rare anti-corruption success story.

Tammany had many enemies, but no nemesis that irritated it more than “reformers.” (In George Washington Plunkett’s quasi-memoir, Plunkett of Tammany Hall, his vitriol towards Citizens Union is second to none, which would surprise people familiar with the genteel non-profit that survives to this day.) The reformers were snobbish (at one point toying with the end of universal male suffrage), rich, and sanctimonious, but they also won a decent number of elections. Their alliance with the temperance movement is hard to analogize to present times, as being against the legalization of alcohol is an untenable position in 2014 New York City, but it is most akin to a law and order fever than was quick to blame poor Irish rather than today’s poor blacks and Latinos. By painting Tammany’s enemies in such an unfavorable light, the reader eventually wants to root for the rakish street boys who battled with them for control of New York.

Golway lists the transition from Boss Tweed to “Honest John” Kelly as the key turning point in Tammany’s history. During the leadership of Kelly and his successor, Richard Croker, from 1872-1902, Tammany mastered a personalized social services delivery operation that even its detractors admit is missing from modern politics. From the leadership down through the 4,000 hyperlocal General Committeemen, Tammany was there for community members “who needed help paying the rent, whose son couldn’t make bail, whose widow had fallen on hard times.” In comparison to the City’s elite, who could craft policy for the “deserving poor” even while socially segregating from them, Tammany’s approach of neighborhood politics transcended ideology, and combined the best of grassroots organizing and top-down party politics.

In an era when voter engagement is in crisis, there might be room to nostalgize ward heelers who knew their neighbors, found jobs for immigrants, gave the poor coal, pulled people out of jail and spread money throughout their districts like candy. It’s not a mystery why some of them were popular. But good patronage is not a sustainable form of government. Much of what Tammany stole from the public treasury when straight to the leaders’ pockets, and most lived lavishly. Even the money funneled into their districts or their favorite Catholic charities came at the expense of the rest of the City, especially blacks. In time, the ad hoc solutions ward heelers used to help people with their daily lives became the centerpieces of social and economic reforms that would bring these benefits to everyone. The surprise was that no group was more responsible for those reforms than Tammany.

Tammany’s golden era was probably the first three decades of the 20th century, when the machine not only achieved great power, but actually put it to good use under the leadership of Silent Charlie Murphy. Required to evolve politically due to waves of non-Irish immigrants, the expansion of New York City to five boroughs (reducing the strength of Tammany’s Manhattan base), and the spread of social justice oriented thinking in the Catholic Church (Pope Pius XI essentially denounced the capitalism), Tammany matured with New York City. During this period, Tammany produced Al Smith, who created the blueprint for the New Deal in New York State a decade before Roosevelt, and Robert Wagner, the U.S. Senator who crafted groundbreaking labor legislation during the 1930s.

In 1911, Wagner assumed leadership of the State Senate, and Al Smith the State Assembly. (If only someone of his caliber was around to replace Sheldon Silver…) This legislature passed New York’s first mandatory workers’ compensation law, regulated child labor, shortened the work day, established a minimum wage in certain industries and created state college scholarships for poor high schoolers. The legislature even tried to reign in Wall Street, doubling the stock transfer tax, though that bill was vetoed. Smith also presided of the commission that investigated the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. We think of this as the Progressive Era, but New York’s actual legislative achievements were far-reaching for their time. After all, most of these issues were still aspirational when Teddy Roosevelt ran with them on the 1912 Bull Moose ticket. Golway takes great glee in pointing out that so-called reformers during this period were fixated on moral issues like whether baseball should be played on Sundays, though most reformers also supported the legislation listed above.

Al Smith.
Al Smith

During Al Smith’s eight years as governor, he pushed through rent regulations, labor oversight, state ownership of bus transit and hydroelectric power and welfare programs for the poor, whether or not they were “deserving.” There is no question that Roosevelt used Smith’s programs as a template for the federal New Deal. Golway goes a little further, asserting that the wealthy Roosevelt learned his very compassion for poor people from Tammany’s philosophy. I am less convinced; some biographers attribute Roosevelt’s political evolution to the paralysis of his legs; his constant and painful rehabs put him into contact with many “regular people.” Whatever Roosevelt’s political and personal relationship with Tammany before he was elected governor, things soured quickly when he was forced to turn on him to maintain the clean profile he needed to run for president.

