NBC5 In Depth: What is the historical past behind Vermont’s ever-changing political panorama?
Up to date: 6:09 PM EDT Apr 25, 2022
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SAHBETH:RA WHEN DDI VERMONT, LONG ONE OF THE NATION’S MOST RELIABLE REPLIUBCAN STATESOR ME INTO THE HOME OF BEN & JERRY’S? OF BERNIE SANDERS? IT HAPPENED GRADLLUAY. BURLINGTON AUTHOR GREG GUMA HAS BEEN AROUND FOR MOST OF IT. STEWART: JOINING US THIS MORNING IS GGRE GUMA, AUTHOR, EDITOR, REPORTER, BOOKSHOP PROPRIETOR, EVEN RAN FOR MAYOR OF BURLINGTON AT ONE POINT. THANK YOU FOR BEING WITH US. >> IT IS A PLEASURE. STEWART: YOUR LATEST BKOO IS RESTLESS. AND POPULAR MOVEMENTS OF VERMONT STHIORY. THAT IS WHY WE WANTED TO HAVE YOU ON. REPORTER: THAT’S RIGHT — >> IT IS A VERY INTERESTING READ IF YOU LIKE VERMONT HISTORY. BURLINGTON POLITICS IN PARTICULAR. STEWART: WHAT IS ON THE COVER? >> TT HAIS A PHOTOGRAPH I TOOK OVER 50 YEARS AGOURING D A VIETNAM WAR DEMONSTRATION. A LOT OF EDITORS HAVE LIKED IT. IT IS PART OF PHA OOT ESSAY IN THE BOOK. STAREWT: YOU MOVED FROM NEW YORK CITY TO BURLINGTON IN 1968 AND NEVER LEFT VERMONT. >> ONLY FOR WORK WHEN I HAD TO. I WAS IN BENNINGNTO FOR FIVE YEARS AND TH TENHE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY, THEN BURLINGTON’S DARTGIN IN 1976. THIS HAS BEEMYN FACE EVER SCEIN — BASE EVER SINCE. STEWT:AR YOU HAVDOE NE A LOT, YOU SAID EARLIER IN ANOTHER INTERVIEW THAT THIS BOOK TOOK YOU 45 YEARS TO WRITE? >> THAT IS TRUE IN A SENSE, IT BEGAN IN 1976 WITH A PROJECT CALLED VERMONT’S UNLDTO HISTORY. THAT WAS SORT AOF RESPONSE TO THE BICENTENNIAL. I BEGAN WRITING HISTORY AND EXPLORING STORIES TOLD AND UNTOLD AND COLLECTING ANECDOTES, INTERVIEWS. FOR THE NEXT 40 YEARS,BO AUT FIVE YEARS AGO GETTING FRUSTRATED I PUBLISHED A LIMEDIT DIGITAL EDITION.I HAVE BEEN LOOK THIS FOR A LONG TIME. STEWT:AR WHAT GAVE YOU THIS IDEA WRITE ABOUT VERNTMO’S QUIRKY POLITICS AND POPULAR MOVEMENTS? >> COVERING THEM AS A JOURNALTIS , THERE ARE INTERVIEWANS D STORIES BASED ON THINGS. AS A STUDENT OF HISTORY, I’M INTESTREED IN EXPLORING THE BROADER CONTEXT AND THE VALUES THAT UNDERNPI, I THINK HISTORY TELLS US STORY. THERE ARE DIFFERENT THREADS THAT RUN THROUGH THEMSELVES. I’M NOT ONLY EXPLORING WHAIT THINK ARE SOME OF THE VALUES OF VERMONT’S. STEWT:AR THIS GOES WAY BEYOND — WE THINK IN THE MODERN ERA OF BERNIE SDEAN, HE IS A TRANSFORMATIVE FIGURE WHO AS YOU KNOW, THERE’S A LOT OF HISTORY FROM THE 1960’SND A 1970’S IN THIS BOOK. HE STAEDRT RUNNING FOR PUBLIC OFFICE IN VERMONT. HE GOT 1% OR 2% OF THE VOTE. NOW LOOK AT HIM. >> I MET HIM VERY EARLY ON IN SHI CARR.EE DURING HIS VERY FITRS RACE FOR THE U.S. SENEAT AFTER WINONST PROUTY DIED. WE HAD A FIGHT THE FIRST TIMWEE MET. STEWT:AR ARE YOU ON SPEAKING TERMS TODAY? >> I HAVEN’T SEEN HIM. I HAVEN’T INTERVIEWED HIM FOR ABOUT 10 YEARS. WHEN I WAS SLLTI REPORTING, I DID SEE HIM ON OCCASION. I D SEE HIM ON OCCASION. WOULDN’T SAY WE WERE EVER FRIENDS, WE WERE ALLSIE. A LOT OF CONTACTED THE 1970’S AND ESPECIALLY THE 1980’S WHEN HE WAS MAYOR. STEWT:AR WHAT YOU THINK ALLOWED BERNIE SANDERS TO HAPPEN IN VERMONT? >> THE CONDITIONS WERE DEVELOPING IN BURLINGTON ECSPIFICALLY. THIS WASN’T HIS FIRST CHOICE. HE HAD TO BE CONVINCED TO RUN RFO MAYOR BY SOME FRIDS OEN HIS. IF YOU RUN FOR A LOCAL OFFICE, YOU HAVE A BETTER CHANCE. THE WORK DEVELOPING WITH THE ADMINISTRATION THAT HAD BEEN IN POWER FOR A NGLO TIME, TYHE WERE NOT THAT COMMON. THEY WERE OPEN TO NEWCOME.RS A LOT OF DISENFRANCHISED POPULATIONS. I WAS THE EDITOR OF THE ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER, THE VANGRDUA PRESS. WE STAEDRT TO DISCUSS THE ISSSUE THAT THESE ESTABLISHMENTS DIDN’T HAVE TO LOOK AT. YOU GOT TO A POINT WHERE THERE WAS AN INSURGENTS POSSIBLE AND A DEMOCRATIC PARTY THAT DID NOT WANT