Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Lost Art Of Interdependency: United Nations Leadership In The Suez Crisis Of 1956 And Its Ramifications In World Affairs, Matthew Walker

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The following study examines the relationship between competing national interests and the implementation of multilateral diplomacy as characterized by the United Nations. Although primary attention focuses on the events Suez Crisis of 1956, the scope of work analyzes this dichotomy from the Suez Canal’s construction to the post-Suez era of the 1960s. Adopting a more comprehensive approach to understanding the crisis and its impact on international diplomacy provides adds a new and timely perspective to scope of the crisis and the complexities of conflict resolution.

In many respects, the diplomatic maneuvering of the nineteenth century remained a constant in diplomatic …

The People's Hour And The Social Gospel: George Howard Gibson's Gilded Age Search For An Organization Of The Kingdom Of God, Michelle D. Tiedje

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Previous studies of the Social Gospel movement have acknowledged the fact that Social Gospelers were involved in multiple social reform movements during the Gilded Age and into the Progressive Era. However, most of these studies have failed to explain how the reform experiences of the Social Gospelers contributed to the development of the Social Gospel. The Social Gospelers’ ideas regarding the need to transform society and their strategies for doing so were largely a result of their personal experiences as reformers and their collaboration with other reformers. The knowledge and insight gained from interaction with a variety of reform methods …

"If A Passage Could Be Found": The Power Of Myth (And Money) In North American Exploration, Brenden Rensink

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The popular lore of North American exploration and westward expansion has oft been woven with themes of heroic bravery, divine providence and Manifest Destiny. These tales indeed relate portions of actual history, but also offer insight into the self-perception and culture of the societies perpetuating them. As larger-than-life figures braved the "unknown" in the name of nation or creed, the motives behind their ventures often were not so singular. The ever-driving force of economic gain stood as a foundation for most expeditions. Simultaneously justifying the current expedition and providing support for future endeavors, explorers interested in self-preservation placed a premium …

"By Any Means Necessary": The Lincoln, Nebraska, Ywca Confronts Racism, 1970-1984, Brianna Jo Theobald

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis documents the struggle of the Lincoln, Nebraska Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) to implement a national organizational policy that mandated an aggressive stand toward the elimination of racism within the organization and the larger community. The study reveals the limitations of the colorblind discourse espoused by YWCA women in the early 1970s and examines some key changes that were made in the following decade that allowed the Lincoln organization to join cause with national movements in the fight to eliminate racism. Thus, the study offers an analysis of efforts to undertake antiracist action in a predominantly white environment. …

Conservative Radicals: The Einwohnerwehr, Bund Bayern Und Reich, And The Limits Of Paramilitary Politics In Bavaria, 1918-1928, Roy G. Koepp

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In the years after the First World War numerous paramilitary organizations were set up in Bavaria with the expressed purpose of preventing a communist revolution in the state. Encouraged by Germany’s and Bavaria’s Social Democratic leaders, military officers and men of means formed Freikorps units to overturn the Spartacist revolt in Berlin in January 1919 and the Räterepublik in Munich in April 1919. After the specter of revolution receded these groups did not disband but reorganized themselves as paramilitary leagues. In Bavaria the most significant of these early organizations was the Civil Defense Guards, or Einwohnerwehr, which was succeeded …

Native But Foreign: Indigenous Transnational Refugees And Immigrants In The U.S.-Canadian And U.S.-Mexican Borderlands, 1880-Present, Brenden Rensink

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Post-Columbian borderlands between competing Euro-American empires and North America’s indigenous populations were complex multi-national and international landscapes. Nineteenth and twentieth-century transnational indigenous migration across U.S-Canadian and U.S-Mexican borders provide important narratives for better understanding these contested regions. During these years, Canada, the United States and Mexico increasingly strove to use the borders as barriers to define what Native peoples fell within the confines of their jurisdiction or responsibility. Concurrently, some Native groups used the geopolitical implications of imposed Euro-American borders to escape persecution and seek better conditions in newly defined “foreign” lands. These transnational narratives resulted in unique Native North …

"The Coming Tide": Viewpoints On The Formation Of U.S. Federal Indian Termination Policy, 1945-1954, Samuel H. Herley

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Despite the painful legacy of post-World War II federal Indian policy, the issue of termination during the era had nuanced elements that meant different ideas to different groups and individuals. Especially during its formulation prior to its widespread implementation across the United States starting in 1953, there existed division and even confusion as to what termination entailed. Those charged with making difficult decisions on termination during the formative years of the policy also came from diverse backgrounds and held varying, even shifting, viewpoints on the issue. Individual perspectives on termination had much to do with not only race, class, and …

The Railroads Must Have Ties: A Legal History Of Forest Conservation And The Oregon & California Railroad Land Grant, 1887-1916, Sean M. Kammer

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Historians have! for the most part! left unchallenged a similar negative view of Edward H. Harriman, who headed both the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific and was perhaps the most powerful of the railroad tycoons during the first decade of the twentieth century.4 Prior to Harriman's takeover of the Southern Pacific in 1901, that railroad's long-standing policy had been to subdivide and sell lands to farmers, miners, and loggers, the purpose being lito encourage long-term settlement, economic growth, and rail traffic," but Harriman questioned and ultimately rejected this policy.s In January 1903, he ordered the termination of sales of …