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In the United States, Reform Democrats were members of a movement within the Democratic Party who are opposed to local or state Democratic political machines. The movement emerged in the 1950s and was influential in New York City and elsewhere.
New York[edit]
Allied to good government activists,[1][2] Reform Democrats were contrasted with machine-affiliated "regular" Democrats.[3][4] Reform Democrats in 1950s New York City challenged Carmine DeSapio and Tammany Hall.[5][6] Reform Democrats reluctantly backed Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. in the 1961 New York City mayoral election, but, angered by his tepid record on civil rights and other issues, opposed Wanger's chosen successor, Paul R. Screvane, in the Democratic primary in the 1965 New York City mayoral election, in favor of Reform candidate William Fitts Ryan.[7] Many Reform Democrats supported Republican nominee John V. Lindsay in the 1965 New York City mayoral election.[8]
Martin Shefter, an expert on New York City politics, writes that: "A major compromise underlying New York's postwar regime was one involving New Deal liberals and Democratic machine politicians. The reform movement that emerged within the Democratic party in the 1950s was founded by young, well-educated professionals who sought to replace these machine politicians with leaders drawn from their own numbers and to increase their own influence in municipal affairs at the expense of other members of New York's governing coalition."[9] Many reform Democrats had become politically engaged through the presidential campaigns of Adlai Stevenson,[10] who they admired for his intelligence, integrity, humor, and rhetorical skill.[11] Reform Democrats were highly critical of New York machine politicians for failing to energetically campaign for Stevenson.[12]
Educated, middle-class professionals and their spouses dominated the ranks of New York's reform Democrats.[13][14] Jews were an important component of the Democratic reform movement.[15]
Democratic reform clubs were specifically organized to promote reform ideals.[16] The Committee for Democratic Voters (CDV) acted as an umbrella group for New York City reform clubs,[17] whose membership consisted of idealistic "ardent amateurs" who worked for urban reform.[18] The CDV was created in 1959 by Eleanor Roosevelt, former Governor and Senator Herbert Lehman, and former Secretary of the Air Force Thomas K. Finletter.[19] Eleanor Roosevelt said in that year than no campaign "ever meant more to me than this present struggle to bring real democracy into" the New York State Democratic Party.[20] The backing of Roosevelt and Lehman allowed the Reform movement to make greater progress, including securing the primary defeats of several incumbents, which persuaded Mayor Wagner to withdraw his support from DeSapio and campaign as an anti-"bossism" candidate in his 1961 campaign for a third term in office.[21] By 1962, 44 reform clubs had been established in New York City, mostly in Manhattan, but also in Brooklyn (eight clubs), Queens (eight clubs) and the Bronx (seven clubs).[22] In 1964, the CDV targeted the organization of Congressman Charles A. Buckley in the Bronx.[23] Women played an active role in reform clubs, which admitted both men and women (unlike other party clubs, which were separated by sex).[24] In 1972, 45% of Democratic reform club members were women.[25]
Outside New York[edit]
The Democratic reform-club movement was "one of few organized political forces" in the California Democratic Party in the 1950s and 1960s, when they challenged the dominance of Mayor Sam Yorty of Los Angeles. In California, the reform wing of the party tended to have more success in statewide races than in mayoral races.[26]
Notable Reform Democrats[edit]
Noted Reform Democrats included:
- Massachusetts
- New York
Notes[edit]
- ^ Flanagan 2015, p. 55
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 158
- ^ a b John Kifner, Reform Democrat to Face Sargent in Massachusetts, New York Times (Sept. 11, 1974).
- ^ Walter 1989, p. 12, 173
- ^ Flanagan 2015, p. 55
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 44
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 53, 54
- ^ Walter 1989, p. 12
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 44
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 44
- ^ Freeman 2000, p. 177
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 44
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 158
- ^ Freeman 2000, p. 177
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 45
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 158
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 15, 45-46
- ^ Freeman 2000, p. 177
- ^ Robbins 2011, p. 380-81
- ^ Robbins 2011, p. 380-81
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 45-46
- ^ Woodsworth 2016, p. 102
- ^ a b c Reformers to Fight Buckley in Primary, New York Times (February 1, 1964).
- ^ Freeman 2000, p. 177
- ^ Freeman 2000, p. 177
- ^ Greentone & Peterson 1973, p. 251
- ^ Walter 1989, p. 12
- ^ John J. B. Shea, 'Reform Democrat", New York Times (March 1, 1978).
- ^ Alfonso A. Narvaez, Arnold Fein, Ex-New York Judge and Reform Democrat, Dies at 79, New York Times (June 8, 1989).
- ^ Shefter 1992, p. 54
- ^ Robbins 2011, p. 380-81
- ^ Woodsworth 2016, p. 102
- ^ Freeman 2000, p. 177
References[edit]
- Walter, John Christopher (1989). The Harlem Fox: J. Raymond Jones and Tammany, 1920-1970. SUNY Press.
- Shefter, Martin (1992). Political Crisis/Fiscal Crisis: The Collapse and Revival of New York City. Columbia University Press.
- Freeman, Jo (2000). Room at a Time: How Women Entered Party Politics (1st paperback ed., 2002 ed.). Rowman & Littlefield.
- Flanagan, Richard M. (2015). Robert Wagner and the Rise of New York City's Plebiscitary Mayoralty: The Tamer of the Tammany Hall. Palgrave McMillan.
- Woodsworth, Michael (2016). Battle for Bed-Stuy: The Long War on Poverty in New York City. Harvard University Press.
- Greenstone, David; Peterson, Paul E. (1973). Race and Authority in Urban Politics: Community Relations and the War on Poverty (Phoenix ed. 1976 ed.). University of Chicago Press.
- Robbins, Karen E. (2011). "New York City Reform Movement". The Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press.
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