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Full-Text Articles in History

Competing Visions: Political Constructions Of Memory After World War I, 1919-1936, Scott R. St. Louis Dec 2014

Competing Visions: Political Constructions Of Memory After World War I, 1919-1936, Scott R. St. Louis

Grand Valley Journal of History

This paper argues that officials at the Paris Peace Conference, in the White House, and in the U.S. Congress strove for the realization of competing visions for the international order following World War I, and thus were required to construct their own interpretations of how the conflict should be remembered and what must be learned from it. A pervasive sense of victors’ justice dominated the proceedings in Paris, leading to the creation of a settlement which would find lasting support from neither European nor American decision makers. The dubious postwar arrangements made at Versailles would contribute to the resurgence of …


Spartans In Vietnam: Michigan State University's Experience In South Vietnam, Jake T. Alster Oct 2014

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 …


Justice Not Long Delayed: Historical Perspective And The Twenty-First Century Fight For Gay Rights, Charles O. Boyd Sep 2014

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 Sep 2014

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 …


Consolidating Democracy Or Stopping At Polyarchy? An Evaluation Of The Chamorro Administration In Nicaragua (1990-1997), Roland D. Mckay Aug 2014

Consolidating Democracy Or Stopping At Polyarchy? An Evaluation Of The Chamorro Administration In Nicaragua (1990-1997), Roland D. Mckay

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

The period from 1990 to 1997, the tenure of the Chamorro administration, presents a salient and unique case study in Latin American ‘democratic consolidation’, although as we shall see, this concept is problematic when applied to Nicaragua. It is difficult to evaluate objectively the performance of the decade‐long tenure of the FSLN, since the government had civil war thrust upon it even as Sandinista tanks rolled into Managua’s Plaza Central in 1979. The process of democratic consolidation in Nicaragua began long before the 1990 election, however. The purpose of this paper, then, is to evaluate the Chamorro administration in terms …


Disraeli, Gladstone, And The Reform Act Of 1867, Justin Vossen Aug 2014

Disraeli, Gladstone, And The Reform Act Of 1867, Justin Vossen

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This research project investigated the rivalry between William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli, and how that rivalry resulted in the Reform Act of 1867. The competition between these two over expansion of the franchise led to a more radical reform than expected. Gladstone, a converted Liberal, encouraged moderate changes like a reduction in the householder qualification from ₤ten to ₤seven. Disraeli, a moderate Conservative, embraced more expansive reform for political advancement rather than as an extension of the suffrage. It was Disraeli’s hope that an enlarged electorate would vote Conservative as a reward for their new privilege. Although many historians give …


Popular Agitation And British Parliamentary Reform, 1866-1867, Michael D. Snell-Feikema Aug 2014

Popular Agitation And British Parliamentary Reform, 1866-1867, Michael D. Snell-Feikema

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This paper demonstrated that the force of public opinion as expressed by pro-reform agitations played a critical role in the attainment of working-class voting rights with the Reform Act of 1867. This Reform Act, which passed after more than a year of political disputes and public demands, gave most of the urban English working class the right to vote. In 1866 a modest reform bill sponsored by William Gladstone’s Liberal government had been defeated by a combination of Conservative and conservative Liberal opposition. After months of popular demonstrations, Benjamin Disraeli’s new Conservative government introduced another reform bill that initially was …


Nineteenth Century Views On Theater And Drama In English, Rebecca Unetic Aug 2014

Nineteenth Century Views On Theater And Drama In English, Rebecca Unetic

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

With the passing of the Licensing Act of 1737 and until its repeal in 1969 the Lord Chamberlain’s office has been legally able to censor any drama to be performed at established theatres in England. However, the 1737 Act left inconsistencies in the definition of censorship and the role of censor. People who were involved in theatre believed the Lord Chamberlain’s office gained too much power from the Act. In the nineteenth century, actors, playwrights and members of Parliament agitated for the reform of the 1737 Licensing Act, which led to the establishment of three special parliamentary committees in 1822-1823, …


Considering Democracy "An 'Unrealistic' Alternative": The Results Of The 1954 American Intervention In Guatemala, Mark Viskocil Aug 2014

