Drew (am350809)

In many ways, Cobb and Jaramillo were exceptional figures. Cobb's early radicalism was rare by US standards, as was his adamant refusal to abandon the small farm. Jaramillo, too, was a renowned firebrand from a notably radical state, and his violent end elicited unusual shock. Nevertheless, in both of their lives were wound up the fates of millions of others in the US and Mexican countryside. Not long after World War II, the stormy public debate over rural poverty and the human impact of agricultural change tapered off in each nation. As conservatives silenced dissenting voices by means of force or compromise, it would be concerns of productivity - not inequality - that dominated the next generation of rural policy making.