In 1931, Prohibition was still very much real and the city of Chicago was still reeling from the St. Valentine’s Day massacre and organized crime kingpin Al Capone had pled guilty to tax evasion. In 1956, Dwight Eisenhower was President, children were practicing nuclear attack drills and there was no space race. In 1962, Diana Ross and the Supremes were still wondering where their love went as a new sound- Motown- exploded on the scene.
Songs were written to these cities. Chicago was Frank Sinatra’s kind of town, Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco, and Motown defined the music scene in Detroit. San Francisco was the gateway to the Pacific with a wonder of the modern world connecting it to neighboring Marin County. Chicago was a commercial and transportation hub connecting the Eastern US with the Western US while Detroit was a manufacturing giant and home of the assembly line.
What do all these years have in common? In 1931, Chicago had its last Republican mayor, San Francisco their last in 1956, and Detroit their final Republican mayor in 1962.
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