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The article offers a response to the articles within the issue that reviewed the book "Empty Mills," by this article's author. Particular focus is given to the textile industry in the U.S. from the 1950s through the early 21st century, including in regard to deindustrialization and the textile industry in Lowell, Massachusetts.

This article assesses the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) during the presidency of John J. Sweeney, which lasted from 1995 until 2009. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including press accounts and the AFL-CIO's own papers, it provides one of the first scholarly assessments of the entire Sweeney presidency. Sweeney won office in the first contested election in the AFL-CIO's history, and he came into power promising to revitalize the Federation, which is the largest labor federation in the Western world. Under Sweeney, the AFL-CIO invested an unprecedented amount of resources into both organizing and political mobilization, two key areas. In the early years of his presidency, Sweeney oversaw some important gains, particularly in the organizing arena, but the 2000 presidential election proved to be a turning point. After 2000, Sweeney's reforms were undermined primarily by external factors, particularly mounting corporate opposition, deindustrialization, and a hostile political climate, although internal resistance and division also played a role. As a result, a major campaign to secure labor law reform fell short, and union density continued to decline, yet the rate of decline was slower than it had been in the 1980s and early 1990s. Overall, although the results of Sweeney’s efforts were mixed, the important role that the AFL-CIO played in electing Barack Obama partly justified Sweeney’s emphasis on political mobilization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the ‘Crafted With Pride in the U.S.A.’ campaign, a high-profile effort to encourage American consumers to buy domestically made textiles and apparel. Using a wide range of sources, this study examines an important campaign that has received little scholarly attention. Launched in 1984, the initial seven-year operation cost $100 million, and the funds were used to sponsor Miss America and to purchase national advertising on network television, including commercials that featured celebrities such as Ted Danson, Linda Evans, Eddie Murphy, Jerry Hall, and Bob Hope. Funding was provided by both textile and apparel companies and by labor unions, who put aside their historic differences, because they recognized the seriousness of the import threat. Roger Milliken – a powerful executive with considerable political influence – also bankrolled the campaign. Overall, the Crafted With Pride effort did succeed in uniting the industry and in winning some important backers, most notably, Sam Walton of Wal-Mart. Overtime, however – and especially after Walton's death in 1992 – both Wal-Mart and some textile and apparel producers began to embrace off-shore production, and the campaign also struggled to change consumer behavior. Ultimately, importers and retailers prevailed, paving the way for the domestic industry's decline. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]