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

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