Mr. A. Goes to Youngstown

When Congressmen Philip Crane and Mickey Edwards traveled to Youngstown, Ohio last winter, to meet with local union leaders and develop a tax-cutting, free- market solution to Youngstown’s woes (see “A Working Man’s GOP?” NR, June 9), they were not alone. For Youngstown’s troubles have attracted other visitors as well, who have quite different remedies.

Late last September, Youngstown Sheet and Tube announced that it was shutting down its 77-year-old Campbell Works, throwing some five thousand people out of their jobs. U.S. Steel, calling the Youngstown situation “dismal,” also announced that it would consolidate local operations. Youngstown did not lack company. A week earlier, Alan Wood, a small firm outside Philadelphia, had gone bankrupt, while Bethlehem Steel was on its way to posting the largest quarterly loss of any company in American history. The Carter Administration accordingly threw together a task force which considered various options for Youngstown—including “community and/or worker takeover.”

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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When Congressmen Philip Crane and Mickey Edwards traveled to Youngstown, Ohio last winter, to meet with local union leaders and develop a tax-cutting, free- market solution to Youngstown’s woes (see “A Working Man’s GOP?” NR, June 9), they were not alone. For Youngstown’s troubles have attracted other visitors as well, who have quite different remedies.

Late last September, Youngstown Sheet and Tube announced that it was shutting down its 77-year-old Campbell Works, throwing some five thousand people out of their jobs. U.S. Steel, calling the Youngstown situation “dismal,” also announced that it would consolidate local operations. Youngstown did not lack company. A week earlier, Alan Wood, a small firm outside Philadelphia, had gone bankrupt, while Bethlehem Steel was on its way to posting the largest quarterly loss of any company in American history. The Carter Administration accordingly threw together a task force which considered various options for Youngstown—including “community and/or worker takeover.”