Podcast appearances and mentions of Timothy J Lombardo

Broadcast on February 17, 2022 Hosted by Chris Garlock & Ed Smith One Fair Wage president Saru Jayaraman with an update on the DC and U.S. Congress campaigns, plus a special 9 to 5 screening with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin on 2/25; Cathy Feingold on the Jerry Black Scholarship Fund at the TraRon Center; Timothy J. Lombardo on Blue Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo's Philadelphia and Populist Politics. Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Michael Nassella. @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod #OneFairWage #RaiseTheWage @Janefonda @SaruJayaraman @bttrrstrntsdc #raisethewage

Timothy J. Lombardo is a historian who teaches at the University of South Alabama, and whose recent book Blue Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo's Philadelphia and Populist Politics covers critical territory for those seeking to understand the Trump era. Using Rizzo’s political career as a jumping off point for a wider discussion of race, class, and identity, Lombardo’s work complicates some deeply-held myths about the “white working class.” In this conversation, he talks about the politics and culture that surrounded him growing up in 1980s and 1990s Philadelphia, and how he developed an interest in describing the contours of conservative politics in the post-industrial Northeast.  

Today my guest is Timothy J. Lombardo, a native Philadelphian who when it came time to craft a doctoral dissertation decided to write what he knew about. And Tim knows Philadelphia, as his book Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo's Philadelphia and the Rise of Populist Politics makes abundantly clear. It's not a biography of Frank Rizzo–cop, Police Commissioner, two-term Mayor of Philadelphia–but an exploration of those people to whom Rizzo appealed. 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. In the end, of course, the book is about much more than Philadelphia. Lombardo makes a very persuasive argument that what in Frank Rizzo's Philadelphia, particularly the lower-class rage against elite opinion that was a feature of that era in the city, is now a pervasive part of American political culture. For Further Investigation The time Frank Rizzo appeared on a true-crime show hosted by Lee Marvin Controversies over Frank Rizzo's statue  Controversy over Frank Rizzo's mural "I'll break that camera over your head"

President Donald Trump is not sui generis. Populist impulses and political actors have been pulsating in the American soul since the nation’s founding. Timothy J.  Lombardo’s excellent book, Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia and Populist Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) recounts one such example. Starting in the mid-1960s, Rizzo dominated Philadelphia’s political landscape for a generation. His brand of bare-knuckled “law and order” conservatism augured the coming Reagan revolution. Lombardo recounts the roots Rizzo’s rise and blue-collar conservatism that he embodied that remains a powerful political force. Jeff Bloodworth is an associate professor of history at Gannon University.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump is not sui generis. Populist impulses and political actors have been pulsating in the American soul since the nation’s founding. Timothy J.  Lombardo’s excellent book, Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia and Populist Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) recounts one such example. Starting in the mid-1960s, Rizzo dominated Philadelphia’s political landscape for a generation. His brand of bare-knuckled “law and order” conservatism augured the coming Reagan revolution. Lombardo recounts the roots Rizzo’s rise and blue-collar conservatism that he embodied that remains a powerful political force. Jeff Bloodworth is an associate professor of history at Gannon University.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump is not sui generis. Populist impulses and political actors have been pulsating in the American soul since the nation’s founding. Timothy J.  Lombardo’s excellent book, Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia and Populist Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) recounts one such example. Starting in the mid-1960s, Rizzo dominated Philadelphia’s political landscape for a generation. His brand of bare-knuckled “law and order” conservatism augured the coming Reagan revolution. Lombardo recounts the roots Rizzo’s rise and blue-collar conservatism that he embodied that remains a powerful political force. Jeff Bloodworth is an associate professor of history at Gannon University.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump is not sui generis. Populist impulses and political actors have been pulsating in the American soul since the nation’s founding. Timothy J.  Lombardo’s excellent book, Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia and Populist Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) recounts one such example. Starting in the mid-1960s, Rizzo dominated Philadelphia’s political landscape for a generation. His brand of bare-knuckled “law and order” conservatism augured the coming Reagan revolution. Lombardo recounts the roots Rizzo’s rise and blue-collar conservatism that he embodied that remains a powerful political force. Jeff Bloodworth is an associate professor of history at Gannon University.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump is not sui generis. Populist impulses and political actors have been pulsating in the American soul since the nation’s founding. Timothy J.  Lombardo’s excellent book, Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia and Populist Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) recounts one such example. Starting in the mid-1960s, Rizzo dominated... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump is not sui generis. Populist impulses and political actors have been pulsating in the American soul since the nation’s founding. Timothy J.  Lombardo’s excellent book, Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia and Populist Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) recounts one such example. Starting in the mid-1960s, Rizzo dominated Philadelphia’s political landscape for a generation. His brand of bare-knuckled “law and order” conservatism augured the coming Reagan revolution. Lombardo recounts the roots Rizzo’s rise and blue-collar conservatism that he embodied that remains a powerful political force. Jeff Bloodworth is an associate professor of history at Gannon University.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices