BOSS PLATT AND HIS NEW YORK MАCHINE

Description

Boss Platt and His New York Machine (1924) by Harold Foote Gosnell is a landmark political science doctoral study published by the University of Chicago Press. The book provides an objective analysis of late 19th and early 20th-century American party politics, focusing on the mechanics of party bossism and political patronage. Gosnell evaluates how U.S. Senator Thomas Collier Platt controlled the Republican Party machinery in New York State and examines his tactical dynamic with leaders like Theodore Roosevelt. Supervised by Charles E. Merriam, this work pioneered the use of social psychology, empirical data, and behavioral analysis in political science, treating political bosses as subjects of scientific inquiry rather than moral judgment.