Digital Commons Network^™

The 1985 Move Bombing: A Study In Perspectives, Kaci Delisle

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

On May 13, 1985, Philadelphia police dropped a military grade bomb on 6221 Osage Avenue, a row house in a Black neighborhood in West Philadelphia. This home was occupied by a revolutionary group called MOVE. The bomb started a fire that the police and firefighters decided to “contain” rather than put out, resulting in the deaths of eleven people and the destruction of sixty-one homes. Only two MOVE members survived the fire. Using court records, documents from the investigation conducted by the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (PSIC), and other interviews regarding MOVE and the bombing, this paper reconstructs different perspectives …

President Reagan's Rhetorical War Against Nicaraugua, 1981-1987, Donald Morton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Reagan administration launched a two term campaign to win support for the Contra rebels fighting Nicaragua. The rhetorical war began in secrecy and ended in scandal. With Reagan's reputation as a "great communicator" and the priority he assigned to the Contra cause it seemed surprising to find virtually nothing on the topic in a search of the communication journals through mid 1992.

The central research question of this thesis is whether President Reagan used rhetorical strategies and similar depictions to other presidents in his prowar rhetoric against Nicaragua. A common theme of war rhetoric is the dehumanizing of the …

The Public Career Of Maurice Hudson Thatcher, Randy Ream

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The public career of Maurice Hudson Thatcher was wedded to one of the most interesting epochs in Kentucky history and Kentucky politics. From 1895, with his election as county clerk of Butler County, to his defeat for the United States Senate in 1932, Maurice Thatcher was intimately involved in almost every statewide political campaign. He participated in the rise of the Republican party to a point where it was a definite force in state politics and won almost as many statewide races as it lost. He also participated in the party’s relegation to minority status with the advent of the …

The American Liberalism Of Eleanor Roosevelt, Janet Wolfe

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A biographical study of the life of Eleanor Roosevelt was undertaken to explore the various obstacles she was required to overcome as she grew to become an influential figure in the world of liberal politics. During the New Deal years her influence was most visible as she traveled across the country and relayed to her husband the concerns of the average man. As a delegate to the United Nations, after the death of her husband, Eleanor's devotion toward attaining a United Nations which would keep peace among all nations and her ability to carry out tasks in a patient and …

The 1938 Kentucky Senate Election: Alben Barkley, The New Deal & The Defeat Of Governor A.B. "Happy" Chandler, Walter Hixson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Analysis showed that the 1938 Kentucky State primary became the focal point of a national political struggle over the New Deal. The Kentucky campaign was the most significant of the mid-term elections which represented a major test of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's political strength. Senate Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley gave unwavering support to Roosevelt and the New Deal while his opponent, Kentucky Governor Albert B. Chandler, represented conservative Democrats who sought to wrest control of the party from Roosevelt. The clash of two powerful Kentucky politicians and the widespread use of federal and state patronage distinguished the campaign. Barkley's …

Thomas Jefferson And The West, Denise Baker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

From his childhood on the fringe of the Virginia frontier until his years of retirement at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson displayed a special interest in the vast expanse of land stretching westward. The land provided the ideal place for the expansion of Jefferson’s dream of an American empire for liberty. He viewed the continent as the home of an agrarian nation living under the principles of democracy.

Chapter one is introductory in nature, linking Jefferson’s ideals to his interest in the West. Chapter two concentrates on his early contributions to the West. Emphasis is placed on land speculation, the western land …

The Campaign Strategies Of Candidate Richard Fulton In Nashville's 1975 Mayoral Race, Debra Braselton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Because of the increasing importance of local government in America's cities, it is worthwhile to note what factors influence the election of our local leaders. This study sought to isolate the communication factors and rhetorical strategies which influenced the election of Mayor Richard Fulton in Nashville's 1975 Mayoral Race.

Data was gathered from the written and video media, a private interview with the candidate, and campaign materials. Research also provided the candidate's previous political background.

