lombardo: i say archie bunker would have felt right at home in frank rizzo's philadelphia. nixon saw rizzo as part of his urban strategy. nixon was a strategist. always looking -- white voters' allegiance was really up for grabs after the 1960's. he saw rizzo as a way of getting this constituency that had for decades voted democratic, and he saw frank rizzo as key to it. rizzo and nixon were allies. rizzo made a spectacle of himself in a lot of ways campaigning for rizzo. he famously held a press conference with a rubber chicken with a mcgovern sticker on it. to mock him. as much as nixon had his so-called southern strategy, he also had his urban strategy to do this with these blue-collar whites that really has not been looked at as much. steve: was he a racist? dr. lombardo: he would not say so. he would say he's not. rizzo was very fond of saying -- these accusations docked him throughout his career from m throughout his career as mayor. when asked, he would very much save, the last thing i am is against somebody for being a different color than me, but at the same time, a

timothy: i say archie bunker would have felt right at home in frank rizzo's white philadelphia. nixon saw rizzo as part of the urban strategy. nixon was a strategist, always looking to -- and as white voters's allegiance was up for grabs after the 1960's. he saw rizzo as a way of getting this conconstituency that had four decades voted democratic and he saw people like rizzo -- rizzo and nixon became allies. rizzo made a spectacle of himself in a lot of ways campaigning. he held a press conference with a rubber change with a mcgovern sticker on it to mock him. as much as nixon had his so-called southern strategy, he also had this urban strategy to do this with blue collar whites that really hasn't been looked at as much as the southern strategy has. host: was he a racist? timothy: he wouldn't say so. he would say he's not. rizzo was fond of saying -- accused dogged him throughout his career from police to mayor. when he was asked, he would very much say the last thing i am is against somebody for being a different color than me. but at the same time all of the policies he champio

i used frank rizzo, a key figure in the city in that era

. >> former philadelphia mayor frank rizzo, and the concerns of white working class voters in the 1970's, is the topic of the interview coming up next. american history tv was at the organization of american historians annual meeting in sacramento, california, where we spoke with professor timothy lombardo.

. >> former philadelphia mayor frank rizzo and the concerns of white working-class voters in the 1970's is the topic of the interview coming up next. american history tv was at the organization of american historians' annual meeting in sacramento, california, where spoke with professor timothy lombardo. he compares politics and 1970's to today's political climate. this is about 20 minutes steve: timothy lombardo is a philadelphia native and now professor of history at the university of south alabama. your book coming out in septbe

this turns into a situation where frank rizzo, then police commissioner, unleashes a fresh recruits onto these kids who are protesting. the kids understandably run away. some of them smash some windows. does smashing windows while you are running away from an assault by police on what had been a peaceful protest, does that count as violence? i think many people at the time would have said yes, but i am not sure our answer should be yes. belinda: i think the parallels in west germany are pretty extraordinary, and not always accidentally because west german officials were concerned to be seen positively in the eyes of the american government precisely as rewriting their story, not as past nazis, but in the present, on the front lines of the battle against communism, and i start with the officials because it was just as in the u.s., and also as in mexico, the violence is really coming very much from above by officials who are both trying to maintain a sense of order, very concerned to demonstrate their control over the streets, over all of these spheres of expression. and also in terms of t