Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Rethinking The Farm Revolt Of The 1930s, Willam C. Pratt

History Faculty Publications

The northern Plains witnessed the last great farm revolt in its history during the 1930s, when a flood of protest spilled across the region, fed by the springs of hard times and earlier insurgencies. The countryside, for one last moment, forced itself upon the rest of the country and demanded attention for its plight. After a period of high visibility, these efforts receded in the wake of New Deal programs that seemingly undercut the rural revolt. Many of the protesters arrived at an accommodation with the new regime, accepting "half-aloof now" in terms of wheat allotment checks and refinanced mortgages …

The Defining Moment: The 1980 Nashua Debate, Michael J. Birkner

History Faculty Publications

For George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, the debate in Nashua, New Hampshire marked a crossroads in their respective bids for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination. A month earlier, Bush had emerged from a seven-man field by upsetting Reagan in the Iowa caucuses. Reagan had run a relaxed and aloof campaign in Iowa. At the behest of Campaign Manager John Sears and most senor staff, Reagan had refused even to participate in a candidates' debate on grounds that debates were bad for party unity. Iowa voters responded by giving Bush a small plurality in their caucuses on January 21. …

Everyman As Master (Book Review), Edward L. Ayers

History Faculty Publications

Ayers, Edward L. Review of Tombee: Portrait of a Cotton Planter, by Theodore Rosengarten. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press,1987.

Review Of Phil Sheridan And His Army By Paul Andrew Hutton, Michael L. Tate

History Faculty Publications

Drawing upon extensive manuscript collections, government documents, and other published materials, Hutton has provided us with the definitive treatment of Sheridan's western command. Going well beyond Carl Coke Rister's outdated and narrowly-focused Border Command: General Phil Sheridan in the West (1944), he has artfully synthesized the course of American Indian and military policies from the 1867-1868 winter campaign along the Washita through the 1874 Red River War and the 1876-1877 Little Big Horn and Yellowstone expeditions, to the conclusion of the 1885-1886 Apache War. Never content to merely rehash familiar materials about narrow battlefield tactics, the author has kept the …

The Birth Of Jim Crow (Book Review), Edward L. Ayers

History Faculty Publications

Review of the book, The Crucible of Race: Black-White Relations in the American South since Emancipation by Joel Williamson. New York: Oxford University Press,1984.

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The Southern Enigma: Essays On Race, Class, And Folk Culture (Book Review), Edward L. Ayers

History Faculty Publications

Review of the book, The Southern Enigma: Essays on Race, Class, and Folk Culture, edited by Walter J. Fraser, Jr., and Winfred B. Moore, Jr., Westport,Ct: Greenwood Press, 1983.

The General, The Secretary And The President: An Episode In The Presidential Campaign Of 1828, Michael J. Birkner

History Faculty Publications

The presidential campaign of 1828 has been widely and understandably characterized as the "dirtiest, coarsest, most vulgar" such contest in American History. Though president John Quincy Adams's strong commitment to active government as a means to national improvement in many spheres of life provided the basis for a serious if contentious exchange of views as he bid for reelection, most scholars agree that the campaign turned less on issues than on the Jacksonians' superior organization and propaganda. [excerpt]

Daniel Webster And The Crisis Of The Union, 1850, Michael J. Birkner

History Faculty Publications

The weather that January evening, 132 years ago, complicated the old man's plans, but failed to keep him at home. It was January 21, 1850, and snow was falling heavily in the nation's capital. This was not a night for casual travel, but Henry Clay, seventy-two years of age and in faltering health, was not venturing from his rooms in Washington for light exercise or socializing. He was heading, alone, several blocks away to the home of Daniel Webster on Louisiana Avenue, and his mission had the most portentous overtones. Clay meant to enlist Webster - his ally, rival, and …

Rum, Romanism, And Virginia Democrats: The Party Leaders And The Campaign Of 1928, James R. Sweeney

