Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story

During the period 1962–64, Detroit appeared to be on top of the world. Auto production among the Big Three—General Motors (GM), Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler—was strong. Ford planned to roll out the revolutionary Mustang pony car. Berry Gordy and Motown established a fresh sound in the record industry. Mayor Jerome Cavanagh and Police Commissioner George Edwards attempted to make strides on race relations. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered an early version of his "I Have a Dream" speech in the city two months prior to the March on Washington. Civic leaders planned to make a bid for Detroit to host the 1968 summer Olympic Games. However, Maraniss (Rome 1960) points out that serious problems existed. De facto segregation and tense race relations continued. Differences over tactics divided members of the local civil rights movement. Urban renewal decimated long-standing ethnic neighborhoods. Strains in relations between labor and management led to strikes in the auto industry in 1964. And Wayne State University issued a report predicting the rapid drop in the city's population and the movement of white residents from Detroit to its suburbs. The seeds for the decline of a great city were planted. As reader, Maraniss does an excellent job presenting this saga.