removed. Another contentious issue erupted in the Summer of 1960, when several black students from Knoxville College initiated a series of sit-ins to protest segregation at downtown-area lunch counters. With the backing of the Chamber of Commerce, Duncan formed a Good Will Committee, which encouraged downtown businesses to integrate their lunch counters. By July 1960, most downtown businesses had done away with their policies of segregation. Duncan's early intervention in the crisis is often cited as one of the reasons Knoxville avoided the widespread integration-related violence that plagued other Southern cities during this period. Like his predecessors, Duncan struggled to alleviate the city's unemployment problem, which had been brought on by the closure of several textile mills and the shift of the city's major retail centers to West Knoxville. Numerous companies expressed interest in relocating to Knoxville, but could not do so due to a lack of suitable industrial sites. Duncan proposed a bond issue to fund the preparation of a large industrial site, but met immediate opposition from the city's conservative elements, which rejected government subsidies for business, and the bond proposal was defeated in a referendum. Congressional career In 1964, roughly 10 months into his second term as mayor, Duncan won a hard-fought Republican primary election in the Knoxville-based Second Congressional District. The district's seven-term incumbent, Howard Baker Sr., had died that January, and his wife Irene held the seat for the rest of his term as a caretaker. Duncan was heavily favored due to his popularity as mayor of Knoxville and the heavy Republican tilt of the district. The 2nd had been one of the few areas of Tennessee where most residents supported the Union over the Confederacy. Its residents identified with the GOP soon after the return of peace, and have continued to support the Republicans through good times and bad ever since. As a result, the 2nd's seat has been in the hands of the GOP or its predecessors without interruption since 1857. He defeated Democrat Willard Yarborough by just under 10 percentage points—the closest race in the district since Baker's first run in 1950. The contest was closer than expected in part because the 2nd was nearly swept up in Lyndon Johnson's national landslide in that year's presidential election; Barry Goldwater just barely carried it. Duncan never faced another close contest, and was reelected 11 times, including two unopposed runs in 1972 and 1982.