The Privatization of Military Family Housing in Linda Vista, 1944–1956

Abstract

From its creation as a military housing development to its ultimate transformation into private housing, Linda Vista, in San Diego, ran the ideological spectrum—ranging from a foil for alleged communism, to a repository for proto Right Wing conservatism—simultaneously revealing burgeoning sunbelt politics and the conflict between the housing needs of military families and the anti-public housing ethos of the city's political class. Though the Navy required such projects to house its service personnel and their dependents, the city and many residents sought to eliminate public housing. Linda Vista also demonstrates the intersection of military housing, race, and local politics. For the left, it served as a fortress of political support in the 1940s, but by the 1950s, Linda Vista came to be a Republican stronghold. Ultimately, Linda Vista's shift previewed the New Right conservatism that Sunbelt metropolises would promote in the latter half of the twentieth century.