Sunland Tribune Volume 22 Article 12 1996 The Summer of '46 Gary R. Mormino Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/sunlandtribune Recommended Citation Mormino, Gary R. (1996) "The Summer of '46," Sunland Tribune: Vol. 22 , Article 12. Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/sunlandtribune/vol22/iss1/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sunland Tribune by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE SUMMER OF '46 By Gary R. Mormino Lafayette Street looking eastward in December 1946. In the foreground stands the Lafayette Hotel. Traveling eastward, the traveler encountered the Knight and Wall hardware building, the Bay View Hotel, and Tampa City Hall. — Hampton Dunn Collection, Courtesy University of South Florida Special Collections It was the summer of our discontent. In that failure to fund schools threatened the Washington, a Democratic President hurled future of the state. And in the worst cut of thunderbolts against a "do nothing" all, Tampeños complained that the classic Republican Congress, while the GOP main- Cuban sandwich had gone to white-bread tained that the liberal Democratic Party had hell. Yet many Americans contend, that like lost touch with mainstream America. In the film produced that year, it was the best Hillsborough County, residents cursed Dale year of our lives. It was the summer of 1946. Mabry Highway while abandoning mass transit. July rains swamped the Interbay and Tampa struggled to redefine itself. Everyone Sulphur Springs but the first sign of summer still recognized Tampa as "Cigar City," but practice augured promise for football fans.