ipl-logo

The Last Hurrah Analysis

691 Words3 Pages

The Last Hurrah, a film directed by John Ford in 1958, illustrates the story of Frank Skeffington, an iron-fisted Irish American who rose from poverty, as the mayor of an unnamed New England city during the Golden Age of political machines and bossism. He represents the last generation of grassroots politicians that are replaced by younger candidates with the rise of media in politics. The film directly addresses and dissects urban machine politics in terms of representation and governance in political machines as well as other political institutions before and after the rise of televised campaigning. The film sheds light on many different aspects of local and urban politics while illustrating how the transformation and rising forces of new …show more content…

Cities of political competition gave rise to ethnic bossism and political machines that are supported by voters and entrepreneurs. The power is shifted to ethnic, professional politicians, which is evident in Mayor Skeffington’s close relationships with his various ethnic constituencies such as Gillen, Winslow, O’Gorman, Weinberg, and Ditto. He brings together the Irish, Italians, Jews, and even the WASPs represented by Winslow. The time period in which Skeffington was undefeated as mayor is set during the Golden Age of the Machine and Bossism meaning that ethnics and immigrants as well as the lower and middle class supported political machines because they worked according to neighborhood interests that expanded democracy. This is evident in the major ethnic groups that supported Skeffington who were loyal to the machine because they benefited from the machine, its political power, and its influence. We can determine that Skeffington brings these various groups together, and without him there is conflict, which is seen when Skeffington loses the election and his men begin arguing about how their usual strategies that involved large sums of street money failed to win the votes in certain

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Cory Booker's Campaign Against James Sharpe

    1237 Words  | 5 Pages

    One women, living in government-assisted housing, was evicted for displaying a pro-Cory Booker sign. Sharpe did not just stop with intimidation and coercion of Newark constituents. Booker’s campaign trailer was burglarized, important documents regarding information on Newark voters were stolen, and phone cords were ripped out of the walls. Booker’s campaign signs were vandalized and he was attacked in the media (Street Fight). An additional characteristic of machine-style politics is exhausting great energy on the mobilization of voters (Judd & Swanstrom, 49).

    Read More

  • What Role Did Urban/Political Machines Play In The Late Nineteenth-Century

    347 Words  | 2 Pages

    Urban/political machines played a major role in late nineteenth-century American cities. These machines were powerful political organizations that controlled local government and politics in many cities. They were often led by a single powerful leader, known as a “boss”, who had the ability to influence elections and appointments to public office. The machines were able to control the city’s resources and patronage, and they used these resources to reward their supporters and punish their opponents. The machines were able to gain power by providing services to the city’s residents.

    Read More

  • Ellis Cose Article Analysis

    676 Words  | 3 Pages

    Convention holds that the best candidate for the people should win, but in the article written by Ellis Cose, it appears this election is more about fallacy rather than of policy. The name of the Ellis Cose article is what the revolution was for: The generations are at war in Newark’s mayoral race, as a civil-rights veteran fends off a beneficiary of the movement’s fruits. The main two figures of the article are two candidates named Cory Booker and Sharpe James, who are both running for the same mayor’s position of Newark. The essay serves to enlighten reads on the following about Cose’s article: what does it say, how does it say it, and what is the evidence.

    Read More

  • Party Games Summary

    229 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Party Games: The Art of Stealing Elections in the Late-Nineteenth-Century United States,” written by Mark Wahlgren Summers, discusses the elements of trickery and manipulation utilized by Democrats, Republican, and Populists during the Gilded Age in efforts to get their party’s candidate(s) into office. As the text points out, “the broad range of party tricks obscured the people’s will, occasionally thwarted it, and cast a moral cloud over the winner’s title” (425). All of these political schemes that the parties in the Gilded Age were privy to, basically made a mockery of the democracy in the United States. Instead of being represented by the people, America was represented by a bunch of scoundrels, also known as politicians.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Kansas Politics And Government: The Clash Of Political Cultures

    1382 Words  | 6 Pages

    Flentje and Aistrup utilize statistic data when they analyze voting statistics as well as demographical variables collected in the census. They also place emphasis on economic data when trying to explain the rural-urban divide in the state by classifying counties based on per capita income levels. For example, in the introduction the authors state “The per capita income of the five urban counties was $40,240 in 2006, and their population growth for the thirty-six-year period was 48.7 percent” (Flentje and Aistrup xxi). Additionally, there are several chapters and subsections of the book devoted entirely to historical analysis of Kansas politics and how certain institutions have developed over time. The authors also make use of the method of personal observation to support their claims in this book.