Tammany’s demise was ugly, and Golway frames it masterfully by opening the book with a moment of triumph, a 4th of July party in 1929 where the entire New York State political establishment saw fit to pay its respects. From here, things fell apart both quickly and slowly. A corruption trial that puts today’s malfeasors to shame turned much of the City against Tammany (for an excellent account of this, read Once Upon a Time in New York), and Fiorello LaGuardia’s three straight mayoral wins shut them out of power through World War II. After the war, the machine carried on, but as an accessory to the criminal element, rather than the other way around. One of their last leaders, Carmine DeSapio, went down to a brash young West Village reformer named Ed Koch, in 1962.

I am not sure if there are contemporary lessons to take from the Tammany machine. The bureaucracy of New York City government has become so impersonal that there probably is a role for a hyperlocal political operation that cares about all of its neighbors, not just the ones needed to win an Assembly race. That kind of support system takes a lot of money, and perhaps money for tenant lawyers, fixing playgrounds, and fighting rats would be of greater civic and political value than another round of campaign mailers.

More study is needed about the Silent Charlie Murphy era, when Tammany appeared to master the political art of turning populist discontent into meaningful legislation, a combination that has eluded both major political parties for most of American history. What was it about leaders like Al Smith and Robert Wagner, and the currents of their time that made such change possible?

Otherwise, I remain unconvinced by Golway’s revisionism. Pre-Murphy and post-Murphy (and frankly, plenty of what happened during the golden era) Tammany Hall represented a self-dealing concoction of bribes, hacks, cronies and financial mismanagement. Yes, the machine “made” men, but just as often the men they elevated would flee Tammany’s hold as soon as possible, like a pet that never really wanted to be caged. Tammany made a mockery of the state judicial system, which had to be rescued by lawyers forming the City Bar association. Nor can Tammany claim credit for building most of the City; while some of its ornate boondoggles like the Supreme Court building still hold up, great works like the Brooklyn Bridge were built in spite of Tammany, not because of them. There is no evidence that Tammany skimming money off the top or steering contracts to themselves and their friends did anything but hurt New York, and few wept at their demise during the mid-20th century. Though Golway may have given this legendary organization more credit than it deserved, his book does a good job capturing the personalities that ran it during its years in power, and was ultimately a fun read.

Of course, Tammany was not the last political machine in New York City. Localized fiefdoms and patronage mills lasted well into the 1980s, when many were busted up by scandal and the probing investigations of U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani. People still use the phrase “political machine” in reference to Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, but these operations are shells of their ancestors, peddling mostly in regional solidarity for internal battles like the City Council Speaker’s race and the upcoming Assembly Speaker’s race.

The nominal head of the Bronx machine, Carl Heastie, is now a favorite to serve as the next Speaker of the Assembly, while Queens is propping Catherine Nolan and Brooklyn is pushing Joe Lentol. Like most machine leaders, Heastie is taciturn- by his own admission, his favorite phrase is “no comment.” Between now and February 10, the date of the special election for Speaker, we’ll be taking a look at how the Bronx political machine evolved, beginning with Ed Flynn, who used the lessons of Tammany to become an indispensable force within the Roosevelt administration.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book, providing a history of New York’s Tammany Hall political organization, its effect on national politics, and its ‘weather-vane’ status for political methods. Starting with Tammany’s earliest history as a strong Jeffersonian and nativist institution, the book describes the organization’s slow and steady transformation into the primary organ of Irish immigrant political power within New York and, later, national politics. Motivated by post-famine grievances against the seemingly aligned Anglo-Protestants on both sides of the Atlantic, Tammany’s Irish base brought forward a different version of proletariat support, which ran counter to the religious motivated reformers of the day. The author makes a good case that abolition and prohibition were seen as threats to the (mostly) Catholic immigrant populations which made up Tammany’s base. They were opposed by Tammany not because of the righteousness of the cause but because of their origins in Protestant congregations. Rather than stopping at the thoroughly corrupt period of “Boss” Tweed and Richard Croker, as most Tammany stories do, the author pushes on to later history; honestly reporting the corruption, but mindful of its commonality across all Gilded Age institutions. The author shows Tammany’s influence as a secular proponent of progressive reform, along with their slow but steady amalgamation with other immigrant groups, development of a wider urban base, and alignment with various labor organizations. Tammany steadily dropped the heavy Irish Catholic foundation, but retained its secular leanings within a Democratic Party still dominated by religious reformers. The final thesis presents FDR’s New Deal philosophy as heavily based on the reforms made by Tammany supported New York Democrats - so much so that the modern Democratic coalition can call Tammany one of its Grandfathers. The book gave me a much better appreciation of the evolution of mid-19th century Reform into Gilded Age Progressivism, and then into FDR’s New Deal Liberalism. Highly recommended for those wanting to better understand the sweep of Northeast Urban politics and the foundational role religious differences had in the various late 19th century political struggles.

