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Rethinking America's Grand Strategy: Insights From The Cold War, Hal Brands Dec 2015

Rethinking America's Grand Strategy: Insights From The Cold War, Hal Brands

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.


The Czech-Egyptian Arms Deal Of 1955 : A Turning Point In Middle Eastern Cold War History., Thomas Michael Shaughnessy Skaggs Dec 2015

The Czech-Egyptian Arms Deal Of 1955 : A Turning Point In Middle Eastern Cold War History., Thomas Michael Shaughnessy Skaggs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the Czechoslovakian-Egyptian arms deal of 1955 and analyzes how it impacted Middle Eastern Cold War policy. Central to the issue is Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser’s approach to garnering Pan-Arab Nationalist support and his decision to approach the Soviet Bloc for weapons and economic aid. Supporting evidence came from several repositories, including the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library. In addition to primary sources, a thorough examination of the existing scholarship was conducted. In conclusion, the Czech-Egyptian arms deal, more than any other event, cemented Nasser's place as champion …


Oral History/Richard Howard, Caleb Howard Nov 2015

Oral History/Richard Howard, Caleb Howard

Cold War

Oral History by Richard Howard, who was in the Air Force during the Cuban Missile Crisis.


Teutonic Terror: The History Of German Counterterrorism Policy, Harry Richart Oct 2015

Teutonic Terror: The History Of German Counterterrorism Policy, Harry Richart

Ex-Patt Magazine

Terrorism wasn’t born in the 21st Century. Learn how Germany has dealt with domestic threats from the Cold War to the War on Terror.


A Think Tank On The Left: The Institute For Policy Studies And Cold War America, 1963-1989, Brian Scott Mueller Aug 2015

A Think Tank On The Left: The Institute For Policy Studies And Cold War America, 1963-1989, Brian Scott Mueller

Theses and Dissertations

For American intellectuals, the Cold War involved a battle far more important than the ones taking place in faraway lands. While the nearly half-decade conflict never degenerated into a nuclear war, the combat between intellectuals resembled a nuclear explosion at times. Participants in the war of words believed that intellectual debates would determine the direction of American foreign policy, and possibly whether the United States survived the Cold War. Led by groups such as the Americans for Democratic Action, liberal intellectuals held the dominant position during the first decades of the Cold War as they became hardened Cold Warriors intent …


Eclipsing Competition: Presidential Policy And Nasa 1955-1979, Ryan Conway Aug 2015

Eclipsing Competition: Presidential Policy And Nasa 1955-1979, Ryan Conway

All Theses

The aim of this thesis is to analyze presidential decisions in formulating NASA programs in the first twenty years of the space administration. NASA programs varied greatly: from a “hands-off” approach taken by Eisenhower to a reactive role taken by the Kennedy and Johnson presidencies, as different presidents viewed Cold War competition in different lights. It also analyzes how competition and cooperation shaped NASA policy making. The thesis shows that NASA programs were extensions of the sitting president’s foreign policy goals. Despite presidential rhetoric of cooperation with the Soviet Union, the programs of NASA from 1958-1969 relied upon competition to …


"A One-In-A-Billion Chance": The Transformative Effect Of Stan Lee And Spider-Man On American Popular Culture, Jon Bateman Jul 2015

"A One-In-A-Billion Chance": The Transformative Effect Of Stan Lee And Spider-Man On American Popular Culture, Jon Bateman

Other Undergraduate Scholarship

The body of research from scholarly sources on the history of comic books contends that Stan Lee’s original run of The Amazing Spider-Man influenced American culture in a generic sense, but little has been written on the specific ways the comic influenced popular culture. This paper details four specific ways that Stan Lee’s Spider-Man influenced American popular culture during the tumultuous decade of the 1960’s. The comic redefined the modern American hero by making a flawed character, with a tenuous grasp on the moral high ground, the protagonist. It also affirmed the newly established teenage identity in American society by …


The Power Of Friendship: Cal Poly’S Contract In Thailand And Reinterpreting Cold War Agency Through Relationships, Sean Martinez Jun 2015

The Power Of Friendship: Cal Poly’S Contract In Thailand And Reinterpreting Cold War Agency Through Relationships, Sean Martinez

History

From 1967 to 1973, Cal Poly was contracted by USAID to provide assistance to the Department of Vocational Education housed under the Royal Thai Government's Ministry of Education. This paper explores how the Cal Poly university administration and the members of the Cal Poly Team in Thailand expressed agency and decision making despite complex bureaucratic relationships and the larger international political conflict between the US and the USSR.