Various factors in Nashville's 1975 Mayoral Race combined to produce an insightful episode in rhetorical and nonrhetorical communication campaign strategies. During the initial stages of …

United States Foreign Policy Toward China In Transition: 1966-1976, Chang Sheng-Ih

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study analyzes United States foreign policy toward Communist China in the transitional period since 1966, based on the American China experts' writings in journals dealing with international affairs and their views expressed in Congressional hearings. The contents explain the changing of American policy toward China from "containment without isolation" toward a rapprochement with Peking and progress toward normalization. The achievement of normalization has been a basic policy goal of the United States and has received bipartisan support, but the formula to accomplish normalization still remains obscure, due mainly to the settlement of the "Taiwan question."

The essay includes four …

Luke Pryor Blackburn: The Good Samaritan, Nancy Baird

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Luke Pryor Blackburn, Kentucky’s only physician governor, is one of the forgotten public health figures of the 19^th century. As health officer of Natchez in the 1850s he instituted the first effective quarantine used in the Mississippi Valley and became a strong advocate of its use as a preventive measure in the control of yellow fever. During his lifetime Blackburn also became well known for his unselfish aid to communities stricken with the disease.

In March 1878 announced his candidacy for governor of his native state. Local politicians scoffed at his chances for election, but his actions during the …

Job Satisfaction Of Police Officers In Second Class Cities In Kentucky, Joan Robertson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to attempt to find out how the police officers in the second-class cities in Kentucky view their work. Questions asked concern relationships with the public, their supervisors, and co-workers; opinions of recent court rulings affecting their work; and their sentiments about salaries and plans to continue in police work. After assessing the job satisfaction of the officers, the results were correlated with other studies and recommendations are made directed toward increasing the officers' motivation and effectiveness in performing their duties.

White Attitudes Toward Racial Tolerance & The Perception Of Party Differences: 1956-1969, Paul Messick

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to examine attitude change toward a particularly salient political and social issue "over time." A second purpose is the examination of the perception of party differences in their positions toward the aforementioned issues "over time."

Glover Cary: A Political Biography, Doris Brenner

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The elements of contrast within the character of an individual and the heights of attainment in a lifetime of activities appear sometimes unexpectedly and serve to distinguish that person from the rest of mankind. Indeed, if personality, intelligence, physical attractiveness, and the love for political life were the only attributes of Kentucky Congressman Glover Cary, although they are unquestionably magnetic qualities, his life and works might deserve their repose from the critical observations of the historian. He, however, demonstrated an unusual concern for his constituents and a certain devotion to humanity, rare qualities if one applies the general connotative meaning …

The Constitutional Union Party In Kentucky, John Lawrence Kelly

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

During the period immediately preceding the Civil War, there arose a new political party, the Constitutional Union party. While nearly every other phase of the era around the Civil War has been covered exhaustively, comparatively, very little has been written about the Union movement and its attempt to prevent the war. What has been written about the Union party deals primarily with the movement at the national level. It is the goal of this author to present a history of the Union movement in Kentucky and the part played in the national party by Kentuckians.

The Mlf: A Study In International Alliance Cohesion, William Bennett

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This paper proposes to undertake a comprehensive investigation into the role, attitudes, and interrelationships of West Germany, France, Great Britain, and the United States within the framework of the North American Treaty Organization. This investigation will be limited to the involvement of these four members states in the proposed establishment, and eventual failure of a NATO controlled multilateral nuclear force (MLF). This limitation was imposed because it was discerned that these four major NATO members set the tempo and boundaries for the debate stemming from this proposal. The smaller member states seemed reluctant to take a definite stance on the …

The Effect Of Presidential Action On Popular Support Of Foreign Policy: The Case Of Vietnam, William Hines Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Explicitly stated the hypothesis that was tested was as follows: The relationship between Presidential action and an increase in public support for the President on matters of Vietnam policy is equal to zero.