    Read More

  • Freedom Is An Endless Meeting Summary

    922 Words  | 4 Pages

    The group’s main agenda is to get their voices heard by providing resistance during town hall meeting, applying opposition during open public events, visiting their representative local offices and demanding that meeting be held to discuss opposition to each representatives voting record and the group also coordinate calls to their representatives in order to inundate them with opposition to specific voting issues. As one can see by coordinating with others in the opposition movement to act at the same time causes an impact which their representative cannot

    Read More

  • George F. Will's Long-Standing Issues In The City Of Chicago

    477 Words  | 2 Pages

    He points out that corruption and cronyism have a long history in Chicago, which has damaged public confidence in the government and hampered efforts to solve the city's problems. Will is ultimately writing this particular piece to draw attention to Chicago's catastrophic position and to implore voters to make a thoughtful decision in the next mayoral race. In his opinion, the future of the city is in jeopardy, and the choice of the city's mayor will be crucial in determining whether Chicago continues to deteriorate or starts to address its long-standing issues. Political ideologies are categorized using the Four Labels Framework based on their social and economic implications. Political ideologies like liberalism, socialism, and progressivism are mentioned in the essay by George F. Will and are connected to economic and social policies.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Expansion Of Suffrage Dbq Essay

    562 Words  | 3 Pages

    The election process was simply a popularity contest voted on by both drunk and sober men who wanted a change in leadership. Also, as illustrated in the painting by George Caleb Bingham in Document 6, the expansion of suffrage resulted in dirty, uneducated, and unsophisticated men voting for the country’s next leader. These men made poor and unwise decisions that trumped the ideas of the educated and sophisticated

    Read More

  • Republican Party Realignment

    1189 Words  | 5 Pages

    As a matter of fact, the factors, such as, emergence of third parties, ideological polarization, large percentages of the population shifting its partisan loyalties and unusual stress on the nation’s socioeconomic system, which constitute a critical election (as theorized by Burnham) were present in the 1896 election. First, a third party, the Populists emerged, as both the Democrats and Republicans vowed to uphold industrial interests. Then, the issues of currency between the gold and silver standard polarized both the Republicans and Democrats in ideologies. Also, the Republicans garnered a new conservative coalition, as urban, blue-collar Northerners, along with voters from the industrial East and Midwest shifted partisan loyalty.

    Read More

  • Politics During The Gilded Age

    128 Words  | 1 Pages

    During the Gilded Age, Americans focused more on politics and national elections during the post-Civil War. Each election had the potential to disrupt the peace between the North and the South. In the late nineteenth century, there were record numbers of voters for each presidential election. The increase in voter turnout was also due to the result of the machine party politics. Powerful, political “bosses” in each party persuaded the urban residents into voting for a favored candidate.

    Read More

  • Political Parties In Texas

    457 Words  | 2 Pages

    The gathering concedes to some proposed strategies and projects, with a view to advancing the aggregate great or assisting their supporters ' advantages. Most importantly, Political parties compete against each other to have the capacity to

    Read More

  • Pap And The African American Professor Analysis

    114 Words  | 1 Pages

    Pap’s virulently negative reaction to the African American professor is ironic because Pap is an abusive, alcoholic, ignorant thief who would definitely fall under the category of the scum or scourge of society and yet he finds the idea of this intelligent, responsible, African American professor voting repugnant, calling him a “prowling, thieving, infernal, white-shirted free nigger,” (27). Pap himself was “too drunk to get there [the polls]”(27) but now Pap “[he]’ll never vote ag’in”(27) which will most likely better the voting population. Pap’s feeling of superiority and juxtaposition of Pap and the African American professor shows the unfounded claims of racism throughout America, questioning the ethos of its perpetuators and their own

    Read More

  • Summary Of Code Of The Streets By Elijah Anderson

    932 Words  | 4 Pages

    Anderson begins the section by explaining that there are two separate cultures in inner-city neighborhoods. The first are the “decent” this group is defined by commitment to “middle-class values,” (101). However, they are not mainstream in that they

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Federalist 10 And 51

    857 Words  | 4 Pages

    Madison first defines the “violence of faction” as he explains that governments often make decisions by the “superior force of an interested and overbearing majority” instead of according to the “rules of justice.” In framing this situation, he explains the issue that majority factions or parties in governments have, in the past, had the ability to rule without consideration of minority parties. Outlining possible solutions for this problem, Madison continues to explain that the causes of parties cannot be removed without destroying people’s freedom to make their own choices. This destruction would counter Madison’s purpose of removing factions in the first place, as it would inhibit people’s liberty. Using this logic, Madison asserts an inevitability to the formation of parties and thus concludes that the government must instead control their effects by either preventing “the same passion or interest in a majority” or controlling the “number and local situation” of the majority.

    Read More

  • Life Isn T Fair-Deal With It By Mike Myatt Summary

    736 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story called, “The American Electoral Process,” Kubic explained to us about why he disagrees with how the Constitution and the Congress take all votes for every single state as well as being unalike in population and size in which he would tell of as

    Read More

More about The Last Hurrah Analysis

Open Document