Building The Modern World: Morrison-Knudsen Construction Company, James David Duran May 2015

Building The Modern World: Morrison-Knudsen Construction Company, James David Duran

Jim D. Duran

After working on construction projects in Boise, Idaho, Morris Hans Knudsen and Harry Morrison combined their resources and skills to form Morrison-Knudsen Company (M-K) in 1912. The two of them built a world-class construction and engineering company that, at one time, was the industry leader in their field. Their success relied upon fast, cost-effective, construction and an uncanny ability to match their company’s mission to the goals of U.S. foreign and domestic policy. When Harry Morrison moved to the position of president in 1939, he took M-K international by presenting his company as the deliverer of modernization to the developing …


1st Place Research Paper: Moviegoers And The Moon In 1953, Hannah E. Gary May 2015

1st Place Research Paper: Moviegoers And The Moon In 1953, Hannah E. Gary

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

"By analyzing the complicated production of the sexually-provocative The Moon is Blue in the early 1950s, this essay seeks to isolate the perspectives of censorship groups, artistic authorities, governmental legislatures, and the Production Code Administration (PCA) in their respective appraisals of the Hollywood industry’s movie-going public. Referencing communications between studio personnel and the PCA, as well as court documents and scholarly research, this paper highlights how the various organizations’ differing conceptions are relevant with regards to their Cold War context. This period inspired containment ideology in narratives celebrating 'universal ideals and patriotic or sacred causes' through the awareness of a …


Partisanship And Foreign Policy, Sauran Mussin May 2015

Partisanship And Foreign Policy, Sauran Mussin

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Throughout the Cold War era matters of US foreign policy have been met with increasing bipartisanship as a result of the looming threat of a possible military confrontation with the USSR. Divergence between the two parties was sidelined due to the necessity for unity on account of the military and economical threat that rivaled US interests. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, more recently post 9/11 era and the launch of the Global War on Terror there has been an increasing partisanship disagreement within the US government towards foreign policy. This research paper will attempt to explain the relationship …


Fort Lipstick And The Making Of June Cleaver: Gender Roles In American Propaganda And Advertising, 1941-1961, Samantha L. Vandermeade May 2015

Fort Lipstick And The Making Of June Cleaver: Gender Roles In American Propaganda And Advertising, 1941-1961, Samantha L. Vandermeade

Madison Historical Review

This article discusses the ways in which government propaganda and corporate advertising during the 1940s and 1950s made a concerted effort to mitigate the increased sexual, economic, and social freedoms of women engendered by the circumstances of the war years. While Rosie the Riveter and others like her became the picture Americans often associate with women in World War II, advertising firms and the government deliberately created Rosie and her fellows to reinforce female participation in the war effort only through their pre-ascribed dichotomous roles as either socially tamed sexual objects or mothers. Then, as the war drew to a …


America's War In Angola, 1961-1976, Alexander Joseph Marino May 2015

America's War In Angola, 1961-1976, Alexander Joseph Marino

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A study of the role played by the United States in Angola's War of Independence and the Angolan Civil War up to 1976.


President Kennedy And The Escalation Of The Vietnam War, Kenneth L. Sterner Apr 2015

President Kennedy And The Escalation Of The Vietnam War, Kenneth L. Sterner

History Capstone Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is to determine if President Kennedy had a large impact on President Johnson in escalating the Vietnam War. This paper argues that Kennedy's decision to remove Ngo Dinh Diem from the South Vietnamese Presidency forced Johnson to escalate. American aid, politically, militarily, and economically in Vietnam, played a large role in forcing Johnson to escalate the war. This paper examines the political impact President Kennedy created, the military situation in Vietnam, and the economics of Diem's removal.


“A Battle For Hearts And Minds”: U.S. Public Diplomacy In The Cold War Middle East, Christopher M. Goss Apr 2015

“A Battle For Hearts And Minds”: U.S. Public Diplomacy In The Cold War Middle East, Christopher M. Goss

History Honors Papers

This paper analyzes the development of American public diplomacy in the Middle East region from 1945-1961. The purpose of the paper is to situate the public diplomacy effort within existing histories of the Middle East and Cold War propaganda and to analyze the methods used by the U. S. to shape foreign opinion. Analysis reveals that the U.S. felt the need to implement a foreign information program under President Truman, which was later expanded and corrected under Eisenhower, and included a switch from short-term objective seeking to long-term goodwill fostering. The methods were primarily focused on two target audiences: educated …


Green Berets And Gay Deceivers: The New Left, The Vietnam Draft And American Masculinity, Anna L. Zuschlag Apr 2015

