History Commons^™

Promoting Unity Through Propaganda: How The British Government Utilized Posters During The Second World War, Elizabeth Tate Goins

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Comprised of four separate countries, the United Kingdom is a state unlike any other. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have distinct identities, which has been a cause for discord throughout British history. However, during the Second World War the Ministry of Information, under the guidance of the Conservative government and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, launched a poster-based propaganda campaign aimed towards unifying the UK under a common national self-identity. By emphasizing shared qualities such as resilience, pragmatism, humor, patriotism and even the concept of unity itself, the Ministry of Information fostered a sense of national self-identity with the …

Tunnel Vision: “Invisible” Highways And Boston’S “Big Dig” In The Age Of Privatization, Michael R. Fein

Humanities Department Faculty Publications & Research

While most analyses of late-twentieth-century highway policy suggest a shift toward open system design, bottom-up federalism, and the devolution of transportation governance, the history of Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel project, informally known as the “Big Dig,” runs counter to this trend. Though the project emerged in the 1970s during a time of unprecedented citizen activism in transportation planning, ultimately the privatization of political power proved to be the Big Dig’s most important legacy for twenty-first-century urban highway projects.

On Lewis Sorley's Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Articles and Research

A review of Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, by Lewis Sorley.

Defying De-Stalinization: Albania’S 1956, Elidor Mehilli

Publications and Research

Drawing on recently declassified Albanian, Soviet, East German, and Western archival sources, as well as a rich historiography on Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech and the Hungarian revolution of 1956, this article investigates the little-known events of 1956 in Albania. Rejecting de-Stalinization, the Albanian Communist leader Enver Hoxha was able to vindicate his position against Yugoslavia's brand of socialism abroad, fortify his rule at home, and claim more aid from Moscow, Beijing, and the Soviet bloc. This article discusses the Tirana Party Conference of April 1956, treating the Albanian Party of Labor (the Communist party) as an “information society.” The article …

The Two Faces Of American Freedom: A Reply, Aziz Rana

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Wall, William Ketchum, 1786-1853 (Sc 2475), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2475. Two letters from William K. Wall, a lawyer and state legislator, written from Frankfort, Kentucky. He writes of domestic matters, his health and churchgoing, and briefly of legislative affairs in Frankfort, Kentucky, including the prevalence of divorce bills and his successful application to obtain a pardon for a former client. He also comments, at times critically, on several individuals who may be his children.

"Truth Is Mighty & Will Eventually Prevail" Political Correctness, Neo-Confederates, And Robert E. Lee, Peter S. Carmichael

Civil War Institute Faculty Publications

Jefferson Davis sent Robert E. Lee an unusual note after the battle of Gettysburg. The dispatch did not contain any presidential recommendations or requests, only a clipped article from the Charleston Mercury criticizing Lee and his subordinates for failure in Pennsylvania. Why Davis sent this article is impossible to say, and Lee apparently was not interested in the president’s motivations. The General dismissed newspaper criticism of himself as “harmless,” but the Mercury’s condemnation of the army disturbed him. He considered the charges harmful to the cause, for his officers and soldiers were beyond reproach. Defeat, Lee insisted, was his responsibility …

Fifty More Years? Reform And Modernisation Of The Oecd, Richard Woodward

Articles

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is a vital, if frequently unnoticed, cog in the machine of global governance. On the organisation's 50th anniversary, Richard Woodward assesses whether the OECD's reform programme can secure its future in a changing world.

A Small City's Big Scandal: Municipal Corruption, Progressive Reform, And The Grand Rapids, Michigan Water Scandal, 1900-1906, Brian F. Sarnacki

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

At the turn of century the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan began debating plans for expanding its water supply. These debates quickly spawned corrupt dealings, which in turn produced the city’s water scandal. The city’s first genuine scandal, the water scandal marks a turning point in the city’s history. The fact that the rather ordinary bribery scheme became a scandalous event reveals the city had adopted enough of the Progressive ethos to punish corruption. The water scandal stands as the tipping point of municipal politics in Grand Rapids between Gilded Age politics rooted in personal connections and Progressive politics centered …

America's First Secession: The Lost State Of Franklin Fell Just Short Of Admission To The Young Union, Kevin T. Barksdale

History Faculty Research

On Dec. 14, 1784, a small assemblage of Tennessee Valley leading men met at a rustic courthouse in Jonesboro, N.C. under a darkening cloud of political uncertainty, 28 western political and economic leaders voted overwhelmingly to declare their communities' independence from their parent state of North Carolina and to form America's 14th state- Franklin.

La Follette’S Autobiography: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, And The Glorious, Nancy Unger

History

La Follette's Autobiography: A Personal Narrative of Political Experiences is a remarkable primary document of the Progressive Era. Originally published in 1913, it remains in print today and has the dubious honor of being one of Richard Nixon's three favorite books. It illuminates the crucial role that La Follette's home state of Wisconsin played in molding La Follette as a man and as a politician, thereby influencing his national progressive agenda; but it also reveals much more.

