Political Bosses

• Political bosses are individuals with substantial political power outside the official capacities of any elected office. Bosses typically hold sway over voting blocs and money, allowing them to influence and sometimes control outright the actions of elected officials and candidates. Political bosses tend to have a power base in a city, where mobilization of an ethnically or economically segmented electorate is easier to achieve. While political bossism is not necessarily illegal, it often leads to corruption and undemocratic practices.
  
  

19th Century Bosses

• Into the middle of the 19th century, Thurlow Weed controlled the northeast power base of the Whig Party and influenced the nomination of several U.S. presidents, including William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor. Tammany Hall in New York was perhaps the greatest political machine in American history, and William Tweed was one of the most powerful bosses. Tweed was able to control much of the city's working class and Irish immigrant population, and had many of the city's elected officials and employees on his payroll.
  
  

20th Century Bosses

• James Farley was a major political boss in Democratic politics in the early 20th century, running Franklin D. Roosevelt's first two presidential campaigns before deciding to run against Roosevelt, unsuccessfully, in 1940. Richard J. Daley of Chicago was a widely influential political boss, controlling city and Illinois state politics, as well as holding significant influence over the Democratic nominees for president in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1930s Louisiana, Huey Long controlled most aspects of state politics while serving as governor and later U.S. senator for the state.
  
  

Political Bosses Today

• While reformist trends have curtailed the power of political machines and bosses, many local and regional power brokers still control city and state politics. On a national scale, the power of mass media has made old-style voting blocs something of an anachronism. Instead, unelected power brokers tend to be media figures, like radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh or Roger Ailes, the president of Fox News Channel.