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Cohen (William S.) Papers, 1955-2001, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University Of Maine

Finding Aids

William S. Cohen was born on August 28, 1940 in Bangor, Maine. His father Reuben, a baker, was a Russian-Jewish immigrant and his mother, Clara, is of Irish-Protestant extraction. Cohen graduated from Bangor High School in 1958, and from Bowdoin College with an A.B. cum laude in Latin in 1962. An accomplished athlete, he was named to the Maine all-state high school and college basketball teams, and, while at Bowdoin, he was inducted into the New England All-Star Hall of Fame. In 1965, he received his LL.B cum laude from Boston University Law School and, during that same year, he …

The Siege Of Calais During The Hundred Years War: An English Perspective, 1344-1347, Jordan J. Bruso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the siege and capture of the port city of Calais in 1347 by King Edward III of England (1312-1377) during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). The capture of Calais was the culminating event of King Edward III’s 1346-7 military campaign in Normandy and France. This victory provided the English military with a strategically strong foothold on the European continent to conduct future military and economic operations. This thesis blends the methodological approach of “old military history” from the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries with “new military history” beginning in the latter half of the twentieth century in an …

Separating God's Two Kingdoms: Regular Baptists In Maine, Nova Scotia, And New Brunswick, 1780 To 1815, Ronald S. Baines

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The trans-national Regular Baptist tradition in the northeastern borderlands of Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick grew rapidly from 1780 to 1815. The spiritual imperatives of this Calvinistic group with its commitment to believer’s baptism of adults and closed communion churches made them distinctive, and a central argument here is that the worldly implications of “Two Kingdom” theology, founded on the strict separation of religious and civil realms, was central to Regular Baptists’ success in the region in this period. Three leading ministers whose actions as authors, itinerants, and as organizational leaders receive especially close attention: Maine-based ministers Daniel Merrill …

Female Political Campaigns: Just The Right Amount Of Femininity, Harley Rogers

Honors College

This paper seeks to understand how female politicians develop their public identities to meet and reject the gender stereotypes society holds of women. The case study looks at Margaret Chase Smith’s political career, with a special focus on her 1964 presidential campaign. The research analyzed Smith’s career through the newspaper coverage of her in order to understand Smith’s choices surrounding her public identity and the media’s response. The analysis identified four distinct points of interest that contributed to Smith’s public persona: physical appearance, examples of housewifery, dialogue on women’s issues, and legislative accomplishments. These factors demonstrate how Smith presented her …

Maine’S Public Reserved Lands: A Tale Of Loss And Recovery, Richard Barringer, Lee Schepps, Thomas Urquhart, Martin Wilk

Maine Policy Review

The story of Maine’s public reserved lands—or public lots—is worth the telling for its own sake and for its enduring lessons. Provided for in the Maine Constitution of 1820 and neglected for more than a century, the public lots were once scattered widely across the Unorganized Territory of northern, western, and eastern Maine. Today, they are restored to public use and benefit, reassembled into large blocks of land that, in aggregate, are more than twice the size of Baxter State Park. These consolidated public lots offer a wide spectrum of extraordinary values, include many of the crown jewels of Maine’s …

The Rise And Decline Of The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation In Ontario And Quebec During World War Ii, 1939 - 1945, Charles A. Deshaies

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was one of the most influential political parties in Canadian History. Without doubt, from a social welfare perspective, the CCF helped Canada build and develop an extensive social welfare system across Canada. The CCF’s major contributions to Canadian social welfare policy during the critical years following the Great Depression has been justly credited to the party. This was especially true during the Second World War when the federal Liberal government of Mackenzie King adroitly borrowed CCF policy planks to remove the harsh edges of capitalism and put Canada on the path to a modern welfare …

A "Real Social & Political Revolution": Nativism, Class Conflict, And Urban Reform In Portland, Maine (1840-1923), Thomas R. Macmillan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1923, Portland, Maine voters approved passed a ballot measure that jettisoned the nearly century-old Council-Mayor plan in favor of a Council-City Manager form of governance. This dramatic alteration was supported by the Portland Chamber of Commerce and the Ku Klux Klan; it allowed the centralization of political power in the hands of an appointed City Manager and a City Council dominated by business interests. Taking this campaign as its focus, the following study incorporates nativism, class conflict, and urban reform in Portland, Maine with a focus on the period of 1840-1923. It blends ethnic, political, and urban history to …

