Reformers to Radicals (40 page)

7
. Carson,
In Struggle
, 3 (quotes). On Freedom Summer, see also McAdam,
Freedom Summer
,

8
. See Anderson,
The Movement and the Sixties
, esp. the introduction and chap. 1.

9
. National Security Act quoted in Patterson,
Grand Expectations
, 133. NSC-68 quoted in Powaski,
The Cold War
, 85. On containment policy during the postwar era, see Gaddis,
Strategies of Containment
, 94; and Patterson,
Grand Expectations
, 176–78.

10
. Powaski,
The Cold War
, 85 (first quote); Anderson,
The Movement and the Sixties
, 9 (other quotes). See also Patterson,
Grand Expectations
, 240 (Mc-Carran Act).

11
. For an in-depth examination of anticommunism and the academy, see Schrecker,
No Ivory Tower
, See also Anderson,
The Movement and the Sixties
, 11–12.

12
. On the local color movement in Appalachia, see Shapiro,
Appalachia on Our Mind
, For the selectivity of these early reformers, see Whisnant,
All That Is Native and Fine;
and Forderhase, “Eve Returns to the Garden.”

13
. While the term
culture of poverty
was not used until the mid-twentieth century, its implications were present in the literature of the time.

14
. Frost, “Our Contemporary Ancestors in the Southern Mountains,” 311 (quote). On the concept of Appalachian “otherness” and how it affected America's responses to the region, see Shapiro,
Appalachia on Our Mind
, On how the country used these images, see Batteau,
The Invention of Appalachia
, For the early reformers in the mountains, see esp. Whisnant,
Modernizing the Mountaineer
and
All That Is Native and Fine;
Forderhase, “Eve Returns to the Garden”; Campbell,
The Southern Highlander and His Homeland;
and Weller,
Yesterday's People
, On Weller's book as a training manual, see Oral History Interview with Thomas Parrish, April 1, 1991, Berea, KY, WOP Oral History Project.

15
. Caudill,
Night Comes to the Cumberlands
,

16
. Eller,
Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers
, 197–98.

17
. Hevener,
Which Side Are You On?
14.

18
. Shifflett,
Coal Towns
, 12, 191, 54.

19
. Whisnant,
Modernizing the Mountaineer
,

20
. On the conflicts precipitated by divisions among contenders for control of community action programs, see Matusow,
The Unraveling of America
, 243–71.

21
. O'Connor,
Poverty Knowledge
, 15.

For another biting critique of American social policy, albeit one that takes an entirely different tack, see Murray,
Losing Ground
, Murray contended that social policy in the United States, especially in the 1960s, actually
increased
poverty by fostering dependency on entitlement programs. That is, programs that provide entitlements create an environment in which the poor, rather than taking advantage of the opportunities that society offers, instead choose unemployment, illegitimacy, and welfare over marriage and jobs. In the end, according to Murray, America “lost ground” since those decisions, though “rational” in the short term, created more significant, long-term problems, including an increased number of individuals on welfare and, more important (sounding very close to the 1960s idea of a culture of poverty), a pattern of self-perpetuating, pathological behavior.

Though critics, including O'Connor, countered Murray's data, they were hard-pressed to counter his popular appeal, which reflected the Reagan era's focus on individual responsibility and conservative American values. For critiques
of Murray, see O'Connor,
Poverty Knowledge
, 247–50; Greenstein, “Losing Faith in Losing Ground”; Jencks, “How Poor Are the Poor?” and Schram,
Words of Welfare
,

22
. Dittmer,
Local People
,

23
. Scholars of Appalachia, like their counterparts studying the civil rights movement, are beginning to develop a greater appreciation for the importance of local people in effecting change. See, e.g., Fisher, ed.,
Fighting Back in Appalachia
,

24
. Pope, “Introduction,” 3.

25
. Interestingly, American historiography focuses on radicalism on the left of the political spectrum and hardly ever on the right. See, e.g., Young,
The American Revolution;
Wood,
The Radicalism of the American Revolution;
Foner,
Tom Paine and Revolutionary America;
Banner,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton;
Fink,
Workingman's Democracy;
Cameron,
Radicals of the Worst Sort;
Woodward,
Tom Watson;
Goodwyn,
Democratic Promise;
Montgomery,
Beyond Equality
and
The Fall of the House of Labor;
Miller,
Democracy Is in the Streets;
and Rossinow,
The Politics of Authenticity
, For an interesting but dated look at American radicalism, see Lasch,
The New American Radicalism
,

26
. O'Connor,
Poverty Knowledge
, 136 (first two quotes), 134 (last quote). For a discussion of some of the dilemmas that activists from the Left (who usually gain the term
radical
) face, see Pope, “Introduction,” 4–7.