Considering Democracy "An 'Unrealistic' Alternative": The Results Of The 1954 American Intervention In Guatemala, Mark Viskocil

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Guatemalan political elites have traditionally resorted to violence and repression in order to suppress social reform movements. In 1944, a group of middle-class reformers, including army captain Jacobo Arbenz, spearheaded a revolution that replaced dictator Jorge Ubico and began instituting genuine democratic reforms. The new civilian president, Juan Arevalo, sponsored new economic and political reforms intended to benefit the rural poor that constituted two-thirds of the Guatemalan population. Six years later, the revolution continued with the election of Arbenz, who promised to continue the efforts of his predecessor. However, U.S. officials, viewing developments in Guatemala through a Cold War prism, …


"They Are Just Like Us": The 1960 Winter Olympics And U.S.-Soviet Relations, Joe Schiller Aug 2014

"They Are Just Like Us": The 1960 Winter Olympics And U.S.-Soviet Relations, Joe Schiller

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

My research examined American attitudes towards the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc at the 1960, Squaw Valley Winter Olympics. This includes the press‟ prevailing attitude in its depictions of American and western European athletes, versus those of Eastern European athletes. Parallels between these and the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games are of especial import; a Cold War era Olympics, on American soil, pitting American capitalism against Soviet communism, where the underdog Americans score an ice hockey victory over the Soviets en route to a gold medal. In 1980 the ice hockey competition was highly politicized, and historians have devoted …


An Ordinary Congressman And An Extraordinary Scandal: Alex Mcmillan And Iran-Contra, Rob Matsick Aug 2014

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 …


Elijah Lovejoy’S Oration On The Fiftieth Anniversary Of American Independence: An Essay Discovered, William G. Chrystal Jul 2014

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. …


Mandala And Charisma: The Federalist Potentials In Traditional Indonesian Political Culture, Yuhao Wen Jun 2014

Mandala And Charisma: The Federalist Potentials In Traditional Indonesian Political Culture, Yuhao Wen

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

This research explores the federalist elements in the mandala (a graphic art pattern in Southeast Asia) and political charisma to discuss their constructive roles as traditional Indonesian political culture in federalizing Indonesia. Since August 17, 1945 when Sukarno declared the independence of the country in Jakarta, the newly–born Indonesia was also finalized as a centralized presidential republic. However, till today, societal diversities in Indonesian society are continuously increasing, the tendency of federalization, therefore, has never entirely faded away. Both the mandala and political charisma de facto have spontaneously generated their own initiatives for federalization since ancient times. Upon illustration of …


When Parties Swap Platforms: The Changing Racial Policies Of Democrats And Republicans, Charles O. Boyd May 2014

When Parties Swap Platforms: The Changing Racial Policies Of Democrats And Republicans, Charles O. Boyd

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

This article examines the shift in the Democratic and Republican parties with regard to the rights of African Americans. Debunking partisan distortions of history on both sides, "When Parties Swap Platforms" demonstrates that prior to the 1960s, the Republican Party was more supportive of African Americans' rights and that during the 1960s, the Democratic Party became the more supportive institution. Evidence is also provided showing that Hubert Humphrey played a much larger role in changing the Democratic Party's stance on civil rights than is commonly known.


Uncompromising Spirits: The Entwined Careers Of William Lloyd Garrison And Josephine Butler, Anne A. Salter, Charles O. Boyd May 2014

Uncompromising Spirits: The Entwined Careers Of William Lloyd Garrison And Josephine Butler, Anne A. Salter, Charles O. Boyd

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

William Lloyd Garrison and Josephine Butler challenged the political structures of their times. Both employed similar strategies to turn the mind set of American and British citizens. Garrison’s work as an American abolitionist inspired Butler and her work to repeal the Contagious Diseases Acts in Great Britain. Their life long commitment to liberty and justice was successful proving that one person can make a difference. Brief character sketches of each serve to revive interest in these important but somewhat neglected individuals.


