Before the Great Society: Liberalism, deindustrialization and area redevelopment in the United States, 1933--1965

This dissertation explores the intersection between American liberalism, deindustrialization, and public policy through an analytical narrative of the Area Redevelopment Administration (ARA). Lasting from 1961 to 1965, the ARA provided federal assistance to community development groups in labor markets affected by deindustrialization and those in rural areas and Native American reservations. The dissertation examines the political context in which federal redevelopment policy emerged, particularly the New Deal and post Second World War efforts at creating a full-employment economy. This work also explores the economic and social changes resulting from deindustrialization and underemployment at the local and state levels, and how federal policy developed out of these efforts. It accomplishes these two tasks by connecting the national policy narrative to the subnational narratives of four areas the ARA sought to help: smaller urban areas of Pennsylvania, the inner city of Cleveland, rural areas in the South, and Native American communities.; While the ARA did not solve the crises of unemployment caused by deindustrialization or rural poverty, the ideas and policies of the ARA embodied portions of the three major eras of reform in the history of the modern United States: the Progressive era, the New Deal and the Great Society. The story of the ARA shows the continuation of reform liberalism in the Untied States, which sought to reconstruct the American political economy in order to limit the inequities of capitalism. This wing of liberalism emerged during the Progressive era and reached its height during the 1940s. In addition, the history of the ARA also revises the common understanding of the process of deindustrialization. Most studies address one industry or community, or focus on the 1970s and 1980s. This dissertation broadens our understanding of the process by pushing the chronology back to the 1930s and integrating the local, state, and national responses to industrial transformation.