The city of Omaha was officially incorporated by the Legislature of the Territory of Nebraska in 1857. The city charter determined that Omaha would be controlled by a mayor and a common council. The city's first mayor was Jesse Lowe. The city council first had nine aldermen, but through an 1858 reform, the number was reduced to six members from three wards. By 1870, the city was split into six wards, and the city council was increased to twelve members (Andreas 1882). Since this decision, the number of wards and council members in Omaha has changed to seven wards with one council member representing each ward (City of Omaha, 2004).

In the 1890's the Populist movement swept through Nebraska. The members of this political party advocated government ownership of railroads and the telegraph, and lower taxes. Populists were closely tied to the Democratic Party, but had their own platform (Nebraska Studies, 2000). They held several conventions in Nebraska, one of which established their platform, known as the Omaha platform (Tindall, 1966). The best-known member of the Populist Party, William Jennings Bryan also became the editor of the democratic newspaper, The Omaha World Herald, in 1894. Despite the large numbers of Nebraskans sympathetic to the Omaha Platform, the Populist party disbanded in 1908 (Nebraska Studies, 2000). The Progressive Movement started around the turn of the century and worked within both the democratic and republican parties to incite reform of the government. Progressives were in favor of women's suffrage, prohibition, anti-monopoly reform, direct elections, and child labor legislation (Nebraska Studies, 2000)

In 1900, Thomas Dennison, a professional gambler who helped enable Omaha's reputation as a wide open city, was in control of the city's republican political machine. He worked in conjunction with Omaha's law enforcement and the editor of the Omaha Bee newspaper to control the city's politics and profit from gambling, saloons, and prostitution (Nebraska Studies, 2000). Dennison operated out of an office in the back of a Budweiser saloon and gave jobs to immigrants and those in need in exchange for votes (Harding, 2004). From 1897 until 1906, republican mayor Frank Moores allowed Dennison's machine to continue without any interference. However, in 1906 the republicans decided to run a reformer named Erastus Benson. Afraid that Benson would advocate prohibition, Dennison backed the Democratic candidate for mayor, James C. Dahlman (Nebraska Studies, 2000).

Dennison's machine, with Mayor Dahlman at the front, remained in power until 1918, when progressive reformers revealed city worker incompetence and a host of illegal operations within the machine. Democrat Edward P. Smith was voted mayor in 1918 and sought to tear apart the Dennison machine for good (Thomas, 1994). A race riot ensued in Omaha in 1919 after a white woman accused a black man of robbing and raping her, and the newspapers wrote sensationalist stories vilifying black men in Omaha. An angry mob of nearly 20,000 people marched to the courthouse to seize the suspect, Will Brown and lynch him. When Mayor Edward Smith came out to calm the crowd, they tied him up and hanged him from a streetlight. Although he was cut down before he died, the mayor left Nebraska to recuperate for the following two months and would not seek reelection (Wilborn et. al., 2000)

Dennison's men blamed the race riots on inefficient and lazy police officers, who allowed crime to run rampant in Omaha (Camp, 2001). This image was enough to have Dahlman re-elected as mayor every term until his death in 1930 (Leighton, 1939). However, reformer Robert Smith was elected as clerk of the Douglas County District Court in 1907. Smith was a critic of the debauchery of the Dennison machine, and used his position to rally support against Dennison. He allied with US senator Howell and Nebraska Attorney General Sorenson. Robert Smith's son, Edson Smith became a lawyer and enforced Nebraska's prohibition act.

In 1932, Edson Smith took Dennison and 58 of his men to court for violation of the National Prohibition Act. The trial brought vast evidence against the corrupt leader and exposed the weaknesses of his political machine. Although the trial ended as a mistrial, there was enough bad publicity of Dennison to allow the progressives to reform the government and block out machines (Camp, 2001). This decline in support, combined with a rise in the middle class that made control of elections more difficult, shut out the over thirty year old political machine from the city's politics once and for all (Harding, 2004).

Works Cited

Andreas, A.T. 1882. History of the State of Nebraska. (Chicago: The Western Historical Company).

Camp, Laurie Smith. April 2001. "When Clerks of the District Court Had Real Power: Robert Smith's Omaha, 1908-1950. The Nebraska Lawyer.

City of Omaha. 2004. City Council. .

Harding, David. Feb. 1, 2004. "Tales of City's Wayward Youth." Omaha World-Herald Sunday Sunrise Edition, 1e.

Leighton, George R. 1939. Five Cities: The Story of their Youth and Old Age. (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers), 195-197.

NebraskaStudies.org. 2000. "Dennison's Political Machine." [cited 21 February 2004]. .

_______. 2000. "The Populists." [cited 21 February 2004]. .

_______. 2000. "Dennison's Political Machine." [cited 21 February 2004]. .

Thomas, Doug. Sept 18, 1994. "Riot Stirs Questions Even After 75 Years." Omaha World-Herald, 1e.

Tindall, George Brown. 1966. A Populist Reader, Selections from the Works of American Populist Leaders. (New York: Harper and Row), 91-96.

Willborn, Steven L., Richard C. and Catherine Stuart Schmoker. January 2000. "Negro Lynched: Mayor Beaten, Nearly Hanged." The Nebraska Lawyer.