Gary McDonogh. Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture

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of protecting the interests of their clients to the detriment of society Such worries have

only escalated in recent years as numerous high-placed political figures—men such as

Michael Deaver, the former chief of staff for President Ronald

Reagan,

or former

Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen—left their formal political posts and moved

directly into the more lucrative sphere of the private lobbying industry such actions

seemingly dissolving fully the barrier between private interest and public good. In 1998

ournalists credited lobbyists working for the

tobacco

industry with sabotaging anti-

tobacco legislation that most of the American public supported.

Despite criticisms of professional lobbyists and of insider lobbying, however, attempts

to reform the political system so as to restrict their influence have been largely

unsuccessful. In the 1990s, politicians of all ideological stripes found it worthwhile to

decry the nefarious influence of money in politics, but little practical progress was made

in solving the problem. Constitutionally it is difficult to align any restriction on political

lobbying with the commitment to freedom of speech. It is also not clear that all lobbying

is necessarily destructive of the democratic process; much lobbying, for example, is

undertaken by public interest groups of all ideological stripes. More practically any

restriction that might pass constitutional muster would have to be voted upon by the very

oliticians who now profit so handsomely from the largesse of lobbyists and their clients.

In the summer of 1997, a Senate investigation of lobbyists’ influence in the federal

olitical process provoked relatively little public interest. This had changed by the spring

of 2000. The decision of Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona to put campaign

finance reform at the center of his appeal during the spring’s presidential primaries

sparked national concern over the influence of big money in politics.

Further reading

Deakin, J. (1966)

The Lobbyists,

Washington, DC: Public Affairs Press.

Safire, W.F. (1978)

Safire’s Political Dictionary,

3rd edn, New York: Ballantine Books.

MARK BREWIN

Loewy, Raymond Fernand

b. 1893; d. 1986

French-born industrial designer of America’s modern style, emphasizing streamlined

flow and legibility Thomas Hine characterized him as an engineer “of the emotions,

making the connection between people and machines” (1986:62). His classic designs

include American icons such as the Coca-Cola bottle and the Greyhound bus, yet his

work ranged from

fashion,

cookware and copy machines to automotive innovations for

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 676

Studebaker and the American

space

program. Apart from his influence from the 1930s

onwards in shaping the present and future, he was also a precursor to conglomerates

through which architects (Michael

Graves

), fashion designers (Ralph Lauren) and

home

advisors (Martha

Stewart

) have created packaged styles for living as mass-market

consumer

Further reading

Loewy, R.F. (1979)

Industrial Design,

New York: Overlook.

Hine, T. (1986)

Populuxe,

New York: MJ.

GARY McDONOGH

Lorde, Audre

b. 1934; d. 1992

Outspoken

African American

lesbian feminist poet, memoirist and activist. Her

published poetry includes

The First Cities

(1968),

Coal

(1976) and

Our Dead Behind Us

(1986). Among her other works,

Cancer Journals

(1980) depicts her experiences with

breast

cancer,

while

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

(1982) is constructed as a

biomythography. Among political speeches, she was also the author

of Apartheid USA

(1986).

GARY McDONOGH

Los Angeles, CA

No other city except perhaps

New York City, NY,

captures and reflects American

imagination like Los Angeles. What began as an unpopulated, ecologically rich,

mountainous and coastal land straddling numerous tectonic plates, evolved into one o

the most densely populated, ethnically diverse and technologically developed cities in the

world. In between these two extremes, Los Angeles was a gathering place for several

indigenous groups, a Spanish colonial outpost and a northern Mexican

frontier

. LA

remains a Promised Land for immigrants, an Anglo-American mecca and a global

dreamscape.