How Maine Viewed The War, 1914–1917 (1940 Reprint), Edwin Costrell

Maine History

Originally published in 1940, as the United States once more evaluated possible involvement in global conflict, How Maine Viewed the War, 1914– 1917 looks backward to Maine on the eve of World War I. Author Edwin Stanley Costrell (1913–2010), through a study of newspaper coverage of the years 1914 to 1917, provides a thought-provoking account of a Maine people wrestling with ambivalence over US involvement in the Great War; of a citizenry seeking to reconcile ethnic diversity with national unity; and of a nation divided over pacifism, militarism, isolationism, and internationalism and increasingly moving toward war with Germany. Costrell was …

Counter Currents: Arthur Lower, Lincoln Colcord, And Ideological Isolationism In Interwar Canada And The United States, James Spruce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a comparative study of the ideology of isolationism in interwar Canada and the United States. It proceeds with that comparison using an individual subject from each country as a case study. For Canada, the subject is the historian and social scientist Arthur R.M. Lower; for the United States, it is the journalist and fiction author Lincoln Ross Colcord. Both men are worthy of study as individual isolationists of note, but they are also appropriate for the comparison because of the similarity of their isolationist positions and due to their personal backgrounds. Through the 1930s, Colcord and Lower …

Party Development And Political Conflict In Maine 1820-1860 From Statehood To The Civil War, Lee D. Webb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a history of politics in Maine during the state’s formative period, the years from statehood until 1860. The history focuses on party conflict and on the development of organized political parties, particularly the Democratic and Republican parties. It concentrates on the structures and processes that politicians built, including party newspapers, county conventions, state conventions, legislative caucuses, and ultimately state committees and the office of state committee chair – all to compete effectively for power. During this 40-year period, parties also develop powerful new messages, campaign strategies, and developed leaders with the skills to accomplish these tasks.

I …

Le Messager: A Franco-American Newspaper And Its Impact, Mitchel ("Mitch") John Roberge

Franco-American Centre Franco-Américain Undergraduate Scholarship

I grew up in Lewiston as a Franco-American on both sides of my family. My heritage has always been a fascination of mine. Anyone who studies Franco-Americans can’t help but notice that there is a striking sense of what it means to be a part of the big-C Community. Franco Americans are good Catholics, their work ethic is unmatched, families are generally on the large side, and they generally vote Democrat (this is changing a bit, but historically is the case). This social order is well known to those in the community. The idea that Francos have a strongly bonded …

Petite Politique: The British, French, Iroquois, And Everyday Power In The Lake Ontario Borderlands, 1724-1760, Greg Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the exercise and limitation of power at the interpersonal and intercultural level in the contested borderlands region around Lake Ontario in the middle decades of the eighteenth century. Beginning in the 1720s, the region underwent an intensification of geopolitical competition among the British and French empires and the Iroquois Six Nations. During this time that Iroquois Confederacy granted competing trading posts to the British at Oswego and the French at Niagara in an effort to secure goods, balance neighboring rivals, and maintain their own sovereignty. Despite these cessions, the social and diplomatic interests of the Iroquois remained …

Republican Ascendancy: The Gubernatorial Career Of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain And Its Consequences, 1866-1881, Michael Bailey

Maine History

Joshua Chamberlain is a revered hero of the Civil War, an icon for both scholars and the broader public. His life after the Civil War, however, remains largely unexplored. This article uses Chamberlain’s addresses, legislative records, and other primary sources to explore his four-year career as governor of Maine. Reflecting an interesting national parallel, this article reveals Chamberlain’s rise, his policies, and the consequences of those policies. Having risen to political prominence with the Republican Party thanks to the popularity of the Civil War, Chamberlain and his party enacted a number of policies designed to promote industrialization and economic growth …

Department Of History Symposium Series, Featuring Dr. Edward Baptist, University Of Maine Department Of History

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

As the only Ph.D.-granting department int he Humanities in the entire state, the History Department at the University of Maine plays a crucial role training humanists who staff cultural organizations throughout the state, including all other UMS campuses, and many faculty and staff positions at UMaine. The October 16 Lecture will bring an expert to campus to speak about the Morrill Land Grant act and how it transformed US values for the modern era.This lecture is a keystone in CLAS and UMHC programming for the Homecoming Weekend, and it will be followed by a CLAS alumni and friends reception at …

2016 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Celebration, University Of Maine Student Life

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

Alison Beyea is the Executive Director of the ACLU of Maine, where she oversees the organization's legal, legislative, public education and development activities. With 3,000 members, the ACLU of Maine is the state's oldest and largest civil liberties organization.