History Faculty Publications

The 1928 presidential election posed problems for Virginia Democrats, who were traditionally Protestant and prohibitionist. New Yorker Al Smith's nomination split Virginia's party, allowing Republican Herbert C. Hoover to win by a healthy majority. Led by a Methodist Bishop James Cannon, Jr., Virginians who opposed Smith, a Roman Catholic, cited his link with Tammany Hall and his views on prohibition legislations as justifications to vote against him. State party leaders Harry Byrd, Carter Glass, Louis Joffe, and John Garland Pollard mounted a party loyalty campaign for Smith, but the election's central issue was whether or not a candidate's religion merited …

The Stetson Company And Benevolent Feudalism, Roman A. Cybriwski, Charles A. Hardy Iii

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Troubled Transition: From President Morgan To President Waugh, Michael J. Birkner

History Faculty Publications

Dickinson College's twentieth-century journey has been marked primarily, though not entirely, by gains: increases in numbers of students and faculty, advances in the quality of the program offered, and a general broadening of opportunities for those enrolled in this program. Specific advances have been identified with particular presidential administrations, and have been gracefully limned by Charles Coleman Sellers's general history of the college.

For those interested in the academic policies of Dickinson College in this century, one administration stands out for the potential it embodied, but did not realize: the administration, in the early thirties, of Karl Tinsley Waugh. Waugh's …

Northern Business And The Shape Of Southern Progress: The Case Of Tennessee's "Model City", Edward L. Ayers

History Faculty Publications

State governments, understandably eager to entice needed capital to their region, no longer entertained the earlier progressive ideal of an autonomous South. The perennially-tempting vision of rapid economic growth funded by plentiful Northern capital arose in new, distinctly modern, attire.

Samuel L. Southard And The Origins Of Gibbons V. Ogden, Michael J. Birkner

History Faculty Publications

On January 12, 1815, the former Federalist governor of New Jersey, Aaron Ogden, wrote a brief letter to a young political antagonist, Samuel L. Southard, requesting Southard's "professional aid in a hearing before the Legislature, which I expect will take place on Tuesday next." Observing that he had the relevant documents organized so that Southard could get quickly acquainted with the facts of the matter at issue, Ogden added that "the cause will be entertaining and interesting, and as to compensation, you will please to name your own sum."

A good deal of history lay behind these remarks, and the …

Journalism And Politics In Jacksonian New Jersey: The Career Of Stacy G. Potts, Michael J. Birkner

History Faculty Publications

The year was 1831, and the President of the Bank of the United States, Nicholas Biddle, was preparing for a difficult campaign to win the re-charter of his institution. Facing the hostility of Andrew Jackson, and the partisan newspapers that supported him, Biddle was determined to put his own views before the American public. [excerpt]

Revolt In Virginia: Harry Byrd And The 1952 Presidential Election, James R. Sweeney

History Faculty Publications

When Senator Harry F. Byrd, longtime opponent of the policies of Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, decided to support Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower for the Presidency in 1952, he weakened the Democratic Party in Virginia and set off a political revolt in that state that lasted for a quarter century. Based on newspaper accounts and on primary material in the University of Virginia; 40 notes.

The Golden Silence: The Virginia Democratic Party And The Presidential Election Of 1948, James R. Sweeney

History Faculty Publications

Disturbed by President Harry S. Truman's stand on civil rights, the Democratic Party leadership in Virginia, headed by Senator Harry Flood Byrd, determined to fight Truman's election in 1948. The Byrd organization's strategy was to keep Truman from winning Virginia's electoral votes by releasing the state's electors from the obligation to vote for the national party nominee, but Byrd's opposition managed to mount a last minute pro-Truman movement which carried the state for the President.

Railroads And Urban Rivalries In Antebellum Eastern Virginia, Peter C. Stewart

History Faculty Publications

Railroad construction provided a focus for the acceleration of economic rivalry between Richmond, Petersburg, and Norfolk from the 1830's through the 1850's. Richmond's place as a political center provided legislative leverage and attracted able promoters and sufficient capital. Richmond outdistanced its rivals handily, with Petersburg gaining little more than Norfolk. The rivalry left an enduring legacy. Based on railroad archives, manuscripts, and newspapers; 60 notes.