Presidential action was viewed as any major development in Policy (whether it be military or political) toward the war. Furthermore, any major speech by the President or other high governmental official reaffirming the government's course of action was posited into the category of Presidential action. In order for the speech to be considered "major" it either had to have been broadcast over nationwide television or widely disseminated …

United States-Russian Relations, 1917-1933, Raymond L. Cravens

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

“One should doff one’s cap to the statue of Jupiter, in case he returned to power.” – Lord Byron

Our task in this study is to determine whether the words of Lord Byron are true in the realm of International Power Politics. This is a study of the application of the principle of non-recognition – the refusal of acknowledgement – to Russo-American relations during the period from 1917 to 1933.

The year was 1917, and the Gladiator of Capitalism stood over the prostrate form of Russian Bolshevism and appealed for the decision of “life” or “death” to be meted out …

Kentucky In The Election Of 1896, John Dickey

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The story of the election of 1896 and the part played by Kentucky in that great conflict offers no parallel, so far as interest in a national election is concerned, in the annals of the political history of the state. Perhaps in no other nationwide campaign did both Kentucky's leaders and her citizenry as well take such an active and intensive part. State and national leaders were extolled on the one hand, and degraded on the other. Party principles were invoked to bear witness to the truth by one group, and condemned as the diabolical instruments of the money power …

Amos Kendall In Kentucky, Kenneth Lam

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In the writing of this thesis, I have endeavored chiefly to depict the character and public works of Amos Kendall in Kentucky. In so doing, it has been my purpose to give the reader some conception of the important political questions of the time and the relation of Kendall to them. His life was one of bitter controversies, of humiliating defeats followed by brilliant victories, and toward the end, one of peace vitalized by the promotion of worthwhile public institutions. His place in history, whether good or bad, has been little understood or appreciated; and it is my sincere desire …

Trends Of Municipal Expenditures In Second Class Cities Of Kentucky From 1926 To 1933, Howard Taylor

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The increase of city expenditures was noticeable for the past two decades. During the depression there arose a greater demand on the part of both tax payers and city officials for some information concerning the costs of city government, what was responsible for the increase, for what municipal funds were expended, and where the cost of city government was headed.

The question of how expenditures in certain departments compared with those of other departments was also a pertinent one. Education suffered an enormous reduction as compared to what had been spent from 1928 to 1932. There was a wide-spread belief …

The Attitude Of The Presidents Of The United States Toward Education As Revealed In Their Messages To Congress, Kelsey R. Cummins

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis is undertaken with the intention of studying the attitude of the Presidents of the United States toward education as revealed in their messages to Congress. The writer chose this subject because he felt that the messages and speeches reflect their attitude toward education and to some extent at least reflect the national attitude. Since this group has included some of America’s ablest leaders, education may find in their works arguments of great weight.

Since the study was restricted to the messages of Presidents, naturally Richardson’s “Messages and Papers of the Presidents of the Presidents to 1908” is the …

Matthew Lyon In Kentucky, Lyda Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

“Men at some time are masters of their fate:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

Thus Shakespeare has the wily Cassius speak, and thus Matthew Lyon must have believed; else he had not contended so fiercely, so incessantly, and so interminably against such adverse circumstances as the average individual would have submitted to sooner or later. Many may have thought so; the facts often indicated so; yet never in a true sense was Matthew Lyon an underling. His fierce spirit was supreme over material things. Even while an indentured servant …

The Origin, Development & Present Status Of County Government In Kentucky, Walton Reynolds

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

It is the purpose of this study to investigate the origin and development of our present county government and to give the essentials of the present status. It is intended to present a brief outline history of the growth and changes in the administrative organization of the county from the days of the shire and the Norman Invasion of England to the reign of the Stuarts; and then to transplant that form of local government into the forested wastes of James River, and there watch it adapt itself to the frontier environment of a new world. In the process of …

The Career Of Edward Ward Carmack And The Cooper-Sharp Trial, Robert Franklin Crutcher

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The subject of this thesis was suggested to the writer in October 1931, by the History Department of the Western Kentucky State Teachers College. The writer at that time was considering a number of other subjects, but seeing that material could be located easily, and that the field suggested by the subject had not been covered, this subject was chosen. When much of the material had been located and examined it was clearly seen that the material in the field could be grouped under two heads and given this title, “Career of Edward Ward Carmack and the Cooper-Sharp Trial”.

Most …