text: When examining the area’s history, culture, and economic situation we can identify four main reasons: the refusal of the international leadership of United Steelworkers of America to support their union’s Youngstown branch, the lagging international steel market, the lack of a clear, organized vision for individual initiatives such as the Save Our Valley Campaign, and crippling regionalism which caused animosity between different small towns in the region, all contributed in some way to the failure of the workers and union leaders to save the industry.