| Popis: |
This chapter examines the development of the labor movement in Fort Smith, Arkansas, after World War II to answer the question of why unions in the South lacked the strength and influence of their northern counterparts. City leaders created a culture based on conservative economic principles to attract industry and disseminated it through the media and civic events. Unions organized arriving factories but anti-labor laws and infighting reduced the scope and effectiveness of their actions. Faced with hostile state Democrats and weak unions, the white working class increasingly supported racially moderate, economically conservative Republicans over Democrats whose campaigns continued to focus on opposition to integration which culminated in an election wherein a supermajority decided to change the municipal form of government into one more closely resembling corporate governance. Electoral results show that political realignment in Fort Smith was predicated upon residents’ adoption of local elites’ business-friendly ideology. |
