BIG CITY MAYORS: POLITICAL SPECIALIZATION AND BUSINESS DOMINATION IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES

摘要

An examination of mayoral recruitment in 19 major American cities from 1820 to 1995 finds that mayors are now more likely to have prior political experience, serve longer in office, and have previously served on city councils. They are also less likely to come from business backgrounds, and those mayors who are still in business are less likely to have big business and manufacturing backgrounds. A multivariate analysis of mayors serving between 1870 and 1995 indicates that mayors from business backgrounds are less likely to be selected when their cities have partisan elections, when their cities have a large African American population, and when mayors are machine candidates. This analysis also finds that the number of mayors with business backgrounds declines as the number of college graduates increases, even though (after 1896) political machines disappeared and more cities adopted reform (council manager and commission) governments.