Editing New Deal coalition (section)

===WPA jobs and Democratic party organizations===
Roosevelt's top aide in distributing patronage was [[James Farley]], who served simultaneously as chair of the New York State Democratic Party, chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and Postmaster General in FDR's cabinet, as well as FDR's campaign manager in 1932 and 1940.<ref>Farley broke with FDR in 1940. Daniel Mark Scroop, ''Mr. Democrat: Jim Farley, the New Deal and the Making of Modern American Politics'' (University of Michigan Press, 2009) [https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Democrat-Farley-American-Politics/dp/0472099302/ excerpt].</ref> He handled traditional patronage for the [[United States Post Office Department|Post Office]]. He helped with the new agencies aimed at the unemployed, especially the [[Works Progress Administration]] and [[Civilian Conservation Corps]], as well as other job agencies. He helped state and local Democratic organizations set up systems to select likely candidates for the federal payroll. In the 1940s most of the big city machines collapsed, with a few exceptions such as Chicago and Albany, New York.<ref name=sv;av>{{cite web| title = Political Machines | url = http://autocww.colorado.edu/~toldy2/E64ContentFiles/PoliticsAndGovernment/PoliticalMachines.htm | publisher = University of Colorado, Boulder | access-date = 2012-02-18 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091208011342/http://autocww.colorado.edu/~toldy2/E64ContentFiles/PoliticsAndGovernment/PoliticalMachines.htm | archive-date = 2009-12-08 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Being a voter or a Democrat was not a prerequisite for a relief job. Federal law specifically prohibited any political discrimination regarding WPA workers. Vague charges were bandied about at the time.<ref>The most frequent claim is that Kentucky Democrats purchased WPA votes in the 1935 gubernatorial campaign. For a refutation see {{cite journal|first1=Robert J. |last1=Leupold|title=The Kentucky WPA: Relief and Politics, May–November 1935|journal=Filson Club History Quarterly|year=1975|volume=49|number=2|pages=152–168}}</ref> The consensus of experts is that: “In the distribution of WPA project jobs as opposed to those of a supervisory and administrative nature politics plays only a minor in a comparatively insignificant role."<ref>{{cite book|first1=Donald S. |last1=Howard|title=The WPA and Federal Relief Policy|publisher=Russell Sage Foundation|year=1943|pages=301–303}}</ref> However those who were hired were reminded at election time that FDR created their job and the Republicans would take it away. The great majority voted accordingly.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Si|last1=Sheppard|title=‘If it weren't for Roosevelt you wouldn't have this job': The Politics of Patronage and the 1936 Presidential Election in New York|journal=New York History|volume=95|number=1|year=2014|pages=41–69}}</ref>