History Commons^™

Living The Lake Life: Indiana’S Lake James In The 1950s And 1960s, Warren Travis

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

At over a thousand acres, Lake James has been a staple for entertainment in northern Indiana for years. Lake James has changed significantly over the more than one hundred years of human interaction. This paper captures the scene of Lake James in the 1950s and 1960s.

Our Nuclear Quandary: Deliberating U.S. Nuclear Armament & Its Alternatives For Execution 1946-1961, Andrew Ross

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Sitting amongst his National Security Councilors in 1958, President Eisenhower quipped of how he “could remember well when the military used to have no more than 70 targets in the Soviet Union and believed that destruction of these 70 targets would be sufficient.” Yet moments later, Eisenhower would grant his approval of a nuclear targeting plan which would strike all Soviet cities over the population of 25,000—a plan requiring thousands, not dozens, of nuclear weapons. The potential consequences of this dramatic surge in nuclear armament has led scholars to dispute how to characterize operational planning during the Nuclear Arms Race. …

Imprisoning Sexuality: The Abuses Of The State In Homosexual Male Incarceration At Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary (1934-1957), Vic Overdorf

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Between 1934 and 1957, J. Edgar Hoover - the presiding director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation – signed documents approving the transfer of over twenty military men with a charge of “Sodomy” to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Through the first half of the twentieth century, Alcatraz was notorious for it’s incredibly violent and high profile criminals. Since the island was isolated and conditions were severe, Alcatraz was the designated site for the United States to imprison undesirable people: violent and influential men who they did not want to rejoin society. When considering the legal term “Sodomy”– which in 1934 …

The Crisis At Fort Sumter: The Symbolic Monument That Transformed Northern And Southern Opinions During The Start Of The Civil War, Olivia C. Cabanban

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Understanding the complexity of the Battle at Fort Sumter and the changing opinions of Northerners and Southerners acts as means of delving into the deeper roots of slavery, secession, and national discourse that laced our nation’s undeniable history. The first firings at Fort Sumter were the flashpoint of the entirety of the Civil War, triggering the four years of battle, death, destruction, and competing nationalisms that ensued between the North and South. Because the histories of the war—more specifically the battle of Fort Sumter—are biased because they are written from points of views laced with Confederate and Unionist undertones, comprehending …

"Send Forward Some Who Would Fight": How John T.Wilder And His "Lightning Brigade" Of Mounted Infantry Changed Warfare, Eric Maurice

Graduate Thesis Collection

The 17th Indiana Volunteer Regiment was part of “Wilder’s Lightning Brigade”, a mounted infantry brigade under Col. John T. Wilder. Through his efforts he mounted his infantry on horseback and equipped them with Spencer Repeating Rifles. This paper argues that these changes were deliberate on the part of John T. Wilder rather than emulating others, led to a conscious and noticeable change in tactics, that these changes were effective, and examines the Brigade’s influences on future military tactics. Through the use a various Primary and Secondary sources, with heavy emphasis placed on diaries, letters, unit histories, and drill manuals, I …

Manifest Imperialism: Race And American Imperial Aspirations In The Pacific, Bryan Richter

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The Pacific Ocean has long been held by the United States as an outlet to project power and to forge and international fiefdom for themselves. The historical precedence of military intervention in this portion of the globe can be traced back to the colonial conflicts in the Philippines at the turn of the 20th century. This conflict began a century of heavy American military involvement which saw the United States become entrenched in four major wars from the Philippines in the south to its northern most point in the Korea. However, in each of these wars there were more at …

Crafting Industrial Manhood In The Manual Training Movement, 1876-1920, James Jonathan Rick

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Lew Wallace: An Unsung Hoosier Hero, Jordan C. Lee

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The way in which the American Civil War is remembered varies from one region to another. People, places, and events bring moments of pride and sorrow for those who remember, and distinct figures rise and fade into memory over time. Some individuals, however, cling to their place in history through the words of those who remember them. For the state ofIndiana, I feel as if one individual in question is overlooked. We remember Benjamin Harrison, the future president, born in Ohio, serving as a colonel to the 70th Indiana, and eventually a general over an entire brigade. We remember Governor …

Indiana's Civil Rights Commission: A History Of The First Five Years, David Sabol

