IX - Ending, Learning, Beginning Anew

Summary

For the members of the Coalition, who had worked for eighteen months on the Campbell Works project, it was the final piece of bad news. There was some anger mixed with the disappointment, because they felt that, in this round, Washington had not played fair. Their disappointment, their anger, and their concern about yet another round in the Valley's ongoing steel crisis – all are reflected in their telegram of response to Jack Watson:

We believe that the March 29 letter reflects a collapse of the pre-1978 election assurances passed out by you on behalf of President Carter to the unemployed of the Mahoning Valley. We believe that your failure to act portends destructive consequences of a most serious nature for Youngstown, Ohio, where another steel mill closing this year will cost 1600 jobs and the imminent closing of U.S. Steel facilities can add 4600 more jobs lost. Mr. Hall's letter reflects a lack of both will and ability on the part of the responsible parties.

The enormous efforts by the religious denominations, including the U.S. Catholic Conference, the National Council of Churches, the Synagogue Council of America were undertaken in faithful reliance on the good will and concern of the federal government and, during the past six months, on your own assurances of last fall.

We believe now, in the light of the March 29 letter, that we were misdirected in our efforts and our reliance.

Robert Hall's letter rejecting the Coalition proposal for reopening the Campbell Works invited the Coalition to meet with federal officials once again, if they desired. A meeting was quickly scheduled for April 3.