The Hardhat Riot: Nixon, New York City, and the Dawn of the White Working Class Revolution, Kuhn - B+

                      "May 1970 was a tumultuous month in a tumultuous era. After Cambodia and Kent State, the anti-war movement revived and radicalized..." This is the story of "a city,  a mayor, a president's people, and an era when the nation diverged - living different cultures, different wars, different economies, until the American experience became so fragmented that the singular became an anachronism."

                      The NYPD and student protestors had clashed in 1968 at Grand Central Terminal and Columbia University.  There was an inherent tension between the blue collar cops, most from conservative Catholic backgrounds, and the upper middle class students. It was Brooklyn v. Scarsdale. The 1960's were a trying time in NY as the city lost hundreds of thousands of  manufacturing jobs and faced a massive middle class flight to the suburbs. Indeed, nationally there was a concern about the middle class feeling overwhelmed and unappreciated. The nascent cultural dichotomy was exacerbated by the war. The majority of those who fought, and those who died, were poor or middle class, while the sons of the elite received college deferments.  And the man that the average New Yorker felt epitomized those elites the most was the mayor, John Lindsay. The city's trade unions by the 1960's were like medieval guilds with limited access because the unions reserved most spots for the families of its members. The Nixon administration targeted construction as an industry that needed to be opened up to minorities. The trades knew that between the government and the soon to be finished construction of the WTC, their world would be changing for the worse. 

                  When Nixon invaded Cambodia in May, all hell broke loose in America. ROTC buildings around the country were bombed and half of the colleges closed. On the 4th, four students were killed by the National Guard at Kent State. Anti-war protesters marched all around Manhattan, particularly at City Hall and Wall Street. The mayor showed his sympathy by lowering the flag at City Hall, and supporting  the demonstrators.  On the 7th, workers scuffled with students downtown. Word on the street was that they were gonna bust heads the next day. A little before noon on the next day at Federal Plaza, a group of 400 workers approached a demonstration, and were kept away by a line of police. As the students chanted "fuck you and Nixon too," the police were overwhelmed as hardhats carrying an American flag crashed into the protestors. The hardhats were upset by the disrespect for the flag that many of them had fought for. A melee ensued with hardhats beating up protestors as the police stood by. The riot spread north and east as hardhats continued to extract their revenge on the "commies." They headed north to City Hall and chanted for the flag to be raised from half-staff. Feeling threatened, the deputy mayor raised the flag, and the workers sang the national anthem and 'God Bless America.' The mayhem moved across the park to Pace College, where students were taunting the hardhats. The rioters beat longhairs in front of the school, eventually broke down the doors and entered the building, where they destroyed property before the police removed them. When a different Lindsay deputy lowered the flag back to half-mast, the crowd surged back to City Hall. The flag went back up. By mid-afternoon, the unrest dissipated and the riot was over.

                 Over a hundred protestors were injured, half a dozen seriously. The mayor promised repercussions for the police inaction, but let the matter go. The FBI did not investigate, and the ACLU class action against the city in federal court failed. Twelve days later on the 20th, 150,000 flag waving union members rallied at City Hall. The press called it Worker's Woodstock and the White House noticed. These were Nixon people. Within a week, Nixon hosted two dozen labor leaders at the WH. A massive Honor America Day highlighted July 4th with over 250,000 on the Mall in Washington. The Silent Majority was adding a new constituency: the blue collar Democrat. 

               "Most Americans soured on the war but not their nation or its flag. They could not conceive of  detaching those colors from the soldiers who died beneath the nation's banner. " Two years later, Nixon won the votes of 60% of white union members. "Between JFK and McGovern, nearly all of Nixon's electoral gains were with blue-collar whites." They were now Republicans. Excellent book and another great recommendation from my brother, Bill.