In U.S. political jargon, a smoke-filled room (sometimes called a smoke-filled back room) is an exclusive, sometimes secret political gathering or round-table-style decision-making process. The phrase is generally used to suggest an inner circle of power brokers, a cabal of the powerful or well-connected acting to make decisions[1] without regard for the will of the larger group.
A late 19th-century view of the smoking room in a gentlemen's club. The three men at lower right are engaged in earnest discussion.
An early example of a smoke-filled room is the Boston Caucus. A report of a 1763 meeting of this group said, "selectmen, assessors, collectors, fire-wards and representatives are regularly chosen [there] before they are chosen in the town ... There they smoke tobacco till you cannot see from one end of the garret to the other."[2]
^Schattschneider, Elmer Eric (1942). Party Government: American Government in Action. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. p. 41. ISBN978-0-7658-0558-4.
^Morris, Joe Alex (1957). "Deadline Every Minute The Story Of The United Press - ARCHIVE.ORG ONLINE VERSION". Doubleday & Company.
^Vaughn, Stephen L. (2008). Encyclopedia of American Journalism. New York: Routledge. ISBN978-0-203-94216-1.
smoke, filled, room, editor, performed, search, found, that, sufficient, sources, exist, establish, subject, notability, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, . An editor has performed a search and found that sufficient sources exist to establish the subject s notability Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Smoke filled room news newspapers books scholar JSTOR October 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message In U S political jargon a smoke filled room sometimes called a smoke filled back room is an exclusive sometimes secret political gathering or round table style decision making process The phrase is generally used to suggest an inner circle of power brokers a cabal of the powerful or well connected acting to make decisions 1 without regard for the will of the larger group A late 19th century view of the smoking room in a gentlemen s club The three men at lower right are engaged in earnest discussion An early example of a smoke filled room is the Boston Caucus A report of a 1763 meeting of this group said selectmen assessors collectors fire wards and representatives are regularly chosen there before they are chosen in the town There they smoke tobacco till you cannot see from one end of the garret to the other 2 The origin of the term was in a report by Raymond Clapper of United Press describing rumors of the process by which Warren G Harding was nominated at the 1920 Republican National Convention as the party s candidate for the presidential election After many indecisive votes Harding a relatively minor candidate who was the junior senator from Ohio was legend has it chosen as a compromise candidate by Republican power brokers in a private meeting at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago after the convention had deadlocked 3 4 See also editClosed session Conspiracy Gray eminence Secret society Star Chamber Old boy networkReferences edit Smoke Filled Room Encyclopedia of Chicago Schattschneider Elmer Eric 1942 Party Government American Government in Action New Brunswick NJ Transaction Publishers p 41 ISBN 978 0 7658 0558 4 Morris Joe Alex 1957 Deadline Every Minute The Story Of The United Press ARCHIVE ORG ONLINE VERSION Doubleday amp Company Vaughn Stephen L 2008 Encyclopedia of American Journalism New York Routledge ISBN 978 0 203 94216 1 Further reading editSafire William 1993 Safire s New Political Dictionary New York Random House pp 721 722 ISBN 978 0 679 42068 2 nbsp This article related to the politics of the United States is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Smoke filled room amp oldid 1113755602, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
