“Letting down the bars”: Race, space, and democracy in San Francisco, 1936–1964

After World War II, the home became the cornerstone of the American Dream. New suburban developments allowed many citizens to share in the “American way of life”. But what did the pursuit of a home look like in the city, particularly one boasting both a diverse population and tradition of liberalism and tolerance as San Francisco? This dissertation examines discrimination and segregation in housing in San Francisco from the outbreak of World War II through 1964. Having just built two majestic bridges, the city also hosted two world\u27s fairs in 1939 and 1940. San Francisco\u27s history as a multiracial, multiethnic city proved that a mixed population could coexist without deadly violence. Indeed, it was “the city that knows how”. But an analysis of housing for nonwhites in San Francisco reveals a city less liberal and less tolerant than it believed itself to be; il-liberalism and intolerance that disparately hemmed in African Americans and reflected the impermeability of the black-white binary. From segregation in public housing to restrictive covenants on the private market, from terrorist techniques more often ascribed to the South to the displacement of thousands due to urban renewal, this analysis shows that many white San Franciscans resisted residential integration. Those agitating for equal access to housing used the Cold War as a rhetorical ally, charging that housing segregation violated America\u27s moral code and embarrassed the nation on the international stage. By contrast, real estate interests and others eschewed tampering with the housing market. To do otherwise threatened mirroring the socialistic, communistic tactics the nation battled across the globe. Activists ultimately pursued equal access to housing through the 1963 Rumford Fair Housing Act, a moderate civil rights measure that outlawed discrimination in some of the state\u27s housing. But the following year, opponents mounted a successful campaign to rid California of such an encumbrance upon property rights. The overwhelming vote defeating fair housing provided a startling blot on San Francisco\u27s image of itself as liberal and tolerant, foreshadowing for the nation the conservatism to come and underscoring the continuing significance of race