Dissertation Information for Matthew Gann McCoy NAME: - Matthew Gann McCoy
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- Arizona State University (USA) (2000)
ADVISORS: - Bradford Luckingham
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Kyle Longley - B. Richard Burg
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Desert metropolis: Image building and the growth of Phoenix, 1940--1965
Abstract: Phoenix, Arizona grew from an isolated frontier outpost into one of America's largest cities between 1940 and 1965. To accomplish this, the city's boosters had to reform a Gilded-Age political machine that controlled the city and then convince businesses and individuals to relocate to a desert where summer temperatures often soared above 110 degrees. Business and political leaders worked together in Phoenix to create a very pro-business atmosphere. The city offered attractive tax breaks and other financial incentives to companies interested in establishing plants in the "Valley of the Sun." Local leaders built the city's industrial growth around high-technology manufacturers. These businesses brought well-educated workers and non-polluting factories to the area. Phoenix also promised a laid-back way of life for its residents. Phoenicians could drive their own cars to work and enjoy any of a number of outdoor activities in the valley.
Phoenix's growth did create problems, however. Critics attacked the "car culture" of the city and the pollution automobiles caused. Others complained that Phoenix was a cultural "black hole," a stigma that city leaders worked hard to remove during the late fifties. Phoenix also failed to address inequalities between the city's white and minority residents. While most white Phoenicians enjoyed the benefits of education and jobs in the lucrative high-tech sector, African-American and Latino residents found themselves shut out of the city's economic boom.
Phoenix's leaders did not come to grips with these problems during this era. Most Phoenicians preferred to focus on trumpeting the advantages that brought hundreds of thousands of people to Phoenix in the years following World War II. Many of these new residents came from cold-weather states in the Midwest and Northeast. Newcomers from these areas happily traded the frigid seasons of northern climates for Phoenix's blazing summers and warm winters. Companies came to the valley both because of the financial incentives but also because the city's promise of a better way of life made it easier for manufacturers to attract qualified workers. In the end, Phoenix's civic leaders managed to create a city that emphasized comfort and freedom for both businesses and residents.
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MPACT Scores for Matthew Gann McCoy A = 0
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calculated 2008-05-04 19:04:16
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