[Regina Gifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently watched an online lecture from Terry Golway on another book he had written about Al Smith and Franklin Roosevelt. He had an enthusiasm for his subject matter and the characters of early 20th century politics, which made his lecture lively and informative. That enthusiasm seeps into this history of Tammany Hall as well – ‘Machine Made’ is an enjoyable exploration of the evolution of Tammany, from its early 19th century beginnings as a staid social organization through the tumultuous Irish urban politics of the mid / late 1800s and then the progressive reforms of the early twentieth century.

Prior to this book, my knowledge of the Tammany organization was limited to the greed and graft of the early grand sachems, particularly Boss Tweed. While Golway doesn’t avoid the ignominious acts of this dark side of Tammany, he provides a far more in-depth view of the ‘machine’ as an underrated social service organization, particularly in an era where there were no government services for the immigrant poor and charitable giving was based on moral pieties and evangelical conversion.

The chapters of this book are chronological to describe the full history of Tammany, but each chapter is character driven and some of those Tammany guys were very colorful! The main characters are a fascinating lot who either grew the organization to assist the urban poor they represented (guys like Archbishop “Dagger John” Hughes, “Honest John” Kelly, and “Silent Charlie” Murphy) or who brought Tammany down through their avarice (Boss Tweed and the Ring, Richard Croker). But there are also numerous minor characters (my personal favorite was Murray Hall) who make this book a lively and very readable history. There are also humorous descriptions (…” although the buttons on Murphy’s jacket were working a good deal harder than those on Roosevelt’s” and describing a politician “who may well have been born wearing a suit and tie”) that had me laughing out loud.

I found the post-Tweed sections to be the strongest of this book. Into the 20th century, Tammany redefines reform as pragmatic form of liberalism through its most famous politicians Al Smith and Robert Wagner. Golway shows an almost reverential admiration for these later reformers who redefined American politics. These two men both came from the machine and were instrumental in social welfare and regulatory legislation that completely changed American history – Smith as the progressive governor of New York who implemented policy that formed the basis for the New Deal and Wagner as the powerful senator who was later the architect of much of FDR’s New Deal legislation.

This is a broad (yet not deep) history of a fascinating subject and important historical figures. The best compliment that I can give a history book is that it left me wanting to read more on both the bad and the good guys of Tammany Hall. Definitely a five-star read.

[Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting take on the Tammany Machine which became a casualty of its own success. The author places the rise of Tammany within the context of the Irish potato famine and how this singular event impacted the collective memory of its victims. The organization suffered a lasting blow to its reputation with the rise and fall of the Tweed ring of the 1870s. No matter that the larger goals might have served to provide power to the powerless, the exorbitant expenses of Tweed’s court house left a lasting mark.

Tammany still stood against anti-Catholic and nativist sentiment (some things never change) that prevailed in New York City and New York State, and the nation as a whole. It was also the training ground for a whole generation of politicians, whose actions would realize many of Tammany’s ambitions while at the same time destroying the organization.

