ABSTRACT
A close look at a variety of popular media produced between the 1930s and the 1960s demonstrates that during this period Chicago sustained the negative national image established at the turn of the century. Much of the force behind the city’s image in this period came from the retelling of stories familiar to the American public. Unlike other historical benchmarks-for example the Columbian Exposition, of which memories persisted, yet diminished, with time, some of the historical events of the 1930s-1960s period actually grew in their ability to capture the American imagination years after they had occurred. The remembrance of these events outweighed or at least rivaled their actuality in the resonance of their cultural power. Perhaps most representative of this trend is the tales of Al Capone’s gangster hierarchy. American culture of the 1930s and of the Cold War period reworked these historical tales to perpetuate Chicago’s role as an infamous city. Chicago continued to serve as an image of anti-urbanism. The infamous city can at times function as shorthand in American culture, instantly evoking many of the aspects of the rapidly changing society that most instill fear, simply by mentioning its name. In the mid-twentieth century, the infamous city called to mind crime, sexual danger, political corruption, and racial antagonism, among other malevolent characteristics.
