Newspapers, Suburbanization, and Social Change in the Postwar Philadelphia Region, 1945-1982

COVERING SUBURBIA: NEWSPAPERS, SUBURBANIZATION, AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE POSTWAR PHILADELPHIA REGION, 1945-1982 A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by James J. Wyatt January, 2012 Examining Committee Members: Kenneth Kusmer, Advisory Chair, History Beth Bailey, History James Hilty, History Carolyn Kitch, External Member, Journalism ii © by James J. Wyatt 2012 All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT My dissertation, “Covering Suburbia: Newspapers, Suburbanization, and Social Change in the Postwar Philadelphia Region, 1945-1982,” uses the Philadelphia metropolitan area as a representative case study of the ways in which suburban daily newspapers influenced suburbanites’ attitudes and actions during the post-World War II era. It argues that the demographic and economic changes that swept through the United States during the second half of the twentieth century made it nearly impossible for urban daily newspapers to maintain their hegemony over local news and made possible the rise of numerous profitable and competitive suburban dailies. More importantly, the dissertation argues that, serving as suburbanites’ preferred source for local news during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, enabled the suburban newspapers to directly influence the social, cultural, and physical development of the suburbs. Their emergence also altered the manner in which urban newspapers covered the news and played an instrumental role in the demise of several of the nation’s most prominent evening papers during the 1970s and early 1980s, including Philadelphia’s Evening Bulletin. This dissertation contributes to the growing body of innovative scholarly studies examining the development of America’s suburbs during the post-World War II era; works which have placed suburbanites at the center of national debates regarding public housing, integration, and urban sprawl, but, to this point, have ignored the central role that suburban newspapers played in influencing how people who had only recently moved to the rapidly growing suburbs understood and reacted to these issues through their coverage of local events. In its totality, my dissertation provides a counter to the prevailing scholarly emphasis on the mass media’s power and argues that local suburban iv newspapers played a primary role in shaping suburbanites’ ideals, attitudes, and actions during the postwar era. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Over the past few years, I have relied enormously on the generous support of numerous mentors, colleagues, friends, and family members. Indeed, I would not have been able to finish this dissertation were it not for their help. My advisors patiently helped me navigate the ins and outs of researching, writing, and revising this dissertation. Ken Kusmer actively supported this project from the start. He encouraged me to push methodological and disciplinary boundaries and gave me the space to follow my instincts. Beth Bailey pushed me to think broadly about why this history matters and to ask big questions. Their advice and keen eye for detail has made me an infinitely better thinker and writer. For that, and all of their help, I thank them. Jim Hilty’s comments helped me see the potential in “going bigger” with this case study. I still draw on the many lessons learned from the courses I took with him as an undergraduate and graduate student at Temple. I likely would not have considered graduate school were it not for him and thank him for all the sage advice he has provided over the years. Carolyn Kitch’s incisive comments and suggestions were equally as valuable and much appreciated. I thank her for serving on my committee. My colleagues in Temple’s history department made my experience there intellectually engaging and, very frequently, a lot of fun. Many commented and provided feedback on this work. Holger Lowendorf, Eric Klinek, John Wood, Sarah Hughes, Drew McKevitt, and Kate Scott challenged my assumptions, asked hard questions, and pushed me to do more with the project. I thank them for their contributions, and more importantly, for their friendship. vi While I learned how to be a historian at Temple, my love of history emerged many years before. As a kid, my parents, Jim and Daurice, hauled my brother and I all over the east coast on family vacations. Every summer, we loaded the car and visited battlefields, mansions, plantations, and all other manner of historic sites. It was on these trips that my passion for history was first kindled. I want to thank them for recognizing that interest and cultivating it. I also want to thank them for the support that they have provided in the intervening decades. Getting to this point has been a long and circuitous journey, to say the least. I could not have made it this far without their love and guidance. I love them both. Other friends and family members helped keep me going in various ways. My brother Mike and sister-in-law Joanna provided lots of free meals, free tickets to concerts and Flyers games, and always had fresh pot of coffee ready. They helped me relax when I otherwise couldn’t. Dee Parke, who finished her doctorate as I started on this trek, provided emotional support and served as a constant source of encouragement. Many of my friends from “back home” inquired about my progress and, at the very least, feigned interest in my long stories and explanations. I thank them for keeping me grounded and for never letting me forget where I came from. No one has provided more support than my wife, Dana. She encouraged me to follow my heart into graduate school and has traveled every step of this adventure by my side. Her dedication and work ethic inspire me, her sense of humor makes me laugh, and her love and unyielding faith in me propel me forward. She makes me want to be a better person. Over the past year, she has spent the bulk of her time caring for Claire, the newest edition to our family, so that I could complete this dissertation. Seeing the two of vii them together every morning makes me smile, and the prospect of spending more time with them has provided, perhaps, the greatest incentive to finish. I love them both more than they can know, and I dedicate this work to them. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................x CHAPTERS 1. NAVIGATING THE MARKETPLACE............................................................1 2. CRAFTING THE SUBURBAN IDEAL IN “AMERICA’S MOST PERFECTLY PLANNED COMMUNITY”..........................................................50 3. SELLING COMMUNITY IN SOUTH JERSEY: THE CAMDEN COURIER-POST AND THE MARKETING OF THE CHERRY HILL MALL ..................................................................................................................124 4. COVERING THE SUBURBS IN A CHANGING NEWSPAPER MARKET............................................................................................................183 5. COMBATING CONSERVATION: THE DELAWARE COUNTY DAILY TIMES AND THE BATTLE TO BUILD THE BLUE ROUTE .............229 6. OMITTING THE NEWS: THE BURLINGTON COUNTY TIMES AND THE FIGHT FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN MOUNT LAUREL, NEW JERSEY ...................................................................................295 7. “DINOSAURS DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE”: SUBURBAN DAILIES, CORPORATE NEWSPAPERS, AND THE DEMISE OF THE PHILADELPHIA EVENING BULLETIN ............................................................355 EPILOGUE ..................................................................................................................409 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................423 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure One: Cherry Hill Mall Advertisement (1961) .....................................................147 Figure Two: Cherry Hill Mall Boat Show Advertisement (1962)..................................157 Figure Three: Cherry Hill Mall Christmas Advertisement (1963) .................................158 Figure Four: Cherry Hill Mall 2nd Anniversary Celebration Advertisement (1963).......165 Figure Five: Strawbridge and Clothier Echelon Mall Advertisement (1970).................170 x INTRODUCTION On Friday, January 29, 1982, N.S. “Buddy” Hayden, the publisher of the long troubled Philadelphia Bulletin, sat down and typed out his last communiqué to the paper’s employees. In it, Hayden offered his heartfelt thanks to those who had sacrificed and worked to keep the paper afloat during its last trying years, and he attempted to explain, albeit briefly, how and why those efforts had finally come up short. The publisher opined that “no other group of people could have ever given more nor worked under more trying circumstances.”1 He argued that no one “single thing” had caused the paper’s failure and explained that a myriad of factors had, over time, slowly rendered the Bulletin “a dinosaur in an age of sleek jaguars and leaping gazelles.”2 Hours later, after the farewell edition had been printed, bundled, and loaded on the delivery trucks, the Bulletin’s presses were turned

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