Charlie Murphy, the turn of the century Tammany leader who set these events in motion. He was the man who talent spotted Al Smith, and others. Smith was the Tammany recruit who attracted reformers across ethnic lines, beyond Tammany’s Irish base. Smith’s legislative achievements propelled him to the governor’s mansion. Robert Wagner, another Tammany member would later shepherd New Deal legislation that guaranteed collective bargaining and social security. Charlie Murphy was their political godfather. Murphy was also the leader of Tammany who proved receptive to overtures from FDR.

Although the New Deal achieved much of Tammany’s social welfare goals, in doing so its reason for existence so became superfluous. The influence of Bronx boss and Roosevelt loyalist Ed Flynn, the rise of Fiorello LaGuardia, the New Deal, and a series of mediocre leaders destroyed Tammany’s influence as it continued to unravel, finally expiring forever in the 1970s. Charlie Murphy’s portrait was auctioned for $200.

Terry Golway’s book is a concise and well written history that depicts the context of the rise and fall of America’s most notorious and influential party organization.

[Wes Schierenbeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

lays it on a little thick -- but pound for pound i think this is what one of the best books i've read that explains the process of "Realignment" (I put that in quotes because it's a popular misnomer that I think doesn't really describe the process accurately) and the contradictions in the Progressive Republican movement that allowed them to be simultaneously abolitionists and nativists. Book seems to stop caring after Al Smith, but I think that might also be what happened history-wise. Cool stuff!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am thankful to Terry Golway for his efforts to rescue Tammany Hall from the dustbin of history where the organization's very name is synonymous with corruption and all things wrong with the government. In an age of cynicism towards government, this is a refreshing take on the value of what government can do for citizens. Political machines, besides being centers of graft, have been central actors in shaping urban politics, fostering participatory politics, advocates of multiculturalism, and advocates for the poor -- devoid of the moralistic condemnatory ideology behind traditional progressive political movements and charitable organizations. This history of Tammany Hall is also the history of the Irish impact on NYC, and later of the introduction of class politics in the city, brought to the fore by Jewish immigrants and Italians (albeit perhaps to a lesser degree). Golway's history is a readable story about how an institution too often dismissed, especially given its eventual demise, is actually a historical triumph that in fact gave us key political figures like Al Smith, Robert Wagner, Herbert Lehman, and most of all, FDR. What the American political landscape would have looked like without these men and others suggests a grim picture, for the country as a whole has been vastly enriched by the policies generated by these legislators and others. Tammany Hall is definitely far more than Boss Tweed.

[Jared Goerke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book was a little all over the place. I enjoyed the analysis of Tammany Hall, but some of this is revisionist history to wash out how bad the corruption of Tammany Hall actually was. I definitely walked away learning things about the organization and the second half was actually quite good and made up for the first half spending too much time talking about Ireland and the exodus to NYC when the potato famine probably could have been dealt with in the book with just a few pages. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts about Al Smith and FDR as well. All in all a decent book that's worth the read but not my favorite.

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tammany Hall has been around popular conception as popular bywords for corruption, graft, and patronage, so, reading it painted as a progressive champions and the saviors of the downtrodden seem to be a foreign experience for me. In this revisionist work of Tammany history, we follow it from its inception as an organization that provided help for (mostly poor) Irish immigrants who landed in New York City among the unfriendly, xenophobic, do-gooders reformists (who are confusingly conservative in nature). The large number of Irish migrants soon turned them into a powerful voting bloc, and who was readier than others to harness this potential, other than Tammany Hall?

Armed with its ability to mobilize voters, Tammany Hall backed various politicians and bureaucrats, dispensing jobs as form of patronage, while its leaders engaged in unsavory practices of enriching themselves in expense of the State and Federal’s coffers. While leaders like ‘Boss’ Tweed became synonymous with corruption, others, like ‘Silent’ Murphy were competent and actually had a vision. Under Murphy, particularly, Tammany Hall backed some of the greatest progressives like Al Smith, Robert Wagner, and even F.D. Roosevelt, figures that turned New York into a bastion of progressive politics and shifted Democratic Party from the domination of KKK-supporting nativists into minority embracing masses. Ironically the same politicians who brought Tammany such boons were also brought downfall to it, leaving Tammany in its twilight years bereft of competent leadership, while shifting demographics caused by the influx of Jewish, Italian and Eastern European migrants reduced the power of Irish migrants. Against this backdrop, Tammany failed to seize the initiative, so they were reduced to nothing by, ironically, the same kind of populist politician that so often lined up on Tammany’s side, Mayor La Guardia.