Tracking The Language Of Time And Space, 1945-2008, Roderick P. Hart, Elvin T. Lim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article explores how contemporary historians can avail themselves of quantitative approaches to examine how elusive concepts like ‘time’ and ‘space’ have been used in the public domain. By making use of specifically designed programs, historians can use digital tools to harness an unprecedented mass of information. This is a particularly important methodological innovation at a time of rapidly expanding data: news, speeches, and commentary are available first electronically, and they are available on countless sites in an unprecedented array of formats. Mastering these sources digitally is not only imperative for the contemporary historian; it also provides essential source material …

“We Will Hold Our Land:” The Cherokee People In Postrevolutionary North America, 1781-1792, Kevin T. Barksdale

History Faculty Research

In June of 1783, Spain’s newly-appointed Governor of Louisiana Estevan Miro convened a conference of southeastern Indians in Pensacola with representatives from the dominant regional Amerindian groups, including the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creeks in attendance. Among the attendees at the West Florida congress was a small contingent of Chickamauga Cherokee, led by their principal chief Dragging Canoe. During the parlay, Governor Miro implored the Indians to “not be afraid of the Americans,” promised to provide guns and ammunition in their ongoing efforts to prevent the further loss of their lands, and urged them to “continue to fight against American” westerners.

Interview With George Mitchell (6) By Andrea L’Hommedieu, George J. Mitchell

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
George J. Mitchell was born on August 20, 1933, in Waterville, Maine, to Mary Saad, a factory worker, and George Mitchell, a laborer. Senator Mitchell spent his youth in Waterville. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College in 1954, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps until 1956. In 1960 he earned a law degree from Georgetown University. Mitchell worked for Senator Edmund S. Muskie as executive assistant and as deputy campaign manager during Muskie's 1972 presidential campaign. He later became U.S. senator (D-Maine) 1980-1995, Senate majority leader 1989-1995, and, upon his …

Interview Of Bertram Strieb, M.S., Bertram Strieb, Daniel Falcone

All Oral Histories

Bertram Strieb was born in 1938 and spent the first five years of his life in North Philadelphia, near 22nd and Venango. He then moved to West Oak Lane, where he lived from the time he was about 5 until he entered college at age 17. Among the elementary and high schools he attended were Rowen, Logan, Wagner Junior High, and Central High School. Strieb studied physics at the University of Pennsylvania on a Mayor's Scholarship and continued in graduate work at Penn, where he studied under world-renowned physicist Herbert Callen. He began teaching physics at La Salle in 1964 …

Interview With George Mitchell (5) By Andrea L’Hommedieu, George J. Mitchell

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
George J. Mitchell was born on August 20, 1933, in Waterville, Maine, to Mary Saad, a factory worker, and George Mitchell, a laborer. Senator Mitchell spent his youth in Waterville. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College in 1954, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Corps until 1956. In 1960 he earned a law degree from Georgetown University. Mitchell worked for Senator Edmund S. Muskie as executive assistant and as deputy campaign manager during Muskie's 1972 presidential campaign. He later became U.S. senator (D-Maine) 1980-1995, Senate majority leader 1989-1995, and, upon his retirement …

Hechiceras E Inquisidores: The Relative Lack Of Severity Of Witchcraft Prosecution Among Spanish Imperial Territories, Jeffrey Michael Mastrianni

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper examines the social, cultural, political, and judiciary motivations behind the prosecution of witchcraft in the Spanish Empire between the years of 1492 and 1643. Included as background material are introductions to witchcraft, the history of the Empire, and the behaviors of the Spanish Inquisition. The paper attempts to illustrate the fact that witchcraft prosecution was neither severe nor overly violent in the Empire, and that each of the four major regions of the Empire (Spain proper, the Netherlands, Italy, and the Viceroyalty of Mexico) witnessed a steady and early decline of witchcraft prosecutions, albeit for different reasons. It …

Federalists Vs. Republicans: The Nature Of Man In A Republic 1787-1800, Benjamin J. Barlowe

Senior Honors Theses

During the early years of the American Republic known as the Federalist Era (1787-1800), a conflict arose which led to America’s first formal political parties and the formation of the two-party system. The parties’ disagreements, characterized most succinctly by the exchanges between the two party leaders, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, involved some of the most basic ideology of the American experiment. The conflicts of the Jeffersonian Republicans and the Hamiltonian Federalists set the precedent of the nature of the political atmosphere of the United States to this day.

This thesis examines the basic viewpoint of the two parties in …

Development For The Past, Present, And Future: Defining And Measuring Sustainable Development, Max Cantor

Senior Honors Projects

In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which defined sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this definition provides a relatively stable theoretical base from which development economists and political scientists can begin to tackle issues surrounding sustainable development, the inherently amorphous nature of this definition has also created a fair amount of ambiguity in both the economic literature surrounding sustainable development and the subsequent attempts by economists to measure it.

