A Black Face in a High Place, Fire Commissioner Robert O. Lowery
A Black Face in a High Place, Fire Commissioner Robert O. Lowery
Reform, Retrenchment, and the Limitations of Racial Liberalism
This chapter focuses on John Lindsay’s appointment of Robert O. Lowery to serve as the FDNY’s Fire Commissioner during the onset of one of the most tumultuous periods in the department’s history, “the War Years.” Within the department itself, the first half of “the War years were characterized by a highly racialized, contentious, internal struggle for institutional control that escalated throughout John Lindsay’s and Robert Lowery’s two terms in office. Efforts to reform departmental race relations, increase minority access and representation, and maintain fire protection levels were complicated by budget problems, escalating racial, political, and cultural conflicts; rising workloads; labor militancy; and white backlash.
Keywords: Robert O. Lowery, Uniformed Fireman’s Association (UFA), Vulcan Society, White Identity politics, Racial liberalism, Institutional racism, John Lindsay, “The War Years”, Neoliberalism and public employment, Attacks on firefighters
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