The state of the union from the Citizen's Perspective delivered by Alison Beyea will be the focus of a keynote address at the 20th annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast on Jan. 18, 2016 sponsored by the Greater Bangor Area NAACP and the University of Maine. Keynote Speaker Alison Beyea will speak on current national affairs and trends, education, …

Research Note: James G. Blaine’S Effort To Have John L. Stevens Appointed Minister To Hawai’I In 1869, Paul T. Burlin

Maine History

Paul T. Burlin is Professor of History at the University of New England. He is founding chair of the Department of History at the University where he also served as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Among his book publications is Imperial Maine and Hawai’i (Lexington 2006).

The American Dream, Equal Opportunity, And Obtaining The Vote, Benjamin Wyman

The Cohen Journal

The United States was founded on the principles of inalienable and natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Out of those ideals arose the ideas of an American Creed and American Dream, which have provided aspirations for millions of Americans to pursue their dreams, and, with hard work, the chance to improve their situation in life. The fundamental values of the new American Creed became “liberty, equality, individualism, populism, laissez-faire, and the rule of law under a constitution” (Jillson 2004, 4) while the idea of an American Dream which was first instilled upon the citizens of the …

Elijah Lovejoy’S Oration On The Fiftieth Anniversary Of American Independence: An Essay Discovered, William G. Chrystal

Maine History

On July 4, 1826, the American republic celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with great fanfare. In this research note, the author provides a transcript of an oration delivered in China, Maine on that day. The speaker was local schoolmaster Elijah P. Lovejoy, better known for his tragic death eleven years later. By then an abolitionist newspaper editor in Alton, Illinois, Lovejoy was killed in 1837 by a pro-slavery mob. Lovejoy’s 1826 oration, then, serves as both a compelling look at the celebration of America’s Jubilee in rural Maine and an early example of the ideological convictions which led Lovejoy to abolitionism. …

Humanizing The Humanities: A Historical, Cultural, And Philosophical Examination Of The Disintegration Of Humanities Higher Education, Nicholas Moore

Honors College

This essay is an examination of the multifaceted reasons humanities education in American colleges is losing standing and funding. Historical, cultural, and philosophical perspectives are used to analyze the grounds that have justified the decreasing levels of support for humanities education. Historically, there is no longer any external justification provided, as there was when Sputnik was launched and the Cold War was endured. Culturally, the high culture model of ascension through the accrual of cultural signifiers is no longer the dominant form of raising one’s status, as it was when the humanities could be justified as cultural initiation. Philosophically, market-based …

Partisan Gridlock In The Contiguous States: Credit Ratings, Economic Stability, And The Ramifications Of Political Competitiveness, Polarization, And Party Control In U.S. State Legislatures, 1992-2010, Logan Nee

Honors College

Today’s complex sociopolitical context features an increasing determent of fundamental bipartisan principles and negotiation at both the federal and state levels of government. A competitive political environment akin to post-Civil War times, amplified by growing partisan polarization and politicians’ quest for party allegiance and self-reward, pervasively discourages productive compromising efforts to work across the isle. We believe this hinders government’s sole and rather straightforward fiscal duty: to provide stable, healthy, and predictable economic conditions for its constituents. Credit ratings offer a window into the interaction of public policy, political uncertainty, and economic performance, which all lie at the nucleus of …

Contested Memory: John Badger Bachelder, The Maine Gettysburg Commission, And Hallowed Ground, Crompton Burton

Maine History

In the grim aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, John Badger Bachelder, a young artist from New Hampshire, arrived on the field with a master plan to become the preeminent historian of the battle. However, Bachelder quickly learned he could not monopolize the memorializing of those who gave all for the Union. For the next thirty-one years, his vision for remembrance would, by necessity, become a shared one with veterans who were emotionally invested in the preservation of the hallowed ground. The consequence of this collaboration was a uniquely American approach to commemoration in which individual states formed commissions to …

“We Respect The Flag But….”: Opposition To The Civil War In Down East Maine, Timothy F. Garrity

Maine History

Although Maine is commonly remembered as one of the states most supportive of the Union during the Civil War, many of its citizens were implacably opposed to the conflict, and they voiced their opposition loudly and persistently from the war’s beginning until its end. Others weighed in on the topic more quietly but just as forcefully when they refused to enlist and evaded conscription by any effective means. While many studies have explored the history of Copperheadism and associated the political movement with populations that were urban, immigrant, and Catholic, there has been almost no prior investigation of Down East …

The Transformative Power Of Work: The Early Life Of Senator Margaret Chase Smith, Jeannette W. Cockroft