Overall, I enjoyed the reading of this book, although, the twisting of narratives from Tammany the Den of Corruptors and Crooks into an Incubator of some of the Greatest Progressive Politicians America has Ever Seen seem to be ludicrous to me, for I believe that Tammany’s support for immigrants in the first place, was based on the basest instinct to accrue power and wealth, nothing more.

[Papaphilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics is an excellent read for both the writing as well as the story. Most will only know Tamany hall due to the historical figure Boss Tweed. However, there is much much more and it is important to America why Tammany Hall is so important. Terry Golway has done an amazing job in telling this unique history of the political organization and why it was so powerful.

Terry Golway thesis is Tammany Hall was the first political machine in the United States. They were also the first to recognize the power of immigrants in large groups when it came to voting. He does not whitewash the organization, but he does give it a positive spin on its history. He writes the organization as more beneficial than corrupt. He notes that Tammany Hall was the social safety net for many of the immigrants and poor of the times.

This is both an excellent read and great history of both Tammany Hall and the various political circles they operated within. It captures both NYC, NY State and the United States and shows the dynamic with how they each influenced each other. It also show why the organization fell and it is not what you think.

An excellent overall book.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant reflection upon the rise and fall of Tammany Hall from Boss Tweed to Carmine DeSapio, with particular emphasis upon some of the more colorful characters. Golway acknowledges the corruption and graft, both honest and dishonest, but also highlights Tammany’s accomplishments, particularly with respect to progressive legislation. Tammany produced bad Guys like Tweed, Crocker, and Walker, but also produced giants like Charles Francis Murphy, Robert Wagner, and Al Smith. And characters like George Washington Plunkitt, the sage of Tammany Hall, known for his gruff homespun philosophy which was actually at times was inspired genius. The book brilliantly explores the conflict between immigrant Catholic Tammany and conflicts with reformers as well as Tammany’s stand against the “hayseed” populism of a William Jennings Bryan and the Ku Klux Klan influence on Democratic politics in the 1920s.

There was plenty of discussion of politics done the right way, how ward healers addressed human need in eras where so many reformers had an anti-Catholic, priggish disposition.

To me, Golway missed Plunkitt’s observation about the rise of the Professors in Democratic politics, but does address the pragmatism of Tammany and its leaders, both good and bad.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review of Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics

Terry Golway’s Machine Made offers a provocative reevaluation of Tammany Hall, framing it as a force for immigrant inclusion and the foundation of modern progressive politics. The book argues that corruption under “Boss” Tweed was an exception, downplaying the persistent spoils system and patronage politics that defined Tammany long after Tweed’s fall. While Golway highlights Tammany’s role in providing social services and influencing the welfare state, he glosses over the transactional nature of these acts, portraying them as altruistic rather than cynical political maneuvers.

Golway’s forgiving treatment of FDR is similarly problematic. He defends Roosevelt’s reliance on Tammany as pragmatic without addressing how it perpetuated corruption or how FDR’s New Deal tactics mirrored machine politics on a larger scale. The book’s refusal to critically analyze the welfare state as both progress and a political tool leaves its argument incomplete.

Though engaging and well-researched, Machine Made feels more like an apology for Tammany than a balanced history, romanticizing its contributions while minimizing its darker legacy.

[Tom G · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very readable history of Tammany Hall and its impact on the American political system. Golway's thesis is basically that Tammany Hall is responsible for the aims and methods of the modern (or at least the 20th century's) Democratic party, due to its focus on neighborhood organizing and issues affecting labor and the poor. Whether or not this is objectively true, I can't say—Golway certainly argues a strong case. He is very obviously pro-Irish and pro-Tammany, so maybe some of this should be taken with a small grain of salt.
Golway brushes over the a lot of the corruption that is synonymous with Tammany, attributing that aspect of its reputation to the anti-Catholic/anti-Irish/anti-egalitarian newspapers and personalities that dominated New York City in the 19th century. While I'm sure this was historically true, and Golway provides ample evidence, it's hard to tell what is prejudice and what is truth when the author is so clearly biased. I'd want to read at least one other history of Tammany to get a fuller picture of the full spectrum of historical opinion.

