In-Process Blog Post #2

For my expository essay, I am planning on writing about the history of machine politics in the United States.  I have several sources that cover various time periods; I have an article from settlement house workers about how machine politics worked in the late 1800's, I have the novel itself, which takes place in the 1950's, and I have the book Don't Make No Waves, Don't Back No Losers which focuses on the Daley machine during the 1970's.  I also have an article that was written a few years ago about what the "modern" political machine looks like.  I may try and find some more information about how political machines function today, because I think that there are a lot of ways to interpret what a "political machine" means in today's political scene.

I think I want to structure the essay chronologically, starting with the beginnings of machine politics (something I need to research) and continuing through to today.  I haven't analyzed the sources fully yet, but I'm thinking that my thesis will probably be something related to how political machines may have changed, but they do still exist today (although I don't want to put the cart before the horse, so I'll see what happens).  I want to consider the fact that political machines are generally considered to be extinct; I don't think this is true and so I will devote at least some portion of my paper (probably towards the end) to discussing that.  I want to bring it back to Chicago, since I think that there is still a sizable machine functioning there (thanks, Rahm).  I need to figure out how I'm going to work with the fact that my sources are from different cities in the U.S.; I don't think this should be a huge problem but that may need some discussion in the essay.  However, I think that since the essay is just a history of machine politics in the country in general, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

In terms of genres, I am pretty sure that I'm going to write an obituary for Frank Skeffington, who dies at the end of The Last Hurrah.  I also want to make some campaign buttons if I can find my button maker, and also write a newspaper article (maybe about Skeffington's loss in the mayoral race).  Finally, I want to write a speech for some machine candidate (this may be Skeffington, but I could also write it for Daley or someone else).  The golden thread is something I haven't decided on, but I may try and find a good quote from the novel to use.  Otherwise, I'm thinking about whether or not there are some good symbols to consider.