Political History Commons^™

“No Baker’S Dozen Was Her Taste”: Rhode Island, Ratification, And Rhetoric In American Constitutional History, Lucy Morroni

American Studies Forum

In 1787, Rhode Island refused to send any delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, becoming the only state to do so. From its early colonial beginnings, Rhode Island's unique status gave its residents the opportunity to develop equally unique attitudes about the nature of government. These attitudes, however, also made the colony particularly susceptible to criticism from outside commentators. Over time, this criticism hardened Rhode Island's individualist, self-reliant determination to resist outside control, which ultimately resulted in the refusal to send delegates to the Convention and later continued refusal to ratify the Constitution until 1790. As Rhode Island's dissidence …

Madison’S Memorial And Remonstrance, Jefferson’S Statute For Religious Liberty, And The Creation Of The First Amendment, Mark Hall

Faculty Publications - Department of History and Politics

Jurists, scholars, and popular writers routinely assert that the men who framed and ratified the First Amendment were influenced by James Madison’s Memorial and Remonstrance (1785) and Thomas Jefferson’s Statute for Religious Liberty (1786). In this essay I demonstrate that there is little evidence to support these claims. Because these documents represent only one approach to church-state relations in the era, jurists and others who believe that the religion clauses should be interpreted in light of the founders’ views need to look well beyond these texts if they want to understand the First Amendment’s “generating history.”

"Heal Their Land": Evangelical Political Theology From The Great Awakening To The Moral Majority, Joseph D. Harder

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In the 1970s, a movement arose among white American evangelicals and fundamentalists that has been labeled variously as the “Christian Right,” or more broadly, “the Religious Right.” While they had not been entirely apolitical in the middle decades of the twentieth century, in the 1970s many theologically conservative Protestants began to organize specifically around their religious concerns, forming a number of groups—of which the Moral Majority was the best-known—in an effort to “bring the nation back to God.” They also moved to the political right, joining forces with “New Right” activists who were seeking to push the Republican Party in …

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 …

'An Explosive Of Quite Unimaginable Force': Did Werner Heisenberg Obstruct German Atomic Bomb Research?, Aaron G. Noll

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

Why was Nazi Germany unable to acquire an atomic bomb during World War II? An answer to this question necessarily involves an analysis of the wartime conduct of Werner Heisenberg. As the undisputed leader of German nuclear research, Heisenberg was integral to the successful production of a bomb. Heisenberg claimed after the war that the Nazis lacked the economic resources for this project. Moreover, Nazi military strategy ruled out such a sustained long-term commitment in armaments development. Heisenberg explained that he personally felt fortunate that these circumstances prevented Hitler from having a bomb. He argued that he merely “pretended” to …

American Indian Activism And The Rise Of Red Power, Rachael Guadagni

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

Recent historical scholarship has determined that the socio-political environment of post-World War II America provided the necessary catalyst for Native American activism which when combined with the socio-political atmosphere of the civil rights era lead to the development of the Red Power Movement. In the thirty or so years immediately following World War II America witnessed profound social and political change. Initial fear of communism lead to strict, pro-capitalist Indian legislation resulting in the termination of hundreds of tribes and the relocation of countless Indian people. From this same environment rose strong leaders, including many veterans, influenced by Cold War …

A Case Study Of Melita Maschmann: Women And The Third Reich, Lynda Maureen Willett

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

The case study of Melita Maschmann shows that despite the deep manipulation and gender discrimination she was subject to in her youth by National Socialism Maschmann made her own free choices as an adult and chose to zealously absorb its political ideology. The general assumption is that National Socialism, and fascism, were male dominated political ideologies in which women played a passive role, such as that professed by Gertrude Scholtz-Klink. However, many women found National Socialism appealing and became active supporters of its ideals. The purpose of this paper is to explore that appeal and analyze why certain women such …

Teaching Preeminence In Renaissance Florence: Leonardo Bruni’S Translation And Dedication Of Pseudo-Aristotle’S Economics, Jason F. Amato

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

Renaissance scholars consider Leonardo Bruni’s translation of the Pseudo-Aristotelian Economics, a work dedicated to Cosimo de’ Medici in 1420, the beginning of the Italian humanists’ interaction with newly readable Greek sources. The text was among the first Greek documents Westerners embraced and translated into Latin or the vernacular of the Quattrocento. Thus, it played a significant role in the revival of the ancient Greek language amongst humanists, which was largely lost since the fall of the Roman Empire. However, this paper argues that Bruni’s translation of the Pseudo-Aristotelian Economics also represents the utilization of an important Roman source: Seneca …

Introduction To Against Harmony: Radical Buddhism In Thought And Practice, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Zen And The Art Of Treason: Radical Buddhism In Meiji Era (1868–1912) Japan, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