At the heart of Los Angeles lies El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles de

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Porciuncula, founded by the Spaniards in 1781. In 1998, beyond the city (estimated

opulation 3,597,536) and county bearing the name, Los Angeles extends over

approximately 33,000 square miles in five counties with over 15 million inhabitants. The

original indigenous and Spanish inhabitants, and subsequent Anglo- and

African

American

settlers from the eastern United States, have been joined by large numbers o

immigrants from every continent seeking a better life. In 1990 major local immigrant

groups (populations over 100,000) included Armenians, Chinese,

Filipinos,

Guatemalans, Japanese, Koreans, Mexicans, Salvadorans and Vietnamese, a diversity that

has accelerated since 1960s changes in US

immigration

law.

Yet, economic and demographic development of Los Angeles has been uneven. Local

legislation in the early twentieth century favored

race

and

class

divisions, reinforced by

social attitudes. The result was a highly segregated city where wealthy white suburbs

bordered significantly poorer ethnic

neighborhoods

. A massive freeway system has

fostered both

segregation

and metropolitan expansion, and added to the unique

commuter character of Los Angeles’ growth pattern. Between 1970 and 1990, the

opulation rose 45 percent, while developed land surface area increased at almost ten

times this rate. LA styles in

architecture

(with flowing interiors open to outdoor living),

fashion

and

food

reflect this suburban wealth. Sports teams like Anaheim’s Mighty

Ducks in

hockey

and amusements like

Disneyland

reflect centripetal growth as well

(other major LA teams include the Lakers in

basketball,

Dodgers (moved from

Brooklyn) in

baseball

and

football’s

Rams). Downtown development, including the

Museum of Contemporary Art and surrounding office and residential towers, also has

emphasized social and racial divisions.

These same divisions caused or exacerbated a number of major events in the city’s

contemporary history In August 1965, after a decade of

urbanrenewal

programs

destroyed African American neighborhoods and reduced already scarce employment

opportunities and affordable housing, residents of the Watts

community

rebelled.

Fourteen thousand National Guard troops were deployed and a state of martial law was

declared. Thirty-five died and property damage totaled over 1200 million. The

Kerner

Commission

formed after the riots cited white-on-black racism as a major cause.

Five years after the Watts Rebellion, the peaceful August 29

Chicano

moratorium

against the

Vietnam War

turned into another riotous racial incident. In response to a

minor theft of soda by

teenagers

at a local liquor store, Los Angeles

police

and sheriffs

rushed to nearby Laguna Park where 30,000 adults and

children

had gathered. Among

the casualties was

Los Angeles Times

reporter Rubén Salazar, who was killed by a tear-

gas projectile fired by police into a crowded bar.

On April 29, 1992 what became known broadly as the 1992 Los Angeles riots began.

An acquittal of four white Los Angeles Police Department officers accused of using

excessive force on African American motorist Rodney

King

sparked immediate protests

that escalated into days of violence and rebellion. African American protesters were

oined by

Latinos

who vented decades of oppression and frustration on targets in their

own communities: local business owners and landlords. Korean immigrants in the

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 678

affected areas were hit particularly hard. Arrests, deportations and other reprisals were

severe but suspiciously slow, allowing the destruction of entire ethnic communities and

furthering racial tensions. It was the largest American civil disturbance in the twentieth

century with over $1 billion in damage and 13,000 arrests. The riots sparked uprisings in

other urban areas nationwide.

Masking these serious socio-economic and political issues, however, are the glamorous

and dangerous stereotypes of Los Angeles:

Hollywood,

mansions, movie stars, the

fabulous Getty museum, earthquakes, wildfires and freeway shootings. In fact, whole

ooks deal with the representation of the city especially in film, which has both made Los

Angeles a constant setting and transformed it into anywhere in the universe via

Hollywood sets. In 1981 former Hollywood studio-system actor, California governor and

US President Ronald

Reagan

said: “Film is forever. It is the motion picture that shows all

of us not only how we look and sound but—more important—how we feel.” Los Angeles

has taken on a powerful public persona of its own, that of the decadent Hollywood star,

extreme and highly visible in everything.