27
. For a discussion of this philosophy throughout the twentieth century, see O'Connor,
Poverty Knowledge
,

1
. Oral History Interview with George Brosi, November 3, 1990, Berea, KY, WOP Oral History Project. For an analysis of Southerners involved in social activism, including civil rights, in the 1960s, see esp. Michel,
Struggle for a Better South
,

2
. Oral History Interview with George Brosi, November 3, 1990, Berea, KY, WOP Oral History Project.

3
. Ibid.

4
. Ibid. For an examination of the “great migration” and its effects on Northern metropolises, see Brown and Hillery, “The Great Migration.” In addition to mountain whites, a significant number of African Americans also migrated to the nation's industrial centers during the war and immediate postwar years.

5
. Adelbert Z. Bodnar to Council of the Southern Mountains, March 10, 1964 (quotes), Council of the Southern Mountains Papers, 1913–1970 (hereafter CSM Papers), box 102, Special Collections, Hutchins Library, Berea College, Berea, KY. For a discussion of Southern industrialization strategies, see Cobb,
The Selling of the South
, On Appalachian migration to Northern industrial centers, see Berry,
Southern Migrants, Northern Exiles
,

6
. For a concise yet critical assessment of the Council of the Southern Mountains, see Whisnant,
Modernizing the Mountaineer
, 3–39.

7
. Whisnant, “Workers in God's Grand Division,” 8. Whisnant's
Modernizing the Mountaineer
provides an excellent, comprehensive view of various reform efforts in central Appalachia. Chapter 1 covers the Council of the Southern Mountains. On the Ayer years, see pp. 18–25. Though Ayer did revive a dying CSM, the decade of the 1950s was still uncertain financially. Whisnant reports that, as late as 1958, Ayer had to borrow $5,000 from Berea College to meet costs. See Whisnant,
Modernizing the Mountaineer
, 19.

8
. Galbraith,
The Affluent Society;
Harrington,
The Other America
, 23–24; Coles,
Children of Crisis
, xi–xii.

9
. Vance, “The Region,” 7.

10
. On pluralism, see Dahl,
A Preface to Democratic Theory, Polyarchy
, and
Dilemmas of Pluralist Democracy
, Given that theorists equated pluralism with democracy, it is not surprising that the theory gained popular support during the Cold War.

11
. Created in 1943 following the Detroit race riot of that same year, the Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee initially worked to prevent racial tensions precipitated by the influx of African Americans to Cincinnati during World War II. See Burnham, “The Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee.”

12
. Tucker, “Imagining Appalachians,” 105 (first quote); “Hands-across-the-Ohio” Program newsletter, no. 4, September 10, 1962, grant no. PA 61–62, sec. 4 (second quote), reel R-0255, Ford Foundation Grants Files (hereafter FFGF), Ford Foundation Archives, Ford Foundation, New York; Pamphlet [on Characteristics of Southern Appalachian Migrants] prepared by Roscoe Giffin, [ca. 1958], grant no. PA 58–42, sec. 5 (last quote), reel R-0170, FFGF. See also Roscoe Giffin, “Some Aspects of the Migration from the Southern Appalachians,” 1957, and James Gladden, “How the Church May Increase the Resources of the Community,” both in grant no. PA 58–42, reel R-0170, FFGF. The records of the urban workshops are located in the CSM Papers, boxes 280–84.

Appalachia's critics did have a point when they discussed the Southern mountains' position in the political arena—an interpretation that, unfortunately, fed into their view of the region being without community structures. Because the mountains run in what is essentially a north-south direction, they are perpendicular to state boundaries. This, in critics' analysis, made the Appalachians the “backyards” of states dominated by lowland interests—e.g., the Bluegrass region in Kentucky or the Tidewater-Piedmont region of Virginia. Thus, the mountain regions were minority regions inhabited by a disjointed population. Should reformers succeed in creating a greater sense of community there, mountaineers would then have the organizational force to effect positive
change. See Docket Excerpt—Board of Trustees Meeting, Public Affairs: Council of the Southern Mountains, 9/26–27/63, grant no. PA 61–62, reel R-0255, FFGF. This document also recognized a “‘mountain culture' which is extremely resistant to change of any kind” and claimed that many Appalachians “will and
should
leave” (emphasis added).

