Books in Review Political Parties and Politics AT THE PLEASURE OF TEE MAYOR OF NEW YORR. By Theodore J. Lowi. The Free Press of Glencoe, a Division of The Macmillan Company, 60 Fifth Ave- nue, New York 10011, 1964. xvi, 272 pp. Charts, table. $4.95. While the setting for this study is New York City and, more particularly, the dispensation of patronage by its mayor, this provocative book is required reading for academicians and political practitioners wherever they are. The author has skillfully combined a number of useful approaches to his study of a community’s power structure-historical, behavioral and institutional-to come to some interesting conclusions. New York politics have been shaped more by ethno-religious forces than class distinctions, claims Lowi. Through the mayor‘s appointive powers, key spokes- men for immigrant groups have been ab- sorbed into the American political system. However, to the surprise of many, he contends that it has been the minority party, k., the Republicans and Fusionists, who have served as the channels for ab- sorbing the newcomers : “Almost all the gains made by the new minority groups (Jews, Italians, Negroes) were made through the Republican-Fusion coalition, not through the Democratic party.” Addi- tionally, the city’s important institutional innovations have also resulted from Re- publican efforts (see chapter 8, “The Reform Cycle”). While reform politics has been largely in the hands of the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, the author finds that Mayor Seth Low did more for Jews than his predecessors, that it was John Purroy Mitchel who appointed the first Negro to his cabinet and Fiorello H. LaGuardia who gave recognition to Italians and Jews. Although the Democratic “bosses” met the boats bulging with strange newcomers and dispensed turkey and coal at Christmastime, the appointments of newcomers to public office was the work of the minority party. Another controversial finding is that large, well-organized interest groups have changed the web of relationships between government and political parties. Of par- ticular importance is the fact that today one finds a new group of men serving as decision-makers in the city’s bureaucracy. Replacing the party-centered groups dominated by the traditional party leaders and their machines are the rising middle- income skilled groups less oriented to party and more to their occupational achievements and professicmal interests. These “nonpartisan” civil servants form alliances with their own interest-group constituencies. Power is located every- where and nowhere. What is found are separate arenas of power, each with its own structure and elite, highly specialized and narrowly oriented. The author sees danger in this func- tional specialization, for it considerably weakens the power of the city’s chief executive. The appointments are no longer “at the pleasure of the mayor.” His task of governing has, in fact, be- come increasingly difficult because of waning control over the new decision- makers. He is barred from effectuating his own party programs and policies, thus displacing party responsibility with a pluralism run riot. JEWEL BELLUSE Hunter College of the City University of New York The New Towns THE NEW TOWNS: THE ANSWER TO MEGALOWLIS. By Frederic J. Osborn and Arnold Whittick. McGraw-Hill Book Company, 330 West 42nd Street, New York 10036, 1964. xvii, 376 pp. Illus. $12.50. Great Britain’s new town system has been viewed, admired and copied by experts from all over the world. The con- 113

Political Parties and Politics. At the Pleasure of Tee Mayor of New York. By Theodore J. Lowi. The Free Press of Glencoe, a Division of The Macmillan Company, 60 Fifth Avenue, New

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Page 1: Political Parties and Politics. At the Pleasure of Tee Mayor of New York. By Theodore J. Lowi. The Free Press of Glencoe, a Division of The Macmillan Company, 60 Fifth Avenue, New

Books in Review Political Parties and Politics AT THE PLEASURE OF TEE MAYOR OF

NEW YORR. By Theodore J. Lowi. The Free Press of Glencoe, a Division of The Macmillan Company, 60 Fifth Ave- nue, New York 10011, 1964. xvi, 272 pp. Charts, table. $4.95.

While the setting for this study is New York City and, more particularly, the dispensation of patronage by its mayor, this provocative book is required reading for academicians and political practitioners wherever they are. The author has skillfully combined a number of useful approaches to his study of a community’s power structure-historical, behavioral and institutional-to come to some interesting conclusions.

New York politics have been shaped more by ethno-religious forces than class distinctions, claims Lowi. Through the mayor‘s appointive powers, key spokes- men for immigrant groups have been ab- sorbed into the American political system. However, to the surprise of many, he contends that it has been the minority party, k., the Republicans and Fusionists, who have served as the channels for ab- sorbing the newcomers : “Almost all the gains made by the new minority groups (Jews, Italians, Negroes) were made through the Republican-Fusion coalition, not through the Democratic party.” Addi- tionally, the city’s important institutional innovations have also resulted from Re- publican efforts (see chapter 8, “The Reform Cycle”).

While reform politics has been largely in the hands of the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, the author finds that Mayor Seth Low did more for Jews than his predecessors, that it was John Purroy Mitchel who appointed the first Negro to his cabinet and Fiorello H. LaGuardia who gave recognition to Italians and Jews. Although the Democratic “bosses” met the boats bulging with strange newcomers and dispensed turkey and coal at

Christmastime, the appointments of newcomers to public office was the work of the minority party.

Another controversial finding is that large, well-organized interest groups have changed the web of relationships between government and political parties. Of par- ticular importance is the fact that today one finds a new group of men serving as decision-makers in the city’s bureaucracy. Replacing the party-centered groups dominated by the traditional party leaders and their machines are the rising middle- income skilled groups less oriented to party and more to their occupational achievements and professicmal interests. These “nonpartisan” civil servants form alliances with their own interest-group constituencies. Power is located every- where and nowhere. What is found are separate arenas of power, each with its own structure and elite, highly specialized and narrowly oriented.

The author sees danger in this func- tional specialization, for it considerably weakens the power of the city’s chief executive. The appointments are no longer “at the pleasure of the mayor.” His task of governing has, in fact, be- come increasingly difficult because of waning control over the new decision- makers. H e is barred from effectuating his own party programs and policies, thus displacing party responsibility with a pluralism run riot.

JEWEL BELLUSE Hunter College of the City University of New York

The New Towns THE NEW TOWNS: THE ANSWER TO

MEGALOWLIS. By Frederic J. Osborn and Arnold Whittick. McGraw-Hill Book Company, 330 West 42nd Street, New York 10036, 1964. xvii, 376 pp. Illus. $12.50.

Great Britain’s new town system has been viewed, admired and copied by experts from all over the world. The con-

113