1966 on
Bumps Along The Way
The first bump for Las Vegas was that The Strip
did not reside in Las Vegas proper. Because of this,
tax revenue was lost to the city. There was a push
to annex The Strip by the City of Las Vegas, but
The Syndicate used the Clark County Commisioners
to pull a legal manuever by organizing The Strip
properties into an unincorpated township called
Paradise City. Under Nevada Law, an incorporated
town, Las Vegas, cannot annex an unincorporated
township.
The second was the
Las Vegas Sun. Editor
Hank Greenspun led a crusade in those days to
expose all the criminal ties, activites, and
government corruption in Las Vegas. His
investigative reporting and editorials led to
the exposure of
Clark County Sheriff
Glen Jones' ownership of a
brothel and the resignation of
Lieutenant Governor
Clifford Jones as the state's national
committeeman for the
Democratic Party.
The last hurdle was when a two year investigation
by Senator
Estes Kefauver and his
Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in
Interstate Commerce concluded that
Organized Crime money was incontrevertably tied
to the Las Vegas casinos. This led a porposal by the
Senate to institute federal gaming control. Only
through the power and influence of Nevada's Senator
Pat McCarran did the proposal die in committee.
Las Vegas - The Mississippi of the West
As Las Vegas grew, racial tensions grew with it.
Organized Crime owned casinos were off-limits to
African Americans except those who provided the
labor for low-paying menial position or
entertainment. They were confined to frequenting
businesses and clubs on the "west-side" of the
tracks.
Hispanics fared worse and their population
actually decreased ninety-percent from 2,275 to just
236. There was a bright spot during that decade. On
May 24,
1955,
Wil Max Schwartz, and some investors, opened the
Moulin Rouge. It was a very upscale and racially
intergrated casino that actually competed against
the resorts on The Strip. By the end of the year
though, the casino closed as Schwartz and his
partners had a falling out. But the seeds for
racially intergration were sown. Anlong with the
rest of the country, Las Vegas experienced the
struggle for civil rights. Activists like
James B. McMillan,
Grant Sawyer,
Bob Bailey,
Charles Keller dragged Las Vegas to racial
intergration.
Another big force for equality was Mayor
Oran Gragson. Spurred into local politics by a
crooked ring of cops who repeatedly broke into his
appliance store, he implemented infrastructure
improvments for the minority neighborhoods in Las
Vegas. He championed the cause of the Pauite tribe
that owned a small portion of Las Vegas and stopped
the U.S. government from evicting the tribe and
actually make infrastructure improvements for them.
His work helped reverse the trend of minority
population decreasing. Local legislation kept up
with the national legislation and integration was
established. The only real violence was school
intergration with violent riots and fights occurring
from
1969 to
1971.
Sources
-
Las Vegas website
- Ainlay Jr., Thomas & Gabaldon, Judy Dixon.
"Las Vegas The Fabulous First Century", Arcadia
Publishing, 2003.
- Denton, Sally & Morris, Howard. "The Money and
the Power - Tha Making of Las Vegas and It's Hold
on America - 1947-2000". Knopf, Borzoi Books,
2001.
- Land, Barbara & Land, Myrick. "A Short History
of Las Vegas". University of Nevada Press, Reno,
1999
- Paher, Stanley W. " Las Vegas -As It Began -
As It Grew", Nevada Publications, Las Vegas, NV,
1971
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Las Vegas
Deal | Las Vegas Package | Las Vegas Special
|