Maine History

Contrary to the conventional narrative of Margaret Chase Smith’s life, her public career did not begin with her 1930 marriage to politician Clyde H. Smith. By the time of that marriage, she was already an experienced political leader and an accomplished professional. Her transformation from an uneducated, working-class girl to an ambitious, upwardly mobile, middle-class woman was the result of her employment at the local newspaper, the Somerset County Independent-Reporter, and her subsequent involvement in the Business and Professional Women’s Club. The author received her Ph.D. in history from Texas A&M University and is an associate professor of history …

Ambassador To Norway, Historian Of Bethel: The Career Of Margaret Joy Tibbetts, Andy Deroche

Maine History

Margaret Tibbetts grew up in Bethel, graduated from Gould Academy, and later earned a Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr. As a career Foreign Service officer, she served in Europe and Africa in a variety of positions until being named U.S. ambassador to Norway in 1964. Her work as one of the first female ambassadors set the stage for future women to play even bigger roles in U.S. foreign relations. The author grew up in Hanover, Maine, and attended Rumford High School. Majoring in history, he earned a B.A. from Princeton University, an M.A. from the University of Maine, and a Ph.D. …

Safe To Drive? Police Powers Of Search And Seizure In The Vehicular Context, Mark Rucci

Honors College

Since their creation, automobiles have become a central facet of the American culture and psyche. As status symbols and modes of transportation their importance cannot be overstated. Americans love their cars, and the average citizen believes that he or she has legitimate privacy interests in his or her vehicle. But is this the case? For decades, The Court has struggled to balance 4th Amendment privacy rights with effective police procedure, and has thus handed down dozens of rulings on the topic, many of which often seem disparate and contradictory. In the face of such confusion, the Court’s answer has almost …

“Maine And Her Soil, Or Blood!”: Political Rhetoric And Spatial Identity During The Aroostook War In Maine, Michael T. Perry

Maine History

The Aroostook War was a two-month standoff during the winter of 1839 between Maine and New Brunswick. Overlapping boundary claims had created a disputed territory rich in timber but lacking organization. Troops were mobilized, but war was averted when national leaders in Washington and London recoiled at the prospect of a third war between the two nations. The “war” has been dismissed by contemporary observers and historians alike because of the lack of shots fired. What has largely been overlooked, however, is the large body of political rhetoric churned out by Maine’s Democrats and Whigs during the dispute. In examining …

The Margaret Chase Smith Library: A Unique Collection Fostered By A History Of Collaboration, David Richards

Maine Policy Review

Maine is a small state with a long history of scarce resources, of “making do,” and of “helping your neighbor.” The state’s libraries are a prime example what can be achieved to maximize resources through partnerships and collaboration. David Richards discusses the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, Maine, which he terms “a unique collection fostered by a history of collaboration.” Richards describes the vital role collaborations with multiple kinds of partners have played in helping the library fulfill its four functions: archives, museum, education, and public policy.

William King, First Governor Of Maine: His Known Portraits And Their Stories, Deanna Bonner-Ganter

Maine History

This article studies the known studio portraits of William King (1768-1852), first governor of Maine, finding that the leader’s personal life and professional travels led to sittings with such noted master painters as Gilbert Stuart, Edward Greene Malbone, and Chester Harding. These living portraits reflect period styles, while later likenesses require a broad understanding of formal state portraiture and its historical elements. One portrait, having resurfaced recently, was found to have hung in the Hall of Flags in the State Capitol for almost thirty years; others required considerable research to determine their provenance. The Honorable James G. Blaine played an …

Research Note: Searching For Democracy In Colonial Southern Maine, William Robbins

Maine History

The following article was originally written as a seminar paper for James Henderson’s colonial history class during Robbins’s brief tenure as a graduate student at the University of Maine. The methodology used in this research was quite innovative when it was written in 1966, as the so-called new social history had only just emerged. This era marked an exciting time in the social sciences, with new methods that allowed the historian to approach history “from the bottom up.” Using census records, land records, tax lists, suffrage lists, and an array of other data, historians were able to uncover what life …

Fogler Library: William S. Cohen Lecture With Bob Woodward, William S. Cohen, Bob Woodward

UMaine Video

Video recording of the 2007 conversation between William S. Cohen and Bob Woodward about the Watergate Investigations. The Cohen Lecture Series began in 1997 with the deposit of 1300 boxes of Cohen's papers to Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections. The Cohen collection documents over 25 years of Mr. Cohen's service to Maine and the United States. The Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein Watergate Papers are held at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.