Green Berets And Gay Deceivers: The New Left, The Vietnam Draft And American Masculinity, Anna L. Zuschlag

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

When masculinity is predicated on violence and military service is a man’s civic duty, then draft resistance becomes a doubly radical act. Men who refuse to take up arms for their nation threaten, at least potentially, both its political and gender order. This dissertation explores American masculinity during and after the Vietnam War, by analyzing cultural representations of, and responses to, the U.S. Selective Service System. At a time when mainstream Hollywood would not touch the Vietnam War, a generation of independent filmmakers, artists and agitators produced a number of remarkable films and documents dealing with the war, the draft …


Interview Of Margaret Mccoey, M.S., Margaret M. Mccoey, Matthew Riffe Apr 2015

Interview Of Margaret Mccoey, M.S., Margaret M. Mccoey, Matthew Riffe

All Oral Histories

Margaret “Peggy” McCoey is the Director of Graduate Programs in Computer Information Science, Information Technology, and Economic Crime Forensics at La Salle University. Born in the Oxford Circle section of Philadelphia in 1957, Peggy grew up in St. Martin of Tours parish attending their grade school before going to Little Flower High School. After graduation in 1975, Peggy entered La Salle University an undergraduate where she received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Peggy received a master’s degree from Villanova in 1984. Beginning in 1982, Peggy McCoey has taught at La Salle University in some capacity. Throughout the 1990’s, Peggy …


The Long Road: Eisenhower’S Inter-American Highway: The Path To Economic Investment, Political Stability, And Collective Security In Central America, Jacob A. Ross Apr 2015

The Long Road: Eisenhower’S Inter-American Highway: The Path To Economic Investment, Political Stability, And Collective Security In Central America, Jacob A. Ross

Student Publications

This paper explores the anti-communist Cold War tactics of public diplomacy as undertaken by the Eisenhower Administration. The focus of this paper is the Inter-American Highway: a program which the U.S. government funded and constructed to develop Central America economically, politically, and beyond. Funding for this program was increased and supported by the president because it fit the axiom of spending as little money as possible in the Cold War, but spending it in a way to be effective in the battle against Soviet communism. The stance of the U.S. government was to provide Central America with increased infrastructure development …


An Old Soldier's View Of The Early Cold War, 1949-1953, Daniel Scott Mar 2015

An Old Soldier's View Of The Early Cold War, 1949-1953, Daniel Scott

Theses and Dissertations

This Master's Thesis examines General Douglas MacArthur's strategic assessments which led to his pursuit of the expansion of the Korean War beyond the Yalu River. By examining General MacArthur's actions during the Korean War, I clarify the reason behind his desire to expand the war into Manchuria and China. This evaluation also provides insight into MacArthur's overall early Cold War strategy - 1949-1953. This Master's Thesis challenges the notion that General MacArthur's desire to use atomic weaponry in the expansion of the Korean War as being indicative of a flawed personality or a lack of understanding of the geopolitical situation. …


Pioneers In Exile: The China Inland Mission And Missionary Mobility In China And Southeast Asia, 1943-1989, Anthony J. Miller Jan 2015

Pioneers In Exile: The China Inland Mission And Missionary Mobility In China And Southeast Asia, 1943-1989, Anthony J. Miller

Theses and Dissertations--History

My dissertation explores how the movement of missionaries across Asia responded to the currents of nationalism, decolonization, and the Cold War producing ideas about sovereignty, race, and religious rights. More specifically, it looks at how U.S. evangelicals in the China Inland Mission, an international and interdenominational mission society, collaborated with Christians in the Atlantic and Pacific worlds. While doing so it also details the oft-neglected study of the post-China careers of former China missionaries by extensive use of oral histories. Forced to abandon its only field by the Chinese Communist Party, the mission redeployed as the Overseas Missionary Fellowship sending …


The Rise And Fall Of Canada's Cold War Air Force, 1948-1968, Bertram C. Frandsen Jan 2015

The Rise And Fall Of Canada's Cold War Air Force, 1948-1968, Bertram C. Frandsen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis examines the expansion of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) under the St. Laurent government with the concept of the Big Air Force that emerged from the defence re-armament programme announced on 5 February 1951. During this critical Cold War period, the RCAF became Canada’s first line of defence, making an essential contribution to the collective defence of Western Europe through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Concurrently, the RCAF underwent tremendous expansion in Canada contributing to North American defence, along with significant increases in its training, maritime and transport capabilities. The RCAF developed into the largest military service …