[A. Jacob W. Reinhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like Golway's later books, his writing is engaging. However, he speaks with too much of a city oriented assumption. The book is far more about the plight of the Irish than it is anything else, as he spends so much time discussing the issues across the Atlantic. When he concludes by noting rhe way that Tammany failed to engage with Italian and Jewish voters to the same degree, I am left asking - so was the machine really just another power struggle on behalf of the Irish? He wants to claim the moral high ground but to this conservative he has not persuaded me. He is only seemingly ignorant (hopefully not willfully) of why evangelicals might have been concerned about the influence of catholicism or concerned about the need to properly help people and not just give handouts, including evangelization. It is a good history but shows more bias than I would prefer even with a charitable reading toward someone whose politics (and most basic worldview commitments probably) are different.

[Charles Fried · Rating 5 out of 5]

On a trip last summer to Ireland, I learned a great deal more about Irish history. Visits to Kilmainham Gaol, the battleground at Vinegar Hill, and Belfast gave me some background in the struggles and issues there that later surfaced in the politics of NYC and the USA. What surprised me is that many of the issues and the arguments on both sides of politics here have not changed over more than a century. More amazingly, they were much the same in Ireland 200+ years ago. Lately these divisions appear to have grown more visible but little changed. I was not aware of the distinct Irish influence on our politics of today. I found this to be a very readable and understandable account of the considerable complexities involved. Highly recommended, especially if you are interested in NYC and politics.

[Gregory Delaurentis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terry Golway throws incredible light on a largely unknown organization which towered over New York politics for decades. A glittering, detailed history that Mr. Golway draws across with exacting detail only second to A Stripe of Tammany's Tiger, by Louis Eisenstein. But whereas Eisenstein give a first hand account with microscopic detail, Golway gives a birds eye view of the entire breadth and length of an organization that ran on many fast spinning parts.

Golway is an excellent writer whose ability to unravel the knotted, tangled web of names, dates and events which we have knowledge of but no real understanding of who, why and how. You may THINK you know about Tammany Hall, but trust me, until you read Mr. Golway's book...you really don't.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This well-written and researched book about Tammany Hall is something of revisionist history. The author gives an excellent overview of the rise of Tammany and how in many ways it was tied to the Irish famine immigrants. He details the various bosses, including of course, Tweed, and the power they wielded in New York City (which in those days was Manhattan).

His thesis is that Tammany gave rise to the New Deal and the social programs instituted by Franklin Roosevelt. While this is certainly true, he neglects the incredible corruption that Tammany was famous for. If they had not lined their pockets, could not more social programs have been created?

New York fans--this is a good read. His thesis is sound, but I think somewhat lopsided.

[Michel Sabbagh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subject Appeal: 4/5.
Research Depth: 4/5.
Research Breadth: 4/5.
Narrative Flow: 5/5.

Verdict: 4/5. A telling look at a polemical Democratic institution that puts much of America's progressivism into clearer perspective.

[Elizabeth Gabhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting to me because I wanted to know more about Tammany, and I'm intrigued by life in other places and times than my own. However, if you aren't already interested in the topic, I don't know how much this book would draw you in.

[Mindy Greiling · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the great granddaughter of an Irish man who arrived in the United States in 1845, I loved the Irish history and its role in Tammany Hall and its politics. Interesting too to learn that Boss Tweed and his colleagues weren't all bad at all.

[Will Atkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. They spent most of the time talking about the people of Tammany hall, giving their entire history and backstory, but didn’t spend enough time describing WHAT they did to support the Irish immigrants of New York.

[Sara Ferdji · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great research! Used this as a source for a final paper and got an A! Also a great intro to the world of NYC history. Rip to the Tammany Hall building on 17th and Union Square East, you will always be famous (Its a fancy Petco now).