National Municipal Review
Volume XLII, No. 11
December 1953
p. 550-554

Our All-America Citizens

Gallup finds many willing to volunteer services to
promote civic progress, calls for sustained effort.

By GEORGE H. GALLUP*

FOR nearly 60 years the National Municipal League has carried on a continuous struggle to improve government at the local and state levels. It is probable that within the next 60 years the League will be meeting again in this same city. And, if it does, it is a good guess that two of the chief problems under consideration will be how to improve the structure and administration of local and state governments and how to arouse citizens to greater activity in governmental affairs.

These problems, like sin, are al ways with us. We have made great progress but it is my impression, as I look back over the 60 years of the League's existence, that we have achieved greater success in the first area than in the second. We have been more resourceful, more inventive in dealing with the structure of government, than we have in creating greater interest in government on the part of our citizens.

These two problems are, of course, closely interlocked. Unless we arouse interest in good government, it is difficult to get improvements in government accepted by the electorate, and it is often difficult to keep improvements in force once they are adopted.

Why is it that so many persons take so little interest in government? There is no easy answer to this question, but certainly we can agree that the person who thinks that government is far removed from his vital interests will almost certainly take little interest in government, and will do little to change or improve it. Usually this person will rationalize his lack of interest and effort by claiming that his vote makes little difference, that politics is a dirty business and therefore should be shunned, that it is of little importance who is in power, that one side is as bad as the other any way.

The League, and other groups interested in good citizenship, have carried on a vigorous educational program in recent years to correct these misunderstandings. We must carry on this program even more vigorously. But at the same time we should devote more study to the reasons why so many people regard government as something remote from their own vital interests.

I believe that the whole area of citizen participation in community and state affairs has not been sufficiently explored. We cannot expect people to keep their interest high if their only chance to play their part in good government is in casting a vote at election time. We must develop ways by which more citizens can help with local and sate problems. One way to do this is to encourage local and state authorities to create citizens' committees. We have witnessed such committees in recent years and certainly the record to date has been sufficiently encouraging to give hope that this movement can be greatly expanded.

An important point to bear in mind is that a great majority of the people of the United States would like to devote some of their time and energy to dealing with governmental problems. In a survey made a few years ago, it was discovered that a substantial majority of persons would be willing to give time each week, without pay, to helping solve such local problems as housing, health, crime, relief and the like. As a matter of fact, the survey found that the busiest people were the most willing to devote time and effort to these local problems.

This desire to participate in some activity related to government can, on occasion, reach an almost pathetic urge. I remember one such incident when a public opinion interviewer talked to an elderly man in a small California community. The interviewer had found him in his garden, hoeing weeds. When the interviewer had finished plying him with questions on issues of the day, the old man turned to him and said, "You know, the two greatest things in my life have happened to me this last week." The interviewer looked at him quizzically as the old man, leaning on his hoe, continued, "First, I was asked to serve on the jury and now I have been asked to give my opinions on the issues of the day."

This man is just one of millions who would like to do something to make his own contribution to government, even in a small way. Is there not some way to harness this energy? When one thinks of the millions of persons in this country who have special training and skills and who are just as ready as this old man to serve their local communities, one can only conclude that this energy is our greatest untapped natural resource.

Is there anyone who doubts that the quality of government in most localities wouldn't be measurably improved if citizens' committees were named by the local authorities to deal with the problems which every community faces? …

…If we are to arouse citizens to greater activity, then, we must find ways of recognizing and rewarding their efforts. I remember discussing this point at the League conference twelve years ago in St. Louis. At that time we decided that we needed something akin to a Nobel prize for constructive citizenship. In 1949, at our St. Paul conference, a characteristically American scheme of recognition was proposed. Why not an All-America team of the outstanding players in the game of civic progress? Thus began the All America Cities competition. The first year the "team" was chosen without the mechanism of formal nominations. The National Municipal League and the Minneapolis Tribune sponsored the awards for 1949, 1950 and 1951. They attracted national attention.

Appropriately, Look magazine, with its large national circulation, took over the sponsorship in 1952. Now the League and Look invite nominations for the awards. This year more than a hundred preliminary nominations were received. Twenty-two finalists were invited to present their cases before the jury at this conference.

For three years I have been a member of the jury and have heard spokesmen tell their inspiring stories of "energetic, purposeful, intelligent citizen effort" in communities from coast to coast. It has been difficult to say which eleven should compose the winning team. Cities, large and small, provide an impressive procession of living democracy. Shortly after the first of the year the 1953
team will be announced. The pride of the winners will be amply justified, but likewise the others who have been heard should be proud of having recorded significant civic progress.

It is appropriate to talk about recognition of citizen achievement from a platform in Richmond. To all of you who live here the story is familiar. Many of you have helped to make it a classic in civic progress. The inspiring efforts of the Richmond Citizens Association and its allies made Richmond a member of the All-America team in 1950. The need for discarding the bewilderingly complex old charter was high lighted by the small number who turned out for municipal elections. The charter revision has been followed up by subsequent successes. The continued civic consciousness of the citizens of Richmond is demonstrated by the tremendous local effort that has gone into the preparations for this conference.

No Letdown for Citizen
I have had the pleasure of presenting All-America certificates at ceremonies in a number of winning cities. Each time I have done this I have had a feeling that somehow I must convince the recipients that citizen effort must be continuous; a single impressive effort followed by relaxation and return to the old, easy ways of silence is civic tragedy. Many of you have heard the story which our friends in Kansas City tell, of momentary victory for the forces of good government in the mid-twenties. The dark ages of Pendergast rule continued because the citizens who were able to win an election did not remain vigilant. The road back was a hard one, but once the Citizens' Association won in 1940, it maintained itself as a year round organization to preserve good government in Kansas City and to prevent the return of machine rule. In two different years, the citizens of Kansas City received All-America honors.

I hope the citizens of Richmond and other cities which have more recently won their civic victories will remain active and effective over the years to come-that here in Richmond the Citizens' Association will continue to keep the people of the city informed and alert, continue to keep the government on its toes and make sure that good people always are sought as candidates for the council. These candidates must not only be supported at election time, but they must have citizen backing for their good works as they remain in public office. With this sustained citizen action will come civic progress unlimited.

I wish I could tell in detail the stories of every member of each of our All-America teams. Each has its own distinctive lesson and each shows what citizens can do if they want to badly enough. This year the jury heard how citizens have met both natural and economic disaster; how improvements in governmental structure have been made against strong opposition from entrenched forces; how blight has been eliminated by urban redevelopment; how many improvements have been undertaken to bring physical facilities into line with the needs of a growing population which insists upon being motorized and airborne.

We have seen how local revolutions have repudiated rule by racketeers and replaced them with respected public officials; how citizens have fought legislative and court battles as well as intense election campaigns to modernize the schools; how the often maligned property tax has been modernized; how local party organizations have been reformed; how citizen groups have studied their communities with a thoroughness that gets to the core of basic problems.

As these stories were told I realized we were listening to the voices of All-America citizens. These were the voices that had been raised in their communities. Not long ago some of them were silent, but now their power has been demonstrated. Other silent citizens have been stirred and are joining the ranks of the vocal. They are realizing that free activity of free citizens is a vital part of the American heritage, too important to go unused.

Over the years the League has had as a primary objective the encouragement of citizen action… Civic progress should be the goal of all citizens. To achieve that goal requires sustained effort of the sort that we have seen in our All-America Cities. It requires the "energetic, purposeful, intelligent" effort of All-America Citizens.