Mana & Ea, Dan Taulapapa Mcmullin Feb 2014

Mana & Ea, Dan Taulapapa Mcmullin

The STEAM Journal

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


Contested Memory: John Badger Bachelder, The Maine Gettysburg Commission, And Hallowed Ground, Crompton Burton Jan 2014

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 Jan 2014

“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 …


Veblen On National Economic Development, Rebekkah Brainerd Jan 2014

Veblen On National Economic Development, Rebekkah Brainerd

Anthós

This inquiry seeks to establish that Thorstein Veblen introduces key ideas concerning national economic development in his book Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution. Using works by prominent scholars Alexander Gerschenkron and Gary Becker, this inquiry addresses the role of the state, human capital theory, and late industrialization theory. While specific ideas about the development of societies can be gleaned, ultimately it is about the individual factors of each society in how and why it develops as it does.


Américo Castro And His Idea Of Saint James: The Historiographical Legacy, Daniel Blanchard Jan 2014

Américo Castro And His Idea Of Saint James: The Historiographical Legacy, Daniel Blanchard

Anthós

This essay aims in essence to echo what the late great Hispanist Albert A. Sicroff suggested in an article published over forty years ago, in the winter preceding Américo Castro's death. Sicroff said of Castro, "Despite his critics, he has made formidable contributions toward understanding what went on within that Spanish morada vital to produce some of the most magnificent expressions of human existence the world has known." Indeed, Castro faced many critics as he flourished as one of the twentieth century's most prestigious scholars of Spanish history and culture. Yet his critics, as Sicroff has explained, often demonstrated a …


Veblen’S Vested Interest And Power, Bryan Gordon Jan 2014

Veblen’S Vested Interest And Power, Bryan Gordon

Anthós

With this inquiry I shall seek to establish that Thorstein Veblen advanced theories which related the vested interests with power. To accomplish this I shall first dissect the meanings behind Veblen’s definitions of "the vested interest", "intangible assets" and "free income." I then, using the previous analysis relate the state to vested interests and solidify their collective unity. After this connection I proceed onto analyzing the implications of the vested interest and how it relates to the common man. Power, normally analyzed within the context of political science is rarely spoken of within economics, this analysis strives to bring the …


Institutionalization In The Palestinian Refugee Camps Of Lebanon, Devon Woznack Jan 2014

Institutionalization In The Palestinian Refugee Camps Of Lebanon, Devon Woznack

Anthós

Immediately following the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, the majority of Palestinians were expelled from Israel. They fled and settled as refugees in camps throughout the Middle East, including several in Lebanon. This event came to be known to them as al-nakba, or the catastrophe. Since then, many changes in leadership have plagued the Lebanese camps, each further institutionalizing the camps and services. These changes, combined with dwindling resources and discrimination by the Lebanese government, have created a hostile environment for the refugees. This institutionalization can be seen in several ways: via the establishment of aid organizations to control, monitor …


James I And British Identity: The Development Of A British Identity From 1542-1689, Zachary A. Bates Jan 2014

James I And British Identity: The Development Of A British Identity From 1542-1689, Zachary A. Bates

DISCOVERY: Georgia State Honors College Undergraduate Research Journal

The development of a British identity was an ongoing process during the seventeenth century. In this paper, I argue that the ascension of James to the English throne in 1603 would be integral to the establishing of a British identity in both England and Scotland. James, from 1604 to 1607, tried to create a political union between the two kingdoms but would ultimately fail due to English concerns (primarily in Parliament) about the "imperfect union" and the absence of any tradition to sustain a new kingdom. James would continue to style himself "King of Great Britain," a styling he established …


Atatürk's Balancing Act: The Role Of Secularism In Turkey, Patrick G. Rear Jan 2014

Atatürk's Balancing Act: The Role Of Secularism In Turkey, Patrick G. Rear

Global Tides

The intersection of religion and politics in the form of a civil religion has been present since time immemorial. This paper looks specifically to the relationship between Turkey’s development of a secular civil religion after gaining independence and the advancing of women’s rights and democratic values. In examining the intersections of state and religion in a secular Islamic society, it draws parallels to the French civil religion as it came to be following the French Revolution. Though Atatürk and other secularists were strong forces in developing the civil religion, the paper also examines liberal democratic and conservative Islamic groups in …