13
. Bigart, “Kentucky Miners.”

14
. Perley Ayer to Jess Wilson, October 5, 1962 (first quote), CSM Papers, box 98; Perley Ayer to D. M. Aldridge, October 9, 1962, CSM Papers, box 70; Perley Ayer to Wilson Wyatt, March 7, 1961 (second quote), CSM Papers, box 68; Perley Ayer to CSM Board, September 13, 1963, CSM Papers, box 70.

15
. The 1925 “Program for the Mountains” called for “God fearing homes,” improved health and sanitation, agriculture fitted to the mountains, better roads, schools and recreation opportunities, and stronger churches. See “Program for the Mountains,”
Mountain Life and Work
1 (April 1925): 20–22.

Mountain Life and Work
was the official journal of the Council of the Southern Mountains. Complete runs of the periodical are in both the Margaret I. King Library at the University of Kentucky and the Hutchins Library at Berea College.

16
. Eller,
Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers
, 7 (quote). On the traditional community in central Appalachia, see ibid., chap. 1. See also Thelen,
Paths of Resistance
, chap. 1; and, for a short discussion of this traditional community in action, Sellers,
The Market Revolution
, 8–16. Waller's
Feud
shows how this traditional community broke down under the weight of late-nineteenth-century industrialization in central Appalachia.

17
. Perley Ayer to George Bidstrup, January 26, 1961, and Perley Ayer to John Bischoff, January 26, 1961, CSM Papers, box 40; “Better Life for People Is Council's Aim,”
West Virginia Hillbilly
(Richmond), March 7, 1960, 1, 3.

18
. Lawson quoted in Carson,
In Struggle
, 23–24 (emphasis added).

19
. The general correspondence files of the Council are replete with requests to governors, U.S. senators and representatives, and cabinet members to attend these annual conferences. “Community Resources: Theme of the 48th Annual Conference of the Council of the Southern Mountains,”
Berea Alumnus
, April 1960 (quote); Loyal Jones to Charles Hansell, Eastern Kentucky State College, April 14, 1960, CSM Papers, box 51.

20
. Bert T. Combs to President John F. Kennedy, November 9, 1961, CSM Papers, box 42; Memorandum, Perley Ayer to D. M. Aldridge, September 27, 1961, CSM Papers, box 39; Perley Ayer to Phillip Aylesworth, U.S. Department of Agriculture, December 18, 1961, CSM Papers, box 70; Senator John Sherman Cooper to Perley Ayer, June 16, 1960, CSM Papers, box 42; D. M. Aldridge to Perley Ayer, October 2, 1961, CSM Papers, box 39. On the ARA, see Matusow,
The Unraveling of America
, 100–101. For a critical assessment of the ARA in Appalachia, see Whisnant,
Modernizing the Mountaineer
, chap. 3. The ARA will be discussed in greater detail in the next chapter.

21
. Perley Ayer to Brooks Hays, December 5, 1962 (first quote), CSM Papers, box 81; Milton Ogle to George Hubley Jr., Maryland Department of Economic Development, January 11, 1961 (second quote), CSM Papers, box 171; Perley Ayer to Otto Klineberg, January 31, 1961 (third quote), CSM Papers, box 54.

22
. “President's Appalachian Regional Commission Report,” October 30, 1963, CSM Papers, box 70; P. F. Ayer to Louis Smith, Dean of Berea College, March 9, 1964 (first quote), CSM Papers, box 117; Perley Ayer to Island Creek Coal Company, March 29, 1962, CSM Papers, box 82; Perley Ayer to W. Ross “Pop” Baley, March 8, 1960, CSM Papers, box 40; B. F. Reed to Milton Ogle, January 6, 1961, CSM Papers, box 171; Perley Ayer to Donald Cook, President, American Electric Power, February 27, 1964 (second quote), CSM Papers, box 100. On the anti-strip-mining movement, see Montrie,
To Save the Land and People
,