ACT was founded in 1973 by activists who had been involved in the 1972 presidential campaign (George McGovern vs. Richard Nixon) and the energetic but equally unsuccessful local Democratic campaign for Congress. Rising from the ashes of defeat was the theme (hence the name of our newsletter, The Phoenix).  The local McGovern campaign had been an historic one, similar in some ways to the outpouring for Obama in 2008.

More than a thousand people had volunteered in an unprecedented local burst of grassroots enthusiasm. ACT was an attempt to keep those people together and continue fighting for a progressive agenda.  At that time, the Vietnam War was the overriding issue. But ACT’s founders were also involved in other important struggles – including the bitter confrontation over the integration of Pasadena's public schools.

They were fighting the good fight in what we would now call a very "red" community – though the term meant pretty much the opposite in those days.  No Democrat at any level had carried Pasadena since Franklin Roosevelt's landslide in 1936.  Women and minority office-holders were few and far between.  The whole area was synonymous with rock-ribbed conservatism, birthplace of the infamous John Birch Society. There was much work to be done.

Decades later, the search for peace and justice remain central concerns, but other issues have emerged as well:  climate change, homelessness, preserving democracy in the face of resurgent fascism.  While the work for progressive change continues, the local landscape looks very different. Our area is now deeply "blue" and our elected leaders a much better reflection of the area’s diversity.  ACT has played a major role in making that happen. Our long-time strategy of focusing on elections and building progress step-by-step has been remarkably successful.