Bossism and Reform in a Southern City: Lexington, Kentucky, 1880-1940. (Book Reviews).

Bossism and Reform in a Southern City: Lexington, Kentucky, 1880-1940. By James Duane Bolin. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, c. 2000. Pp. xviii, 202. $24.95, ISBN 0-8131-2150-7.)

In this study of William Frederick "Billy" Klair, a political leader who dominated his town and contributed to its growth during the early twentieth century, James Duane Bolin challenges the notion that urban political bosses existed only in large northern metropolises. Klair witnessed the transformation of Lexington from a small market community of 16,000 people into a mid-sized urban center with more than triple that number of inhabitants. During much of this time, as the city experienced Progressivism, the First World War, the Great Depression, and the New Deal, Klair kept a tight hold on the reins of local power and became a serious force in Kentucky politics.

Dolin particularly notes the ability of Klair and his organization to absorb structural governmental reforms such as the commission council and city manager forms of government and convert them to the ends of his political machine. The author also shows the Lexington boss's skill at winning support from all segments of society, high and low. Klair enjoyed the confidence of the wealthy who lived in the Bluegrass mansions and ran the horse farms as well as those who dwelled in the town's poorer neighborhoods. He used the power that he derived from these diverse associations and his own influence in government to enhance his personal wealth and the bank accounts of those who joined him. Klair was a great practicioner of George Washington Plunkitt's philosophy of "honest graft" (p. xiii). The boss focused his commercial attentions on insurance, but he also benefited from textbooks, coal, and street construction. Many advocates applauded Klair's contributions to his city's growth, but opponents were quick to charge that he and his cronies received more than their fair share in return.

Bolin has done an admirable job of research in this well-written volume. Worthy of special praise is an excellent bibliographical essay that nicely traces and explains the various historical theories of urban political bosses and their machines. So, too, is his background examination of the Mulligan Ring that preceded the Klair machine. One problem with the study is that the author does not always successfully explain the interaction between Klair and urban growth. This tendency is most noticeable in the discussion of the Great Depression and the New Deal in Lexington, a time when Klair and his associates were not always in power. Another problem is that Bolin devotes little attention to the nuts and bolts of the Klair organization. These, however, are minor faults in a fine book that makes an excellent contribution to the study of American city machines and political reform, as well as the urban South.