Historically, those interested in the science of development have typically …

The Economics Of The Atomic Bomb: Cost And Utilization, Jonathan M. Davis Mr.

Senior Honors Theses

Few moments in human history can be compared to the culmination of events that brought the atomic bomb into creation. It is incredible to contemplate that while a nation was fighting a two front war that spanned from Europe into the Pacific, that the United States was able to utilize the time, energy, brains, materials, manpower, and capital to complete a project in four years. That under any other circumstances would have taken greater than half a century to complete.

First, this thesis will discuss breakthroughs in research that led scientists to believe that the atomic weapons could be built, …

South Kingstown’S Own: A Biographical Sketch Of Isaac Peace Rodman Brigadier General, Robert E. Gough

Special Collections (Miscellaneous)

No abstract provided.

Review Of A Question Of Command: Counterinsurgency From The Civil War To Iraq, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Articles and Research

A review of A Question of Command: Counterinsurgency from the Civil War to Iraq, by Mark Moyar.

Walking The Tightrope: The United States’ Policy In Vietnam, 1952-1954, Erin Flynn

Annual Celebration of Student Scholarship and Creativity

This thesis demonstrates how the Truman and Eisenhower administrations sought to avoid direct intervention in Indochina and halt the spread of communism at the same time. This purpose is achieved through careful analysis of primary and secondary sources, with a particular focus on the primary documentation found in Foreign Relations of the United States: 1952-1954. Through examination of these day-by-day recordings and memos, the futility of pursuing the two conflicting aims becomes clear.

The West's Feet Of Clay: Transmuting The Pillars Of Liberty From Gold Into Dross, Jin Seock Shin

Senior Honors Theses

This study seeks to support the centrality of the Judeo-Christian heritage to the growth and sustenance of liberty, a form of individualism limited by moral values. The pillars of liberty—self-government, private property, representative government, and limited government—reflect the structural contributions made by the Judeo-Christian heritage. Unfortunately, much of Western civilization suffers from a spiritual crisis, which has introduced and exacerbated fractures in the pillars. Pitirim Sorokin’s social and cultural analysis of Western civilization provides a framework to better understand the fractures evident in the history of liberty in Europe and America, and developed in each pillar of liberty—fractures that reaffirm …

Interview With George Mitchell (4) By Andrea L’Hommedieu, George J. Mitchell

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
George J. Mitchell was born on August 20, 1933, in Waterville, Maine, to Mary Saad, a factory worker, and George Mitchell, a laborer. Senator Mitchell spent his youth in Waterville. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College in 1954, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps until 1956. In 1960 he earned a law degree from Georgetown University. Mitchell worked for Senator Edmund S. Muskie as executive assistant and as deputy campaign manager during Muskie's 1972 presidential campaign. He later became U.S. senator (D-Maine) 1980-1995, Senate majority leader 1989-1995, and, upon his …

Interview With James Myers, March 28 & 31, 2011, James P. Myers Jr., Brad R. Miller

Oral Histories

James Myers was interviewed on March 28 & 31, 2011 by Brad Miller about his childhood, collegiate years and teaching at Gettysburg College. He also discussed Carl Arnold Hanson's presidency, the political unrest during that time, and how the college has changed during his time here.

Length of Interview: 103 minutes

Course Information:

• Course Title: HIST 300: Historical Method
• Academic Term: Spring 2011
• Course Instructor: Dr. Michael Birkner '72

Collection Note: This oral history was selected from the Oral History Collection maintained by Special Collections & College Archives. Transcripts are available for browsing in the Special Collections Reading Room, 4 …

(Review) The Negotiated Reformation: Imperial Cities And The Politics Of Urban Reform, 1525–1550, Marc R. Forster

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Administrating The Non-Muslims And "The Question Of Jerusalem" After The Young Turk Revolution, Bedross Der Matossian

Department of History: Faculty Publications

The historiography on the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 in general has mainly concentrated on the impact of the Revolution on the Ottoman Turkish society. Rarely do we see works that deal with the impact of the Revolution on the non-dominant groups in the Empire from a comparative perspective. How did the different ethnic groups view the Revolution? How did the Revolution influence the dynamics of power inside these groups? What were the relations between the Revolution and the religious groups within the Empire? How did the local /central government view the transformations taking place among the non-Muslim communities in …

Government And Politics Newsletter, Issue 7, Sacred Heart University

Government and Politics Newsletter

No abstract provided.

From Jacobin To Liberal, Paul R, Hanson

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

This article focuses on From Jacobin to Liberal: Marc-Antoine Jullien, 1775–1848 and argues that this book, written near the end of Robert R. Palmer’s career, stands as a sort of bookend to his earlier masterpiece, Twelve Who Ruled. The focus of the book, Marc- Antoine Jullien, was a precocious idealist, just sixteen years old when he made his first speech before the Paris Jacobin club. He supported the Jacobin political vision and went on to serve as an emissary in the provinces for the Committee of Public Safety, the focus of Twelve Who Ruled. As such, young Jullien was denounced …