Editing History of Pittsburgh (section)

===1930s===
Pittsburgh was a Republican stronghold starting in the 1880s,<ref>Between 1884 and 1933, only two Democrats served as mayors of Pittsburgh, Bernard McKenna from 1893 through 1896 and George Guthrie between 1906 and 1909.</ref> and the Republican governments provided jobs and assistance for the new immigrants in return for their votes. But the Great Depression starting in 1929 ruined the GOP in the city. The Democratic victory of 1932 meant an end to Republican patronage jobs and assistance. As the Depression worsened, Pittsburgh ethnics voted heavily for the Democrats, especially in 1934, making the city a stronghold of the [[New Deal Coalition]]. By 1936, Democratic programs for relief and jobs, especially the [[Works Progress Administration|WPA]], were so popular with the ethnics that a large majority voted for the Democrats.<ref>Stefano Luconi, "The Roosevelt Majority: The Case of Italian Americans in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia," ''Journal of American Ethnic History'' 1996 15(2): 32–59</ref><ref>Richard C. Keller, ''Pennsylvania's Little New Deal'' (1960)</ref>

[[Joseph Guffey]], statewide leader of the Democrats, and his local lieutenant [[David L. Lawrence|David Lawrence]] gained control of all federal patronage in Pittsburgh after Roosevelt's landslide victory in 1932 and the election of a Democratic mayor in 1933. Guffey and Lawrence used the [[New Deal]] programs to increase their political power and build up a Democratic machine that superseded the decaying Republican machine. Guffey acknowledged that a high rate of people on relief was not only "a challenge" but also "an opportunity". He regarded each relief job as Democratic patronage.<ref>Bruce M. Stave, ''The New Deal and the Last Hurrah: Pittsburgh Machine Politics'' (1970)</ref>