(Kentucky) Democratic Party : Political Times of "Miss Lennie" Mclaughlin
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University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 8-1981 The Louisville (Kentucky) Democratic Party : political times of "Miss Lennie" McLaughlin. Carolyn Luckett Denning 1943- University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Recommended Citation Denning, Carolyn Luckett 1943-, "The Louisville (Kentucky) Democratic Party : political times of "Miss Lennie" McLaughlin." (1981). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 333. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/333 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE LOUISVILLE (KENTUCKY) DEMOCRATIC PARTY: " POLITICAL TIMES OF "MISS LENNIE" McLAUGHLIN By Carolyn Luckett Denning B.A., Webster College, 1966 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Political Science University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky August 1981 © 1981 CAROLYN LUCKETT DENNING All Rights Reserved THE LOUISVILLE (KENTUCKY) DEMOCRATIC PARTY: POLITICAL TIMES OF "MISS LENNIE" McLAUGHLIN By Carolyn Luckett Denning B.A., Webster College, 1966 A Thesis Approved on <DatM :z 7 I 8 I By the Following Reading Committee Carol Dowell, Thesis Director Joel /Go]tJstein Mary K.:; Tachau Dean Of (j{airman ' ii ABSTRACT This thesis seeks to examine the role of the Democratic Party organization in Louisville, Kentucky and its influence in primary elections during the period 1933 to 1963. A prominent party leader, Lennie McLaughlin, is the focal point of the study. McLaughlin was one of a few female party leaders who functioned as a party "boss" in a metropolitan area during that time. Included is an historical narrative of Louisville's Democratic organization during the McLaughlin era and an analysis of her organiza tion's success in the selection of favored primary candidates. The Democratic organization's accomplishments in general elections are compared to contemporary general elections in the same locale. It is shown that during the McLaughlin era the organization controlled primary contests. The research further reveals that during the period 1933 to 1961 the normal voter turnout in local elections was above 60% and roll-off within an election remained consistently low. Comparative data from 1973 and 1977 local elections are analyzed. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author gratefully acknowledges the guidance and assistance of Professors Carol Dowell, Joel Goldstein and Mary K. Tachau. She wishes to express thanks to her family and friends who have been constant support. She is indebted to those persons who were the subject of interviews. The interest and assistance extended her by the staff members of the University of Louis ville Archives and the Jefferson County Board of Elections is greatly appreciated. She extends her gratitude to Madge McDonald LeDonne for her editorial and typing assistance. Special gratitude and appreciation goes to her husband Tom whose encouragement motivated the endurance to complete this thesis. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .•.. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1 II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . 3 III LENNIE McLAUGHLIN AND THE DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION .. 19 IV LOUISVILLE'S DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION: PERFORMANCE IN SELECTED PRIMARY ELECTIONS . 83 V CONCLUSION 134 APPENDIX . 148 REFERENCES . 157 VITA ... 166 vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Political organizations in the local milieu are not unlike other types of organizations. There are leaders and followers. The organ ization has goals. If the organization intends to accomplish specific goals, there are acceptable methods of behavior and functions necessary for success. There is information about the nature of local political organizations. In the past, such studies have included descriptions of party "machines" and party "bosses." The accomplishment of a local political organization's goals has been analyzed in terms of patronage, government's legislative and administrative functions, the nomination process and voting behavior, among other factors. One of the purposes of this study was to describe the recent history of the Democratic party organization in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky using as a focal point Mrs. Lennie McLaughlin. McLaughlin was a party leader from 1930 to 1964. She was selected be cause of her influence in and her leadership of that local party, and because she was a woman who led a metropolitan political party. Thus, a second purpose of this study was to relate the story of one woman who was unique in her role as a partisan leader who functioned as a local political "boss." Her success as a "boss" is measured by her ability to control the Democratic party's process of nominating candidates for local public office. 1 2 A third purpose of this study was to analyze in a comparative manner local voting behavior. Data from the period 1933 to 1961 was analyzed in comparison to data from the period 1973 to 1977. The analysis centered on the concepts of voter turnout, roll-off 1 and the percentage of the total vote garnered by Democratic and Republican candidates for local offices. Select primary and general elections in Louisville and Jefferson County during these periods are cited in the narrative and in the analysis sections of this study. Lastly, a major purpose of this study was to present in written form an account of a portion of Louisville's history so that it might be accessible and useful to other interested persons. Political science as a discipline has changed over the years in the sense that emphasis of study has changed. The era of legal interpretive studies and historical approaches to areas within the field of political science have merged and evolved into behavioral and statistical approaches. This research was undertaken to take advantage of both the older and newer approaches in political science. It is a political history of a particular local party and the impact on it of a particular personality who happened to be a woman. Such a study with an historical perspective can reflect generalities of the period through which the activities are observed. Freshening basic political science data with narrative and impressionistic approaches often can give the human picture of functions and behavior in the broad field of political science. IThe total vote of one race in relation to the total vote of another race within the same election: In general, "Incomplete bal lots cast." Walter D. Burnham, Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics. New York: Norton, 1970, p. 114. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Scholarly attempts to describe and analyze political party lead ers and the functions and activities of political parties have been undertaken. There were attempts to study the nature of political "bosses" and their rise and decline as powerful leaders on the local level. There have been studies of the role of women in the political process. But there has been less attempt to describe the nature of a particular female political boss in a particular geographic area. The literature pertinent to this study is divided into three general areas: 1. studies of political organizational leaders or "bosses" and political machines; 2. studies of female participation in politics; 3. studies that describe the particular local political organization and activities of individuals in the Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky area. The attempt to show that a particular female political activist was in fact a boss of a machine must reckon with these part attempts of analyzing what a "boss" is and "how it is to be female" in politics. Studies of Political Organizational Leaders and Machines The classic biographical treatment by Harold Zink (1930) pre sents descriptive accounts of twenty bosses, their backgrounds, personal characteristics, domestic, social and business relations and 3 4 their rise from novice to "boss." As his sources, Zink used newspapers, memoirs, public documents, political histories and interviews. The study presents several basic characteristics and behavior patterns of the bosses. 1. Relationship between racial stock of the bosses and the dominant racial groups of foreign origin in their cities; 2. Early loss of their fathers and early responsibility of being the "breadwinner" for the family and the holding of a variety of jobs as youngsters; 3. Lack of correlation in relation to the number of chil- dren in the family or the sequential ranks i.e., being the oldest or the youngest; 4. Majorities' origins being low economic families; 5. Positive correlation with long residency in the particular city, a "most important" similarity; 6. Majority having no formal education beyond elementary school; 7. Having better than average personal morality and sense of humor; 8. Lack of interest in reading, either books or newspapers; 9. Having sound common sense and being fairly incisive; and 10. The fact that many did not obtain great personal wealth. (Zink, pp. 1-24) Significance of the Zink study was that it attempted to reveal the reality of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century bosses rather than rehashing the often-told myths and propaganda of the muckrakers, whose cartoons typified the bosses as cigar-smoking, 5 fat men wearing flashy rings and having toothy grins, similar to Cheshires. Zink attempted to study specific bosses rather than to discuss the phenomenon of bossism in general. Several studies of political bosses published in the 1970's gave a more biographical treatment to individual bosses. Alfred Steinberg (1972) wrote of bosses such as Ed Crump of Memphis, Frank Hague of New Jersey, James Michael Curley of Boston and Tom Pendergast of Kansas City, among others.