South Bend, [Middle of March], 1976
The Primaries
In this presidential election year, several primaries have already been held. On the Republican side, President Gerald Ford and the former governor of California, Ronald Reagan, are competing for their Party’s nomination. Reagan proved to be a serious challenger. But Ford has the Republican Party behind him. He won the primaries in Massachusetts and in Florida.
There is a broad field of candidates on the Democratic side - Jimmy Carter, Birch Bayh, Fred Harris, Henry Jackson, Morris Udall and George Wallace - all contending for the nomination. Jimmy Carter, the Governor of Georgia, 1971-75, is the frontrunner at this time, especially after winning the Florida primary. He is followed by Morris Udall and George Wallace.
Chicago, March 20, 1976
The Pit
The novel by Frank Norris, The Pit (1903), about the mercantile or grain trade in Chicago has not lost anything of its topicality. Just as 70 years ago, also today, the mercantile exchange in the Chicago Board of Trade Building is trading the enormous harvest of the Midwest on the world market. Despite the newest electronic technology, the trading is not much different from the way Norris describes it. As ever before, the futures are auctioned off in the tense scramble of the pit. The brokers are positioned on round wooden stands, while the callers chalk up the prices on the board. One may wonder, but surprisingly the system works year after year.
The Sears Tower
The 103 story [1,454 ft/ 443 m] high Sears Tower in Chicago claims to be the tallest building in the world. The World Trade Center and the Empire State Building in New York follow thereafter. Yet the Sears Tower is in a way disappointing. Its construction follows a dry functionalism. The basalt-black rectangular blocks towering upon each other have a depressing effect. The express elevator shoots up the nearly 1,000 feet to the top in less than a minute. The panoramic view from the observation platform fully comprises the environs of Chicago. But from its dizzying height it is not possible anymore to make out details deep below. The John Hancock Center on the Lake Front comes much closer to the esthetic sensibility. It offers a magnificent view of the city’s harsh modern beauty.
Addendum
[In 1996 the 1,483 ft/ 452 m high Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur surpassed the Sears Tower in Chicago by a few feet or meters in altitude.]