TO TALK ABOUTHE T ISSUES AT A PUREBLICAN PARTY THAT BASICALLY LAID DOWN. IT CREATED A VACUUM AND AN OPENING. JOURNALISTS PLAYED A ROLE. LEAKEYAL GLAGHER DECIDED TO GIVE BERNIE SANDERS A SHOT BECAUSE HE WAS TIRED OF LISTENING. THE TRADITIONS AND DEMOGRAPHICS OF COURSE WERE CHANGING. THERE HAD BEEN MIGRATIONS OF PROFESSIONALS AND COUNTERCULTURE — YOU COULD GET 40%, WHICH WHAIST YOU GOT THE FIRST AND THAT ONCE HE WAS IN OFFICE HE DEMONSTRATED THAT HE COULD RUN THE CITY AND FIND A NEW GENERATI OONF PEOPLE. THEY COULD GET THINGS DONE. HE DEMONSTRATED COMPETENCE. THAT’S WHAT KEPT HIINM POWER. HE IS A GREAT POLITICIAN WHO NEEDED AOPN ENING. HE FOUNDED AS AN INDEPENDENT. EWART:ST HE WASN’T THE FIRST PROGSSREIVE MAYOR OF BURLINGTON. YOU HAVE SOME INTERESTING HIORSTY ABOUT JAMESBURG — JAMES BUERK IN 1903 AND SOME OF HIS PROGRESSIVE IDEAS HE BROUGHT FORTH. >> I LOVE JAMESUR BKE, HE WAS AN IRISH CATHOLIC BLACKSMITH WHO ENTERED COLLEGE INITIALLY IN HIS 40’S AND BECAME MAYOR IN 1903. PROGRESSIVISM WAS DIFFERENT THEN. HE WAS FIGHTING CORPORATE INTERESTS, THE RAILROADS, THE EMERGING ELECTRIC COANIES.MP HE WAS FOR IT FORM OF ENFRANCHISEMENT FOREW N IMMIGRANTS, ITALIANS, IRISH, GERMAN. AGAIN, DEMONSTRATED COMPETENCE DAN ABILITY TO MOBILIZE PEOPLE. THEY HAD ONE YEAR TERMS RFO MAYOR BACK THEN. HE WOULD BE OUT, IN AGAIN,UT O AIAGN. THE PLATES HE WAS FIGHTING CONTINUED THROUGHOUT TTHA TEIM TO GET A WAR SO HE COULD HAVE MORE DEVELOPMENT DOWN THERE WITH PUBLIC BATHROOMS. THE MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, ALL OF THESE THINGS DATE OMFR TH E BURKE ERA. STEWART: IT IS REMARKABLAE STATE THE SIZE OF VERNTMO HAS PRODUCED TWO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN THE LAST COUPLE OF DECADES. IS THAT CONSISTENT WITH THE RESTLESS SPIRIT THAT YOU DESCRIBED? >> I THINK SO. BOTH OF THESE PEOPLE, HOWARD DEAN AND TO SOME EXTENT BERNIE SANDSER BOTH REFLECT SOME OF THESE ENDURING VALSUE. THERE HAVE BEEN OTRHE PEOPLE EXESPRS THIS AS WELL. I GO BACK AS FAR AS MATTWHE LYON WHO WENTO T JAIL AND WAS REELECTED TO CONGRESS WHILE HE WAS IN JAIL. A REMARKABLE STORY. THE FIRST THIRD-PARTY, THE ANTI-MASONS. IN VERMONT THERE WAS AN ANTI-MASON GOVERNOR. THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMTEN, THEER IS KIND OF A PATTERN OF A CONTRARI SANPIRIT. I USED IT AS DEA FOR SOME OF MY BUSINESS ENTERPRIS.ES BREAKING FROM THE BOLD AND CHALLENGING AUTHORITY. CHALLENGING NEW YORK FROM THE BEGINNING AND SAY YOU DON’T OWN US. THIS GOES BACK. STATES HEAV DNA, IT IS IN THERE SOMEWHERE. STEWART: RESTLESS SPIRITS AND POPULAR MOVEMENTS, BY GREG GUMA. IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE TO HAVE YOU ON. >> GREAT TO TALK TO YOU. SARAHBET
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NBC5 In Depth: What is the historical past behind Vermont’s ever-changing political panorama?
Up to date: 6:09 PM EDT Apr 25, 2022
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When did Vermont — lengthy one of many nation’s most dependable Republican states — morph into the house of Ben & Jerry’s and Bernie Sanders? It has occurred step by step. Burlington creator Greg Guma has been round to look at a lot of it unfold. Guma mentioned the altering political panorama in an interview with NBC5 In Depth. Open the video participant above to view the complete interview.
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When did Vermont — lengthy one of many nation’s most dependable Republican states — morph into the house of Ben & Jerry’s and Bernie Sanders?
It has occurred step by step. Burlington creator Greg Guma has been round to look at a lot of it unfold.
Guma mentioned the altering political panorama in an interview with NBC5 In Depth. Open the video participant above to view the complete interview.
