Political History Commons^™

Is Money "Speech"?, Michael J. Boyle Phd, Miguel Glatzer Phd

Explorer Café

No abstract provided.

Spartans In Vietnam: Michigan State University's Experience In South Vietnam, Jake T. Alster

Grand Valley Journal of History

In this article, the relations between various colleges (with special attention to Michigan State University) and the United States Government are explored in relation to America’s effort in nation building in South Vietnam in the late 1950s. During America’s efforts in Vietnam more reliance was put upon collegiate institutions to help negotiate foreign policy. One of the major issues regarding South Vietnam was technical assistance, and how we should implement assistance into the third world. Michigan State University, under the presidency of John Hannah, became the most important university in the technical assistance program. John Ernst argues that this was …

Dwight Eisenhower, The Warrior, & John Kennedy, The Cold Warrior: Foreign Policy Under Two Presidents, Andrew C. Nosti

Student Publications

This paper presents a comparison between President Eisenhower and President Kennedy's foreign affairs policies, specifically regarding the Cold War, by examining the presidents' interactions with four distinct Cold War regions.

Distributed Media In The Age Of Eisenhower: Political Buttons, Rachel C. Loughran

Student Publications

This paper describes the purpose and effectiveness of distributed campaign materials in the context of President Dwight D Eisenhower's 1952 and 1956 elections. It analyzes campaign buttons and political cartoons distributed by the Eisenhower administration to determine how they furthered the image Eisenhower wished to convey during his campaigns. This image is presented by applying certain aesthetic qualities to the campaign materials.

Post-9/11 Illegal Immigrant Detention And Deportation: Terrorism And The Criminalization Of Immigration, Stefany N. Laun

Student Publications

This paper analyzes the changes in immigration policy since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in terms of how immigrants are viewed in the United States. The goal is to address the recent criminalization of immigration in that the perceptions of terrorists and immigrants have become relatively synonymous since 2001. Although deportations have decreased, immigrant detention has increased significantly. Detention centers pose threats to the basic human rights of the immigrants residing in them, as well as perpetuate the culture of fear enveloping recent immigrants, whether they are legally or illegally in the country, and native United States citizens …

Justice Not Long Delayed: Historical Perspective And The Twenty-First Century Fight For Gay Rights, Charles O. Boyd

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper attempts to formulate the best comprehensive strategy for achieving equal rights under the law for gays and lesbians. One of the main ways this paper attempts to formulate such a strategy is by looking at the tactics that allowed previous movements, such as abolitionism and the Civil Rights Movement, to succeed. This paper considers which of the tactics of these movements should be adopted by gay rights activists. Some tactics, such as civil disobedience, are determined to be useful for gay rights activists. Others, such as violence (which was avoided by the Civil Rights Movement but used by …

Enhanced Interrogation: Torture Policies Of The United States, Philip A. Quigley

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

Over the last decade the US Government has worked tirelessly to combat terrorists, insurgents, and those who intend harm to the US, its interests, and its allies and their interests. The US Military and the US Intelligence Community have used many tactics as part of a more complex strategy for waging a worldwide war against al-Qaeda, other terrorist organizations, and their base of support. No tactic has garnered as much public attention, media outcry, and political debate as the use of torture, or more euphemistically referred to in US Government documents, "enhanced interrogation." The use of this tactic has strained …

An Ordinary Congressman And An Extraordinary Scandal: Alex Mcmillan And Iran-Contra, Rob Matsick

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

The Iran-Contra Affair was an infamous soap opera that pushed the Reagan Administration to the brink of annihilation. The repercussions to the main players of this and other tantalizing political affairs have been regurgitated ad nauseum. However, the effects on the more general political scene are often ignored. This paper is a case study that examines the diversionary political route that Alex McMillan, a Congressman unknown outside of North Carolina, takes to handle the negative effects of a Republican crisis to a Congressman that shares the party, but not the blame, for a national scandal. This case study aims …

Trade, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview of analysis of U.S. foreign trade policy during the early decades of the country's history. Examines bilateral U.S. trade relations with France and Great Britain, provides import and export statistics, details on commodities and products imports and exported, trade statistics, and information on the political and economic factors shaping U.S. trade during this period.

Coastal Defenses, U.S., Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of U.S. military coastal defenses during the period up to and including the War 1812.

Revenue, U.S. Government, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview of U.S. Government revenue receipts and spending during the early years of national history. Presents revenue generation statistics, information on revenue sources, and information on domestic and international political and economic factors affecting government revenue receipts.

