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"What conditions fostered the departure of the U.S. Manufacturing Base to third world countries, and who were the parties responsible for the destruction of U.S. Manufacturing?"

I don't know the specifics, but being 63 years old, I can recount a few memories.

Before I joined the Army in '65, I could work almost anywhere an inexperienced teenaged kid could work.

After Army in '67, I got my first job walking into a cellophane wrap factory (NOone remembers collecting cig wrappers and turning them in for donated prosthetics ?? .. I do).

When could I start?
Tomorrow
Be here at 7AM

It was that easy.

Then came hippiedom and drugs and sex and rock and roll and I was hooked.

I sort'a woke up around '80/'81 and realized a lot had changed, not the least of which seemed to be a lot of talk about taxes sending companies overseas.

Japan had ceased to be an econamic threat (we ran through the transister stage in about 2 or 3 years) and I just had a conversation with someone that claimed it was the VCR that killed America.

Whatever ... IMO, the simple answer to "What conditions .. " seems to be the desire to make cheaper the products we invrnted and higher taxes followed to make up for lost revenue when a local factory went to Japan or China.

The snowball rolled and we're in the middle of the belly of the snowman.