History of Pennsylvania - Decline of Manufacturing and Mining: 1950-75

Decline of Manufacturing and Mining: 1950-75

In 1962, the Republican Party, which had lost the two previous gubernatorial elections and seen the state's electoral votes go Democratic in the 1960 presidential election, became convinced that a moderate such as Bill Scranton would have enough bipartisan appeal to revitalize the party. He ran for Governor of Pennsylvania against Richardson Dilworth, the mayor of Philadelphia. The ticket was balanced by having Raymond P. Shafer as his running mate. He was later elected to succeed Scranton. After one of the most acrimonious campaigns in state history, the Scranton/Shafer team won a landslide victory in the election, besting their opponents by nearly half a million votes out of just over than 6.6 million cast.

As governor 1963-67, Scranton signed into law sweeping reforms in the state's education system, including creation of the state community college system, the state board of education, and the state Higher Education Assistance Agency. He founded a program designed to promote the state in national and international markets and to increase the attractiveness of the state's products and services.

The state was hard-hit by the decline and restructuring of the steel industry and other heavy U.S. industries during the late 20th century. With job losses came heavy population losses, especially in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh cities, where thousands of working-class people had formerly lived in prosperous, stable neighborhoods. Those who could, left the cities and region for work in other areas. As those two industrial cities lost nearly half their populations, the problems related to poverty and crime increased.