Do Elections Matter?

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

The Polluters, a newly published history of the chemical industry and the environment by local transit activist Ben Ross – who’ll be signing books this Thursday (see below), tells the story of an air pollution disaster that took place the weekend before the 1948 election, when Republican candidate Thomas Dewey was the overwhelming favorite to defeat President Truman. Twenty residents of the small mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania, were killed by smog, yet pro-industry federal managers ignored appeals for help from state and local officials and refused to get involved. But the Public Health Service made an abrupt u-turn the day after the election and launched an investigation. What happened? Ross and co-author Steven Amter have unearthed new evidence that the reversal was triggered by a personal appeal to president Truman – who had just been declared the winner that morning -- by Steelworkers president Phil Murray. Hear more about this at a book-signing and informal discussion of The Polluters Thursday, Sept. 16, from 5-7p at the Cork and Fork, 1522 14th Street NW; the store will offer tastings of organic and sustainably-grown wines.