Separating the facts from the myths about Los Angeles’ history is difficult, but therein

lies its future. Numerous scholars in the late 1990s dubbed Los Angeles the third-world

capital of the United States and suggested that it is a microcosm of both national and

global socioeconomic development. Global restructuring has caused a decline in the Los

Angeles economy Coupled with people of white, European ancestry becoming the new

“minorities” in Los Angeles and around the world, nativist politics have increased.

Policies such as California’s Propositions 187 and 209, restricting immigrant and ethnic

rights, are examples of this trend. Los Angeles’ struggle for the future will be not just one

of politics and economics, but ultimately one of definition of American identity.

Los Angeles has been highly documented, often by researchers affiliated with major

local institutions like the University of California, Los Angeles, the University o

Southern California or the Glaremont Colleges.

Further reading

Acufia, R. (1996)

Anything but Mexican: Chicanos in Contemporary Los Angeles,

London: Verso.

Davis, M. (1990)

City of Quartz,

New York: Vintage.

Davis, M. (1997)

Ecology of Fear,

New York: Henry Holt.

Caughey, J. and Caughey, L. (1976)

Los Angeles: Biography of a City,

Berkeley:

University of California.

Scott, A. and Soja, E. (1996)

The City: Los Angeles and Urban Theory at the End of the

Twentieth Century,

Los Angeles: University of California.

Waldinger, R. and Bozorgmehr, M. (eds) (1996)

Ethnic Los Angeles,

New York: Russell

Sage.

SUSAN MARIE GREEN

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lotteries

gambling and lotteries; draft

Louganis, Greg

b. 1960

Best-known for his diving feats at the 1988

Olympic Games

in Seoul, when he

continued to compete after hitting his head against the board during the preliminary

rounds. After being stitched up, Louganis came back to win the gold medals for both

platform and springboard, as he had at the 1988

Los Angeles, CA

games.

At Seoul, Louganis was already HIV-

ositive, taking AZT to enable him to compete.

A year later he announced his retirement and became a stage actor. Two of his roles were

as gay men; in 1994 he publicly acknowledged his sexuality at Gay Games IV in

New

York

City. His autobiography

Breaking the Surface

(1995), describes the experiences o

a gay athlete.

ROBERT GREGG

Louisville and Lexington, KY

Founded in 1778 at the falls of the Ohio River, Louisville (population 255, 511; metro

999,267) blends northern industrial urbanism and southern culture. A transport center, it

also has produced cigarettes, bourbon, heavy appliances and

automobiles

. It is home to

the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs racetrack on the first Saturday in May the

University of Louisville and broad-based local traditions in

basketball,

and Actor’s

Thea-ter’s

regional festival of New American plays. Rapidly growing Lexington

(population 249, 139), 100 miles away is a center for Bluegrass

horse

farms and the

University of Kentucky.

GARY McDONOGH

CINDY WONG

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 680

Love Canal

In 1978 news stories exploded about environmental disaster in a working-class

neighborhood

in Niagara Falls, New York. Love Canal—an 1879 project to market

energy from the Niagara River—was used in 1942–52 to dump chemical wastes from

Hooker Chemicals (later absorbed by Occidental Petroleum). The city subsequently

acquired the site for a school, knowing its past, and also permitted homes. Odors and

residues forced

EPA

investigations by 1976; most residents fled over the next three

years. Yet, their battles for compensation clarified the need for

community organization

to fight for environmental protection and against problems of regulations and

responsibilities in corporate environmental damage. Final suits were settled by 1998, with

Occidental paying $400 million to federal and state agencies; some went to clean-up and

some to residents who complained of transgenerational impacts. The contemporary study

of A.Levine’s (1982)

Love Canal

has been updated in L.Gibb’s (1998)

Love Canal

. An

iconic environmental disaster, its impact permeates movies and readings in cases like the

Worcester, Massachusetts pollution central to the 1995 book

A Civil Action

and the 1999

movie that followed.

Further reading

Gibb, L. (1998)

Love Canal,

New York: New Society.

