Muckraking: Investigative Journalism of the Early 20th Century

Political Machines Across the U.S.

Lincoln Steffens claims to be the first muckraker because of his book, The Shame of the Cities, that was published as an in-progress piece in "McClure's Magazine". The first piece, "Tweed Days in St. Louis," was published in 1902 and the final product was published in 1904. His book looked at the corrupt political machines that controlled several U.S. cities without checks and balances. His theory of political corruption is one that many would agree with; he believed that corruption was the work of both powerful business men who swayed government for their own benefit and the average business men who were aware of such corruption, yet allowed it to continue. This theory was much different than many of the other muckrakers at the time who saw the citizens as the victims, and nothing else, of corruption. Steffens forced the general public to face their responsibility to persist against political corruption. 

The inspiration for his book came from an article he edited for "McClure's"  by an author who had  written of a public official who had been elected strictly on the strength of an alliance between local businesses and a leader in the local Democratic party. The previous author had omitted crucial details that proved to be the real strength of the article and Steffens felt passionate enough about the issue to rewrite the entire article over again, including all of the juicy details and being as harsh as possible to the corrupt officials, regardless of the slander charges or threats that would come because of it. He defied his boss, S.S. McClure, by doing so. He did the same in Minneapolis by exposing a system of organized crime that was able to thrive because the criminals payed off the mayor and policemen. Steffens found similar forms of corruption across the country in Chicago, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

This work, along with other muckraker's works, changed the political climate of the United States forever as it inspired the general public to fight back against big business' influence in government.