Sites of contention: Military bases and the transformation of the American South during World War II

This dissertation documents the collective impact of military bases on civilian communities in the American South during World War II. The presence of a military base had a variety of social, economic, and political influences on the communities their neighbored. In documenting these influences, this dissertation explores the politics of base location, and how southern politicians, civic leaders, and business leaders lobbied to bring over a thousand military bases to the region during the war, in the hopes of an economic revival brought by federal investment and military payrolls. While southern elites hoped to reap the economic benefits of the bases, their rural neighbors often paid the price of community prosperity. The establishment of military bases in the region led to the displacement of southern farmers from their lands by the use of eminent domain, resulting in an estimated 50,000 citizens evicted from their homes and lands by the federal government. While the construction of the bases forced some residents to leave their communities, the jobs brought by the massive construction projects often brought tens of thousands of workers to rural communities unprepared for the sudden influx. As construction workers left and were replaced by military personnel and their families, communities enjoyed an economic recovery that effectively ended the Great Depression. While military bases brought significant economic opportunity, they also brought considerable social problems to the communities they neighbored. Among the most volatile problems concerned the presence of African American soldiers in southern communities. The prevailing racial norms of the South resulted in African American military personnel suffering widespread discrimination and racial violence. This dissertation concludes by examining the shifts in the military base infrastructure after World War II, and the postwar legacies of the military base experience during World War II.