Harr, J. (1995)

A Civil Action,

New York: Random House.

Levine, A. (1982)

Love Canal,

New York: Lexington.

GARY McDONOGH

CINDY WONG

Lowell, Robert

b. 1917; d. 1977

He would not be a proper scion (such good

New England

stock!). He would not be a

Harvard man (rather a “fugitive” at Kenyon College). He would not fight in the First

World War (366 days in prison). He would not write Auden’s English

(Lord Weary’

Castle)

. He would not abandon a precarious sanity (McLean’s Hospital). He would not

disown the America he’d inherited and he would “not scare” (

Life Studies,

1959). He

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would not translate properly (

Imitations,

1961). He would not divorce poetry from

personality (

Notebooks, 1967–8, The Dolphin, Day by Day

). He would be our greatest

poet.

DANIEL BOSCH

low riders

American sedans retooled to hug the ground (or “dance” through manipulation of their

hydraulic system), especially popular among Mexican Americans in the western

borderlands

. Since the late 1970s, low riders have become assertive “vehicles o

display”

oasting elaborate paint jobs, murals and interior additions. They have

increasingly been recognized in the 1990s as ethnic symbols, while gaining visibility in

car shows and

Low Rider

magazine (founded 1978). The disjunction of

automobile

and

culture they imply becomes visible in

Bulworth

(1998) when the white hero finds his

borrowed car rocking hysterically as he tries to drive it.

ee also:

Chicanos/as

GARY McDONOGH

Lucas, George and

Star Wars

b. 1944

Film-maker George Lucas envisioned his film series as both a return to the Saturday

morning movie serials he had loved as a youth and as a retelling of myths which had

taken root long before he was born. As movies,

Star Wars

(1977),

The Empire Strikes

(1980) and

The Return of the Jedi

(1983) set new standards in special-effects

roduction. They were especially popular with an audience segment which in the

trilogy’s wake would become the film studios’

rimary target: the youth market. In 1999

The Phantom Menace

became the first installment of three prequels for the original

Sta

Wars,

with even more extensive merchandizing and licensing.

ROBERT ANDERSON

Luce, Clare Booth

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b. 1903; d. 1987

Pathbreaking writer and public servant. Although born near poverty she worked her

way up through

Vogue

and

Vanity Fair

to marry

Time

magnate Henry Luce before

producing her wonderfully catty play,

The Women

(1936), about gender and society In

the 1940s, she became a congresswoman from Connecticut. Later, she became the first

woman ambassador to a major European country serving in Italy between 1953 and 1957,

erhaps as a nod to her highly publicized 1946 conversion to Catholicism. Luce

continued to serve as advisor to

Republican

presidents for decades.

GARY McDONOGH

Lutherans

The 8.3 million Lutherans in the United States trace their origin primarily to immigrants

from Germany and the countries of Scandinavia. Originally organized along national and

language lines, American Lutherans now find themselves in eleven separate bodies, the

largest of which is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with over 5

million members and almost 11,000 churches. The second-largest body is the Lutheran

Church—Missouri Synod, with a little over 2,600,000 members in almost 6,100

congregations. The other Lutheran bodies, much smaller and regionally and ethnically

diverse, include the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the American Association of Lutheran

Churches, the Apostolic Lutheran Church of America, the Church of Lutheran Brethren

of America, the Church of the Lutheran Confession, the Conservative Lutheran

Association, the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Latvian Evangelical

Lutheran Church in America and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

The ECLA is the fifth-largest Christian body in the United States. Its predecessor

bodies date to the mid-eighteenth century. The Augsburg Confession provides the

doctrinal standards of the church. It operates eight seminaries and twenty-eight

colleges

and universities

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, founded in 1847, has 6,000 congregations in

the United States. It operates the largest Protestant elementary- and secondary-school

system in the United States, with 13,795 students enrolled. Its

publishing

arm, Concordia

Publishing House, is the third-largest Protestant publisher. The Arch Books’

children’s

series alone has sold more than 55 million copies. Two ministries reach out to blind and

deaf people. One thousand volunteers in fifty work centers make Braille publications

available for the blind. Of the eighty-five congregations for deaf people in the United

States, fifty-nine are Missouri Synod Lutheran congregations.