In the early decades of the twentieth century, as Japanese society became engulfed in war and increasing nationalism, the majority of Buddhist leaders and institutions capitulated to the status quo. At the same time, there was a stream of ‘resistance’ among a few Buddhist figures, both priests and laity. These instances of progressive and ‘radical Buddhism’ had roots in late Edo-period peasant revolts, the lingering discourse of early Meiji period liberalism, trends within Buddhist reform and modernisation and the emergence in the first decade of the twentieth century of radical political thought, including various forms of socialism and anarchism. This …

When To “Open It” Only Meant Untying The Pyjama Strings: Partition And Narrativity Gone Astray, Sarbani Banerjee

Modern Languages and Literatures Annual Graduate Conference

My paper studies how brevity manifested itself through a complete breakdown of language system in reaction to the animosity circumscribing the Partition of India. I look into Sadaat Hasan Manto’s selected Urdu short stories to demonstrate how the pared off pattern of writing coupled with creation of specific information lapses helps to project hostility in its denuded form. The dark side of language emerges through minimum clarification, where the unedited picture of gruesome carnage becomes the lone guarantor of informal accounts, generating perspectives that had hitherto been rebuffed by the selective versions of mainstream history.

Through his economization of words, …

The Avenger - March 2014, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

The Avenger

No abstract provided.

Mana & Ea, Dan Taulapapa Mcmullin

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

This work, Mana and Ea, expresses Polynesian indigenous sovereignty struggles with colonialism and globalism in the Pacific Islands.

Eastern Orthodox Martyrs Of China: Accounts & Images (Boxer Uprising & Beyond), Anthony E. Clark

History Faculty Scholarship

Orthodox in China -- Whitworth University 2014

Westmoreland’S War: Reassessing American Strategy In Vietnam, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

An original and major reinterpretation of American strategy during the Vietnam War which totally reconsiders the generalship of William Westmoreland and offers a more balanced picture of the US Army in Vietnam. The book's thesis that US strategy was more than just 'attrition' confronts decades' worth of historical narratives which argue we lost in Vietnam due to bad leadership and an incorrect strategy

Dolmetscher, Spione Und Mörder: Südtiroler Im Sicherheitsdienst Des Reichsführers Ss In Italien 1943-45, Gerald Steinacher

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Bei Kriegsende 1945 blickte die Welt entsetzt auf das Ausmaß der NS-Verbrechen. Auf die Frage, wie konnte das geschehen und wer war verantwortlich für Völkermord und Krieg, verwies man meist auf eine kleine Clique (größen-) wahnsinniger Führer und ihre fanatische und mörderische SS-Gefolgschaft. Alle anderen - etwa die Angehörigen der Wehrmacht und der Waffen-SS - hatten mit den Verbrechen nichts zu tun, hieß es zumeist. Seit den 1990er Jahren hat sich diese Sichtweise in Deutschland und Österreich deutlich geändert. Das jahrzehntelange Schweigen der deutschen Gesellschaft während des Kalten Krieges bezüglich der NS-Täter wurde durchbrochen. Ausstellungen wie "Verbrechen der Wehrmacht" und …

Stalin's Russia: Visions Of Happiness, Omens Of Terror, Mark Konecny, Wendy Salmond

Art Faculty Creative Works – Exhibitions

"In 1970 an American high school teacher began a thirty-year journey into Stalin’s Russia. The items you see here were selected from more than 8,000 artifacts conserved on that journey.

Tom Ferris (the teacher) began collecting early, and he collected just about everything. But in 1970 Tom found a focus for his collecting and a new love and passion – Russia herself...

Tom’s dream was that his collection of Russian memorabilia be preserved, kept safe, and made available for study so people could understand how Stalin came to be; so Soviet history would be real, not abstract; so future generations …

What's The New Deal With Marshall? Depression Relief And Higher Education, Hubert Wesley Rolling

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Employing archival research, this study examines the history of the New Deal’s influence on higher education, focusing on Marshall University, at the time Marshall College, from approximately 1932-1940. First, it analyzes the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and National Youth Administration (NYA) student part-time employment program’s impact on the college. Second, it discusses the PWA’s (Public Works Administration) and WPA’s (Works Progress Administration) building programs’ and flood relief efforts’ effect on Marshall. Finally, this study explores the political implications of the New Deal with emphasis on state politics and financial problems and their relationship to Marshall. A study of Marshall …

Poland’S Place In The Soviet Bloc: Historical And Cultural Linkages, Political Transformation, And Everyday Economic Alternatives In Gdańsk And Wałbrzych, Stephen W. Mays

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The aim of this study is to arrive at a holistic understanding of Poland’s place in the Soviet Bloc, 1945 – 1989. Throughout, the study considers historical and cultural linkages between Poland and Russia, drawing parallels and contrasts which have shaped the destinies of both nations. It explains how Poland became part of the Soviet system, the successes and failures of the system, and how common people adapted to and eventually altered the system. Special emphasis is placed on the ‘lived experience’ of the last decade of socialism (1979 – 1989), including oral histories of subsistence economic strategies, black market …