 Perhaps you heard the news that Bethlehem has been selected by an internationally known newspaper to be the focus of a three year project that will examine, and I quote, "the mood of the American people." Reporters from the London-based Financial Times have already visited the city several times for interviews, though I hasten to add I have yet to be contacted.
The paper says that interest in American politics is at an all-time high. "Fixated on America" is the phrase they used, while acknowledging that, well, everyone is usually fixated on America, it's just a matter of degree. And we all know why this fixation is occurring; we have a president who is capable of doing anything on any given day. Then undoing it.
More specifically, the Financial Times likes that Bethlehem is in a swing state. Plus, Northampton County has been a presidential bellwether. Only three times in the last 112 years have we county voters failed to vote for the elected president. For the record, that was in 1968 when we went for Humphrey over Nixon, and in 2000 and 2004, when we picked against Bush 2 in favor of Gore and then Kerry. But then we jumped between Obama, then to Trump, then to Biden, then back to Trump. That's quite a checkers move.
But getting more granular. Why Bethlehem?
Well, the editor said we have a diverse population and we could be considered mid-size. Back in the 1930s, sociologists Robert and Helen Lind spent years in the Indiana town of Muncie for a landmark study of a small town. They called the book and its follow up 'Middletown' and never even mentioned the name Muncie throughout the text. Well, I guess we Bethlehemites now live in Everywhereville.
Anyway, when the Financial Times reporters show up, they usually talk to our mayor, Willie Reynolds, as they should. Mayor Reynolds is a perfect Everywhereville representative—Bethlehem born and bred, schooled, even college, never left, hung around, got involved, worked for the city. And I also see Mayor Reynolds as a fine middle school basketball player I coached 35 years ago. So, I asked my former point guard, Willie, excuse me, Mr. Mayor, why he thought they chose Bethlehem.
"We're economically sound and we're crossways politically," said the mayor. "We've had some great economic successes, but in my conversations with them and a lot of my other conversations, it always comes back to politics; that everything that goes on is part of the larger political narrative."
But the main reason Bethlehem was chosen, believes the mayor, is the specter of Bethlehem Steel, an ancient specter to some, a never-leaves-our-thoughts specter for others. "In Bethlehem, I think the fact that a worldwide industry flourished here and then was gone, captured their imagination," Willie said.
I agree. When I came to live and work here right after college in 1971, the narrative of steel—the sight of it, the smell, the fire on the south side, the idea that it had drawn so many immigrants, changed the lives of so many people—got deep inside of me and it's still there. And even though we're no longer living in a steel town, we are still to an extent in a post steel world—the delicious symbolism of Southside blast furnaces serving as a backdrop to the musical acts that perform at SteelStacks.
Trying to look at this objectively, I think the Financial Times made an excellent choice for their focus. The story of Bethlehem is a story of transformation, a story of compromise, a story of finding another way. I wish the Financial Times all success with their project, and I want let them know I'm available for questioning. Can't say much about the CHIPS Act or the economic underpinnings of our city, but I do have the best cheese steaks and coffee places all scoped out.
