Originally published on October 24, 2018 (Episode 83)
Introduction
Frank Rizzo was a poor Italian-American Philadelphian, a high school dropout, and a beat cop, before rising to become Philadelphia’s police commissioner.
But Timothy J. Lombardo’s Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia and Populist Politics (Penn, 2018) isn’t just about Rizzo; it’s about the voters who saw themselves reflected in him. Lombardo can write about what those people thought, and what they saw in Frank Rizzo, because of the sources the used. We don’t talk about it during our conversation, unfortunately, but Rizzo got a lot–a lot–of letters, and these have all been preserved in the collection of his papers. They offer an opportunity to see how blue-collar Philadelphians thought and felt about what was going on in their city. It’s not an exaggeration to say that without such sources, Lombardo couldn’t have written about his book.
Their grievances, frustrations, and sense of cultural and economic displacement were not unique to Philadelphia—they echo in American politics today.
About the Guest
Timothy J. Lombardo is Professor of History at the University of South Alabama in Mobile.
For Further Investigation
Timothy J. Lombardo, Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia and Populist Politics (Penn, 2018)
That time Frank Rizzo was on a true-crime show hosted by Lee Marvin
Listen & Discuss
How did blue-collar Philadelphians shape the politics of their city?
What does Rizzo’s career reveal about the roots of modern populism?
Send this to someone who thinks “populism” is only a twenty-first century phenomenon.
