Title Cold war dixie : militarization and modernization in the American south / Kari Frederickson

Published Athens : University of Georgia Press, [2013]

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 226 pages) : illustrations Series Politics and culture in the twentieth-century South Politics and culture in the twentieth-century South. Contents Introduction -- "This most essential task" : the decision to build the Super -- A varied landscape : geography and culture in the Savannah River Valley -- "A land doomed and damned" : the costs of militarization -- "Bigger'n any lie" : building the bomb plant -- Rejecting the garrison state : national priorities and local limitations -- "Better living" : life in a Cold War company town -- Shifting landscapes : politics and race in a Cold War community -- Epilogue Summary Focusing on the impact of the Savannah River Plant (SRP) on the communities it created, rejuvenated, or displaced, this book explores the parallel militarization and modernization of the Cold War-era South. The SRP, a scientific and industrial complex near Aiken, South Carolina, grew out of a 1950 partnership between the Atomic Energy Commission and the DuPont Corporation and was dedicated to producing materials for the hydrogen bomb. The author shows how the needs of the expanding national security state, in combination with the corporate culture of DuPont, transformed the economy, landscape, social relations, and politics of this corner of the South. In 1950, the area comprising the SRP and its surrounding communities was primarily poor, uneducated, rural, and staunchly Democratic; by the mid-1960s, it boasted the most PhDs per capita in the state and had become increasingly middle class, suburban, and Republican. The SRP's story is notably dramatic; however, the author argues, it is far from unique. The influx of new money, new workers, and new business practices stemming from Cold War-era federal initiatives helped drive the emergence of the Sunbelt. These factors also shaped local race relations. In the case of the SRP, DuPont's deeply conservative ethos blunted opportunities for social change, but it also helped contain the radical white backlash that was so prominent in places like the Mississippi Delta that received less Cold War investment Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [177]-219) and index Notes English Subject Cold War -- Social aspects -- Savannah River Valley (Ga. and S.C.) -- History -- 20th century HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV) HISTORY -- United States -- 20th Century. Social aspects SUBJECT Savannah River Valley (Ga. and S.C.) -- History -- 20th century Subject United States -- Savannah River Valley Genre/Form History Form Electronic book LC no. 2012048326 ISBN 0820345199 9780820345192 0820345660 9780820345666

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