Publication Date

2024

Document Type

Book

Description

During the interwar period, Italian Americans typically gravitated towards the Democratic Party, drawn by its promise of social and economic reform. However, Italian-Americans in Broome County, New York, defied this trend, aligning predominantly with the Republican Party. Scholars have often overlooked this, treating ethnic voters as homogeneous. This study aims to uncover the reasons behind this anomaly and thoroughly examine its roots. This research highlights the influential leaders — including George F. Johnson — and organizations that shaped local politics, drawing on diverse sources such as newspapers, oral history interviews, and archival records. This study examines the community’s behavior from 1925 to 1945, seeking to challenge the prevailing notion that Italian Americans were an electoral monolith. The case of Broome County's Italian Americans underscores the transformative power of local context in shaping political identity, thus offering insights into complex ethnic voting patterns in the Southern Tier and beyond.

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Breaking the Mold: Exploring the Anomaly of Italian-American Voters in Broome County, New York

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