Graduate Thesis Collection

Indiana's Civil Rights Commission evolved from the need to combat the often subtle racial injustices that permeated Hoosier society in the late 1950s and 1960s. A tradition of segregation along racial lines in Indiana was being challenged in the early 1960s by newly elected leaders who believed that their fellow black Hoosiers deserved to be treated fairly under the laws that were designed to protect their citizenship. For that reasonr Indiana's new leaders chose to create a state government agency based on the federal model for a civil rights commission. With the formation of the Indiana Civil Rights Commission [ICRC] …

The History And Influence Of Black Baseball In The United States And Indianapolis, Scott Clayton Bower

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

When Americans discuss the history of baseball, names like Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Connie Mack, and Walter Johnson are mentioned. But what about men like Rube Foster, Buck Leonard, C. I. Taylor, Josh Gibson, and Oscar Charleston? Most American baseball fans know little about black baseball and the lives of black players. A study of black baseball, focusing on the Negro leagues, answers some of the questions baseball fans and historians might ask out of ignorance. How did baseball become segregated? How did the Negro leagues evolve? What was life like for black baseball players? How was the …

T. Thomas Fortune: Land, Labor And Politics In The South, 1883-1886, C. Edward Shacklee

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This paper will deal with Fortune's economic ideology between 1883 and 1886, early years in a career that would span four decades. It is an attempt to show both the reformist and traditional approaches applied to the problems of his race, approaches that foreshadowed much of black though in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Senator Albert J. Beveridge And The Politics Of Imperialist Rationale, Leone B. Little

Graduate Thesis Collection

This thesis is an unbiased attempt to look a Senator Albert Jeremiah Beveridge, a man who made history in his own time in his own way. Moreover, this thesis attempt to objectively present Senator Beveridge in the context of the era in which he lived as a generating force in America's colonial adventure at the turn of the century.

Senator Albert J. Beveridge, a Hamiltonian nationalist by inheritance, believed in a strong central government. Furthermore, he believed that the end of government should be the gaining of power and material forces, redeeming the redeemable nations of the world and subjugating …

Yazoo: Compromise And Corruption, Ford Andrew Anderson Ii

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

The Foreign Policy Of Harry S. Truman, Patricia Reagan Slater

Graduate Thesis Collection

Without knowing it, a professor of mine, Dr. Emma Lou Thornbrough, stimulated my interest in President Truman when she stated in a freshman history course that Harry S. Truman would go down in history as one of the greatest American Presidents if not the greatest because of his ingenuity in foreign policy. The exact purporse of this paper is to examine these programs.

The Attitude Of Indiana's Congressional Delegation During The Civil War Toward Slavery And The Negro: 1861-1865, Emma T. Randall

Graduate Thesis Collection

In this thesis I have examined the attitudes on the Negro question of the members if the Indiana delegation to the Congress of the United States during the period 1861-1865. Two Congresses were is session during this period--the Thirty-seventh and the Thirty-eighth. The Globe and newspapers of the period have been my two primary sources of information. Every shade of opinion was expressed ranging from the utterances of so-called Abolitionist Republican George W. Julian, to the ultra-conservative sentiments voiced by Daniel Voorhees, Democrat.

Indiana And The Adoption And Ratification Of The Fourteenth Amendment, Ellsworth Shade

Graduate Thesis Collection

In this study I have attempted to present the reaction of a Northern state, Indiana, to the movement for the adoption and ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The significance of such a study results from the position of this amendment as the foundation of the Republican party's programs of national reconstruction and of Indiana as an important state in the movement for ratification. Of necessity, such a presentation involves a careful examination of the background of the two major political parties in Indiana as well as an investigation of the attitude of the …

The Congressional Career Of Benjamin F. Butler, Nancy C. Adams

Graduate Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

The Ruination And Expulsion Of The Miami Indians, William D. Siedlecki

Graduate Thesis Collection

One of the most profitable fields of exploration for the history student today is in the realm of Indian history. Many books have been written concerning the social, cultural, and military aspects of the Indiana, but few have been written to expost the abuse and fraud the savage suffered at the hands of the traders, agents, and government officials. It was for this purpose that this study of the Miami Indians has been prepared.

The Construction And Administration Of The Union Navy, Robert K. Eisenbarth

Graduate Thesis Collection

The main theme of this thesis is the precise role of the navy department in the struggle to maintain the Union. However, naval operations themselves are not within the scope of this thesis. To what degree did the navy department assist in the successful prosecution of the war? What problems were faced by Welles in the purchase, charter, and construction of naval vessels? What was the relationship between the department and Congress? What evidence of fraud and corruption existed?

The Territorial Extension Of The United States, Nettie Irwin Sweeney

Manuscript Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.