Lincoln’S Vision Of Free Labor: Was Universal Opportunity, Education, And Economic Nationalism Enough To Enhance Freedmens’ Rights After The Civil War And Reconstruction?, Harry M. Hipler

Harry M Hipler

This paper will explore free labor, education, and universal opportunity – the latter being synonymous with equal opportunity – as described by Abraham Lincoln, and its connectivity to economic development and nationalism before, during, and after the Civil War era. First, I discuss Lincoln’s vision of free labor that defined his vision in 19th century America. Next, I explore the importance of universal opportunity and education as they relate to free labor as defined by white Republicans and Lincoln. The Republican Party and Lincoln strongly believed that free labor was the harbinger of success to obtain universal opportunity for all …

In Reckless Pursuit: Barry Goldwater A Team Of Amateurs And The Rise Of Conservatism, Nicholas D'Angelo

Honors Theses

Before 1964, Barry Goldwater had never lost an election. In fact, despite being the underdog in both of his U.S. Senate elections in Arizona, in 1952 and 1958, he defied the odds and won. His keen ability for organization, fundraising and strategy was so widely respected that his Republican colleagues appointed the freshman senator to chair their campaign committee in 1955, with conservatives and liberals alike requesting his aid during contentious elections. Goldwater himself adamantly believed that in politics, “organization is the whole secret.” For all of these reasons, 1964 seems to be an outlier in the senator’s expansive career. …

Facing The Apocalypse: Bomb Shelters And National Policy In Eisenhower’S Second Term, Angela A. Badore

Student Publications

This paper explores the issues of civilian defense from a federal perspective during Eisenhower’s second term, particularly focusing on the issue of bomb shelters during the period from 1956-1958. Despite widespread efforts to promote bomb shelters, or fallout shelters, during this period, no significant progress was made toward a federal program. By examining federal efforts such as the Holifield Committee, the Gaither Committee, Operation Alert, and the National Shelter Policy, this paper shows that efforts to set up shelter programs actually made the public and the Eisenhower administration less likely to trust such programs at all.

Throwing The Switch: Eisenhower, Stevenson And The African-American Vote In The 1956 Election, Lincoln M. Fitch

Student Publications

This paper seeks to contextualize the 1956 election by providing a summary of the African American political alignment during the preceding half-century. Winning a greater portion of the black vote was a central tenant of the 1956 Eisenhower Campaign strategy. In the 1956 election a substantial shift occurred among the historically democratic black electorate. The vote shifted because of disillusionment with the Democrats and Eisenhower’s civil rights record. The swing however, was less pronounced for Republican congressional candidates. This paper draws upon extensive primary material, including countless newspapers, magazines, the NAACP Papers, and published primary sources to form the core …

Rendering To God And Caesar: Critical Readings For American Government, Mark Caleb Smith, Jewerl Maxwell, Marc A. Clauson, Kevin F. Sims, David L. Rich, Andrew Travis

Faculty Books

To understand American government is, at minimum, to recognize religion's profound influence on our culture and, by extension, our politics." So state the editors of this outstanding collection of 55 readings that survey the function and purpose of American government from its founding to the present. Rendering to God and Caesar is mostly comprised of primary sources, including founding documents, Supreme Court cases, and momentous speeches. Grouped into six unifying sections with introductions that tie the individual works together and point to their significance, each article is introduced as well by brief comments to highlight specific features or issues.

Designed …

Rendering To God And Caesar: Critical Readings For American Government, Mark Caleb Smith, Jewerl Maxwell, Marc Clauson, Kevin F. Sims, David L. Rich, Andrew Travis

Kevin F. Sims, Ph.D.

To understand American government is, at minimum, to recognize religion's profound influence on our culture and, by extension, our politics." So state the editors of this outstanding collection of 55 readings that survey the function and purpose of American government from its founding to the present. Rendering to God and Caesar is mostly comprised of primary sources, including founding documents, Supreme Court cases, and momentous speeches. Grouped into six unifying sections with introductions that tie the individual works together and point to their significance, each article is introduced as well by brief comments to highlight specific features or issues. Designed …

American Military Strategy In The Vietnam War, 1965– 1973, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

For nearly a decade, American combat soldiers fought in South Vietnam to help sustain an independent, noncommunist nation in Southeast Asia. After U.S. troops departed in 1973, the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975 prompted a lasting search to explain the United States’ first lost war. Historians of the conflict and participants alike have since critiqued the ways in which civilian policymakers and uniformed leaders applied—some argued misapplied—military power that led to such an undesirable political outcome. While some claimed U.S. politicians failed to commit their nation’s full military might to a limited war, others contended that most officers fundamentally …

Introduction To The Workplace Constitution From The New Deal To The New Right, Sophia Z. Lee

All Faculty Scholarship

Today, most American workers do not have constitutional rights on the job. As The Workplace Constitution shows, this outcome was far from inevitable. Instead, American workers have a long history of fighting for such rights. Beginning in the 1930s, civil rights advocates sought constitutional protections against racial discrimination by employers and unions. At the same time, a conservative right-to-work movement argued that the Constitution protected workers from having to join or support unions. Those two movements, with their shared aim of extending constitutional protections to American workers, were a potentially powerful combination. But they sought to use those protections to …

The Paradox Of Popular Sovereignty: An Introductory Essay, Christopher Hoebeke

Christopher H Hoebeke

No abstract provided.