Digital Commons Network^™

The Floating Men: Portland And The Hobo Menace, 1890-1915, Marin Elizabeth Aurand

Dissertations and Theses

At the beginning of the twentieth century, transient laborers in Portland, Oregon faced marginalization and exploitation at the hands of the classes that relied on them for their own prosperity. Portland at this time was poised to flourish as a major population and industrial center of the American West. The industries that fueled the city's growth were dependent on cheap and mobile manual labor made available by the expansion of the nation's railroads. As the city prospered and grew, the elite of the city created and promoted an image of Portland as an Eden of material abundance where industriousness and …

Catholic Action In Twentieth-Century Oregon: The Divergent Political And Social Philosophies Of Hall S. Lusk And Francis J. Murnane, Ian Alan Berge

Dissertations and Theses

Catholic Action was an international movement that encouraged active promotion of the Catholic faith by ordinary believers. While the idea gained force at a local level in Italy in the early twentieth century, Pope Pius XI gave the philosophy official Church approval in 1931. Catholic Action served as a major intellectual and religious force among American Catholics from the Great Depression until the transformations in Catholicism caused by the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. The program encouraged American Catholics both to promote the practice of the faith among fellow Church members and to express Catholic teachings in the …

Theodore Roosevelt On Labor Unions: A New Perspective, Louis B. Livingston

Dissertations and Theses

Historical studies of Theodore Roosevelt's views about labor and labor unions are in conflict. This was also true of contemporary disagreements about the meaning of his labor rhetoric and actions. The uncertainties revolve around whether or not he was sincere in his support of working people and labor unions, whether his words and actions were political only or were based on a philosophical foundation, and why he did not propose comprehensive labor policies.

Roosevelt historiography has addressed these questions without considering his stated admiration for Octave Thanet's writings about "labor problems." Octave Thanet was the pseudonym of Alice French, a …

Robert Francis Kelley And The Eastern European Division Of The State Department: 1917-1933, Agnes Eileen Olsen

Dissertations and Theses

This study traces the career of Robert Francis Kelley and his influence on American-Russian Relations during the nonrecognition period (1917-1933). The focus of this examination is Kelley's role in formulating, implementing, and sustaining America's anti-communist policy developed and solidified during the 1920s and 1930s. Particular attention is given to the senate recognition hearing of 1924, Kelley's training of future diplomats (George Kennan, Charles Bohlen, et al.), and his contributions to the preparations leading to the United States' recognition of Russia in 1933. Using Kelley's papers and personal correspondence, this study shows the growth of a man and the evolution of …

American-Yugoslav Relations, 1941-1946, John Robert Oreskovich

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis deals with the diplomatic relations between Yugoslavia and the United States through the Second World War and the first few months following the end of the War. It follows in chronological order the events influencing American-Yugoslav relations. Emphasis is placed on the development of Yugoslav internal events and their political implications.

National Efficiency And Social Planning In Britain, 1914-1921, Norman Richard Eder

Dissertations and Theses

Traditionally, improvements in the quality of life in Britain resulted from the temporary fusion of sometimes opposite interests which spurred Parliamentary action. Therefore, reform was rarely a party issue. Each reform question was treated separately and never as a part of a body of similar measures. Individuals were free to support or oppose particular reforms according to their own interests and motivations. The result of this lack of strong consistent reformist sentiment was a pattern of piece-meal legislative action with a notable absence of comprehensive social planning. The First World War, however, brought new challenges to British society. As the …

The Siletz Indian Reservation, 1855-1900, William Eugene Kent

Dissertations and Theses

The aim of my study was to try to bring forth the basic aspects and characteristics of the Siletz Reservation as it was in the nineteenth century. Concentration was placed on the life activities and concerns of a typical resident, while at the same time extremes in behavior and actions were also noted. Thus an entire spectrum of human life was recreated. Government policies and events and changes of the time were noted as to how they affected the life at the reservation.

I did not include all of the information available to me .and all information is not known …

Orestes A. Brownson: An American Traditionalist, Marianne Oswald

Dissertations and Theses

Orestes A. Brownson was an American journalist who converted to Catholicism in 1844, at the age of forty-one. He had been writing editorials and occasionally managing publications since 1828 in

connection with religious activities as minister to various sects, Brownson, from the 1830's on, read, reviewed, and kept abreast of European literature concerned with philosophy, social, political, and

economic theory. It was assumed that he continued that practice after his conversion in 1844 and that he would enlist the aid of European Catholic theorists to develop an acceptable Catholic system of thought—particularly since American Catholic literature in the mid-nineteenth century …

A Gold Dream In The Blue Mountains : A Study Of The Chinese Immigrants In The John Day Area, Oregon, 1870-1910, Chia-Lin Chen

Dissertations and Theses

More than one hundred years have passed since the Chinese laborers first landed in this country in the mid-nineteenth century. Yet their history remains cloudy. This phenomenon is quite understandable if one considers the facts that most of the laborers were illiterate, did not have the ability, and never intended, to speak for themselves. It is true that many scholarly works have been published, but few were written by Chinese historians. As a matter of fact, Chinese scholars are unaware that a small number of their countrymen played a strange, pitiful role in American history. The published works reflect the …