Andrew Needham
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691139067
- eISBN:
- 9781400852406
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691139067.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter focuses on the Valley of the Sun. “The Valley of the Sun” was not only an idealized place. It was also a political project, the result of two of the most powerful forces in the postwar ...
More
This chapter focuses on the Valley of the Sun. “The Valley of the Sun” was not only an idealized place. It was also a political project, the result of two of the most powerful forces in the postwar American political economy. The first was the ongoing legacy of New Deal policies that sought to fuel the national economy through debt-driven personal consumption. Part of the general postwar economic philosophy historians have labeled “growth liberalism” offered federal loan guarantees to a select population of white Americans choosing suburban living. The resulting “landscape of mass consumption” was plainly evident in Phoenix, both in the huge numbers of homes built after World War II and in the increasing numbers of electrical appliances that filled them. Local efforts to attract these consumers, and the potential capital they embodied, was the second force that created the Valley of the Sun.Less
This chapter focuses on the Valley of the Sun. “The Valley of the Sun” was not only an idealized place. It was also a political project, the result of two of the most powerful forces in the postwar American political economy. The first was the ongoing legacy of New Deal policies that sought to fuel the national economy through debt-driven personal consumption. Part of the general postwar economic philosophy historians have labeled “growth liberalism” offered federal loan guarantees to a select population of white Americans choosing suburban living. The resulting “landscape of mass consumption” was plainly evident in Phoenix, both in the huge numbers of homes built after World War II and in the increasing numbers of electrical appliances that filled them. Local efforts to attract these consumers, and the potential capital they embodied, was the second force that created the Valley of the Sun.
Tula A. Connell
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039904
- eISBN:
- 9780252098062
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039904.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Political History
In the 1950s, Milwaukee's strong union movement and socialist mayor seemed to embody a dominant liberal consensus that sought to continue and expand the New Deal. This book explores how business ...
More
In the 1950s, Milwaukee's strong union movement and socialist mayor seemed to embody a dominant liberal consensus that sought to continue and expand the New Deal. This book explores how business interests and political conservatives arose to undo that consensus, and how the resulting clash both shaped a city and helped redefine postwar American politics. The book focuses on Frank Zeidler, the city's socialist mayor. Zeidler's broad concept of the public interest at times defied even liberal expectations. At the same time, a resurgence of conservatism with roots presaging twentieth-century politics challenged his initiatives in public housing, integration, and other areas. As the book shows, conservatives created an anti-progressive game plan that included a well-funded media and public relations push; an anti-union assault essential to the larger project of delegitimizing any government action; opposition to civil rights; and support from a suburban silent majority. In the end, the campaign undermined notions of the common good essential to the New Deal order. It also sowed the seeds for grassroots conservatism's more extreme and far-reaching future success.Less
In the 1950s, Milwaukee's strong union movement and socialist mayor seemed to embody a dominant liberal consensus that sought to continue and expand the New Deal. This book explores how business interests and political conservatives arose to undo that consensus, and how the resulting clash both shaped a city and helped redefine postwar American politics. The book focuses on Frank Zeidler, the city's socialist mayor. Zeidler's broad concept of the public interest at times defied even liberal expectations. At the same time, a resurgence of conservatism with roots presaging twentieth-century politics challenged his initiatives in public housing, integration, and other areas. As the book shows, conservatives created an anti-progressive game plan that included a well-funded media and public relations push; an anti-union assault essential to the larger project of delegitimizing any government action; opposition to civil rights; and support from a suburban silent majority. In the end, the campaign undermined notions of the common good essential to the New Deal order. It also sowed the seeds for grassroots conservatism's more extreme and far-reaching future success.
