In late 1930, as the Great Depression deepened, the Cotton Textile Institute unveiled a plan for eliminating the employment of women and minors at night. The intent behind the national trade association's measure was to discourage cotton textile mills from operating at night, thereby breaking a cycle of overproduction and price-cutting that had beset the industry through the 1920s. Although this fact was not emphasized in public, the measure's particular target was southern mills, which, less restrained than northeastern mills by unions or state labor laws, comprised a disproportionate share of the industry's nightrunners. The Cotton Textile Institute (CTI) anticipated that ending night work for women would reduce night operation because mill tasks historically done by women were interdependent with men's tasks, and replacing women night workers with men would be expensive. Targeting women and children, rather than all employees, enabled the institute to publicize the measure as a “humanitarian” effort, rather than as a move to limit production. CTI leaders hoped that this approach would appeal to the public and—especially important—that it would head off antitrust prosecution by the Justice Department.

Recently, the story of President Richard M. Nixon's “southern strategy” and its relationship to school desegregation has become a ripe topic for historical revision. Ever wary of the shifty-eyed Nixon, contemporary critics argued that the president had retreated from civil rights to win the votes of conservative white southerners. Modifying this thesis, recent scholars have concluded that the president was neither a segregationist nor a conservative on the race question. These writers have shown that Nixon desegregated more schools than previous presidents, approved a strengthened Voting Rights Act, developed policies to aid minority businesses, and supported affirmative action.

This article assesses recent studies of the history of welfare states and proposes an alternative interpretation of the history of policy for health services. Health policy, like policy for retirement income, job security and unemployment, social services and housing, has been profoundly influenced by the politics of economic productivity, social justice, and demographic change in each country. However, health policy has also been guided by perceptions of the nature and course of disease and opinions about the probability that particular medical interventions, organized and distributed in particular ways, would ameliorate its effects.