American Studies ETDs

Publication Date

5-6-1980

Abstract

From Chapter 1:

Although we usually measure time in uniform units, some months and years seem much longer and more packed with significance than other spans of approximately the same duration. Sometimes years and even centuries can roll by with the normal incidence of new fashions, changes of government, economic booms and busts, wars and other detail of the sort that enlivens most of our history books, yet nothing really substantial seems to have taken place. To most appearances and in most respects, the people at the end of the period acted largely like their predecessors several generations earlier. But then a decade or so may follow when all looks quiet yet the fundamental conditions are changing so dramatically that new pressures rapidly mount, threatening to crack or burst the social vessel. Suddenly there are wild action in the streets, inflammatory rhetoric, unfamiliar values and modes of perception, rapid and unpredictable shifts of direction, fears of anarchy. In the gathering tumult people lose their sense of continuity; the present seems wrenched loose from the past. And then, after a while, the turbulence subsides, and most persons reimmerse themselves in their ordinary, mundane affairs. They do not go back to the way things were, however, for in the course of a few decades the old world of their parents and childhood has all but vanished, and all around them is a strange new one.

As practically everyone in this country knows who has lived through some or all of the years since World War II, America has fairly recently been undergoing such a period of dramatic transformation. From approximately the late 1940s to the early 1970s the man-made landscape shifted and took on new forms as millions of citizens abandoned their small towns and surged into the metropolises and their suburbs, as gigantic transportation systems and networks streamed with traffic, and as huge and opulent structures spread out over city blocks and soared toward the skies. The growth of the cities and the buildings within them was paralleled by a spectacular increase in disposable income. Goods and services that were lavish by former standards abounded, making possible more comfortable and more secure lives for many. Yet instead of basking in contentment, large groups of people, including both have nots and haves, asserted themselves against the established social order, shaking it until it trembled and bent. Equally disconcerting to those who were comfortable with the ways things had been was a wave of new mores which seemed to countenance sexual permissiveness, sloppiness in manner and dress, and rampant disrespect for authority. The persons in the vanguard of the changes, on the other hand, waxed enthusiastic over the apparent new openness all around them. But what was actually taking place – whether society was becoming more or less restrictive, whether the individual was counting for more or less than in the past, whether people were treating one another much differently than before--was extremely difficult to untangle amid the din of claims and counterclaims.

The transformation taking place in the nation as a whole over these years, and in much of the world beyond, is too overwhelming and bewildering a spectacle to be easily grasped. If one limits the canvas to a particular locale, a place which moved along the main strands of the changes in a vivid though not entirely typical fashion, one can make more headway toward an overall understanding. Albuquerque, New Mexico, located at an important transportation intersection in the growing and prospering sunbelt of the United States, gained population at a faster rate between 1945 and 1972 than most other American cities and the myriad superficial and profound attitudes and behaviors of the people that blended together to make up the character of the society changed at a similar pace. As was the case with all cities, many of the problems and opportunities which the residents of Albuquerque wrestled with during this time appeared in forms which were peculiar to the unique circumstances of their moment and place, but the deep patterns of the ways the people coped with them and of what emerged were representative and significant.

A cursory look at Abluquerque's recent history can cast some light on these patterns. At the end of World War II the reins of city government were concentrated in the forceful hands of a small band of leaders, foremost of whom was the boisterous and colorful Clyde Tingley. The assertiveness of the political leaders was matched by the lively, aggressive and competitive spirit of most of the other members of the community, including businessmen, professionals, laborers and charity workers. Their money and ambitions for self-improvement, pent up during the war years, were just beginning to be unleashed. During the course of the ensuing boom the residents' wealth and material possessions increased at a prodigious rate; their appetites for more and better city services grew apace. At the same time large numbers of educated middle class professionals were pouring in from out of state to work at Sandia Corporation and other defense-related industries. Their incomes further fueled the economic expansion, and their desires for orderly, efficient and relatively elaborate services put added pressure on city government. The old political order was swept out of office, to be replaced eventually by the somewhat technocratically oriented functionaries of the Albuquerque Citizens Committee. Making greater use than their predecessors had of such impersonal management techniques as pyramidal organization and the merit system, these officials and their employees were able to expand the reach of local government while making it operate smoothly and efficiently. Meanwhile, other institutions, expecially businesses, were also expanding, becoming more bureaucratic, and delivering goods and services more efficiently. In order to keep these institutions humming like well-oiled machines, the workers in them had to submit to demanding discipline; but away from their jobs, enjoying their newly gained affluence, they came to assume a more relaxed and less formal style of life. For most of the 1950s the city seemed fairly happy and harmonious. The most spectacular occurrence was a weeklong festival in the summer of 1956 during which residents from every level of society came together to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of Albuquerque.

Language

English

Keywords

Albuquerque

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

American Studies

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

American Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

Gerald David Nash

Second Committee Member

Bainbridge Bunting

Third Committee Member

Charles DeWayne Biebel

Fourth Committee Member

Dodd Harvey Bogart

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