Doctrinal disputes have marked Lutherans in America as they did the founder of the

Lutheran branch of Christianity, Martin Luther. In the 1970s, for example, Missouri

Synod Lutherans felt that their main seminary Concordia Theological Seminary was not

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teaching the belief that the Bible was without error in its original manuscripts. Tensions

rose to the point that when three-quarters of the students boycotted classes, the president

was removed. Many faculty and students then established what became known as

“Seminex,” the Concordia Seminary in Exile.

On the other hand, a spirit of ecumenism has been blowing through the largest

Lutheran denomination, the ELCA. It has entered into dialogue with the Roman Catholic

Church over the basic theological issue of the Reformation, the doctrine of justification

y faith. Lutherans and Catholics have come much closer to a mutual understanding on

this issue as a result. Within the Protestant family, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in

America has joined with the

Presbyterian Church

(USA), the United Church of Christ

and the Reformed Church in America to recognize the validity of the ordination of each

other’s pastors.

Further reading

Ellwood, R. and Partin, H.B. (1988)

Religious and Spiritual Groups in Modern America,

Inglewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

Gallup, G., Jr. and Castelli, J. (1989)

The People’s Religion,

New York: MacMillan

Publishing Company.

Lindner, E.W. (ed.) (1998)

Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches 1998,

Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Melton, J.G. (1977)

Encyclopedia of American Religions,

Gale: Detroit.

GAIL HENSON

JEFFERSON I.RITCHIE

Lyme disease

Bacterial infection transmitted by ticks that live on deer or mice. Marked by a bull’s-eye

rash, malaise, fatigue and muscle aches, it is often misdiagnosed, although it will respond

readily to antibiotics. If left untreated, it can become disabling. First noted in suburban

Lyme, Connecticut, in 1975, by the early 1990s more than 10,000 cases were reported

annually chiefly in the

Northeast, Midwest

and

California

. In these areas, it has

challenged outdoor life patterns as people cover up and spray insecticides to avoid ticks,

or abandon wooded areas altogether. Its suburban demographics may also have

encouraged rapid development of a vaccine, which became available in 1997.

GARY McDONOGH

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 684

lynching

“Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees,” sang Billie Holliday in 1939 about the

hanging and torture of

African American

males (generally) by mob violence, often in

the

South

. As many as 4,000 people died in this way between 1889 and 1940. Lynching

turned the racial divisions of American society into blood spectacle, especially in times o

social crisis. Campaigns against this horror began at the beginning of the twentieth

century; by the 1940s, it had generally disappeared (although federal legislation against it

was never passed). It remains a horrifying occurrence (see Emmett

Till

) in postwar

America, as well as an emotional reference in metaphors like “high-tech lynching” (see

Clarence

Thomas

). Moreover, the brutal killing of gay student Matthew Shepherd in

Wyoming and other

hate crimes

show that lynching may not be so far away from

contemporary American life as most citizens would like to believe.

ROBERT GREGG

GARY McDONOGH

Lynn, Loretta

b. 1935

Trailblazing female singer/songwriter in

country music,

born in Butcher Hollow,

Kentucky At thirteen she became pregnant and left home to be with her husband

Mooney. She taught herself to play guitar and won a talent contest soon after her

eighteenth birthday In 1960 she played at the Grand Ole Opry and thereafter moved her

family to Nashville. In the 1970s, she released her biggest hit, “Coal Miner’s

Daughter” (1970), a loving anthem to her poor but proud rural background. In 1976 she

became the first country artist to hit number one on the

New York Times

bestseller list

with her autobiography, which Hollywood released as

Coal Miner’s Daughter

(1980).

EDWARD MILLER

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