History Commons^™

The Ladle And The Knife: Power Projection And Force Deployment Under Reagan, Mathew Kawecki

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

This thesis examines the nature and impact of the Reagan administration’s self-described projection of “peace through strength.” It argues that Reagan’s defense spending surge, “Star Wars” (SDI) missile shield policy, and 1983 invasion of Grenada gave the president confidence and political cover that allowed him to withdraw U.S. Marines from Beirut in early 1984. Analysts and commentators focus on his muscular power projection like defense spending, SDI, and the invasion of Grenada, but in practice Reagan exercised a high level of restraint in troop deployment. These projections of power and the avoidance of protracted war in Lebanon gave Reagan further …

Review Of Religion As Resistance: Negotiating Authority In Italian Libya, Shira Klein

History Faculty Articles and Research

A review of Eileen Ryan's Religion as Resistance: Negotiating Authority in Italian Libya.

Stop Talking About Sorrow: Nixon’S Communications Strategy After Lam Son 719, Dominic K. So

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

March 1971 was tough for President Richard Nixon. The American people were tired of the Vietnam War, with many still recovering from the violent anti-war protests of 1970. Congress had just passed an amendment prohibiting U.S. ground troops from operating outside of the borders of South Vietnam. Both the public and secret negotiations with Hanoi were stalled. Confidential channels with Beijing and Moscow about diplomatic initiatives had gone cold. Moreover, Lam Son 719, the joint U.S. and South Vietnamese incursion into Laos that began in February, was turning out to be a failure. The operation, Nixon’s military gamble to prove …

Chapman's Berlin Wall As A Display Of Tribal Victory, Cameron Steiner

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

From early contact between hunter-gatherer tribes, through the Middle Ages and to even modern times, societies in conflict would frequently engage in the intimidation tactic of severing the heads of their rivals and placing them upon spikes or poles. More than a means to warn away those who came upon it, these displays would exhibit the power and superiority of one tribe over the other. While the most explicit forms of this custom are no longer in widespread use, their gestures of dominance continue to be practiced in objects and figures that are given symbolic significance, typically representing the victory …

Democracy Unchained: Contractualism, Individualism, And Independence In Buchanan’S Democratic Theory, John Thrasher

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

Contrary to the claims of some of his critics, James Buchanan was an ardent democrat. I argue that Buchanan’s conception of democratic governance organized by a contractually justified constitution is highly distinctive because of his commitment to a strong conception of individualism. For Buchanan, democracy is neither justified instrumentally—by the goods it generates—nor by reference to some antecedent conception of justice. Instead, democracy is the only political option for a society that takes individualism seriously. One implication of this view is that democracies can only be limited by the rules they collectively give themselves in the form of constitutions. I …

Review Of The Promise And Peril Of Credit: What A Forgotten Legend About Jews And Finance Tells Us About The Making Of European Commercial Society, Jared Rubin

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

A review of The Promise and Peril of Credit: What a Forgotten Legend about Jews and Finance Tells Us about the Making of European Commercial Society, by Francesca Trivellato, published by Princeton University Press.

Planning For A War In Paradise: The 1966 Honolulu Conference And The Shape Of The Vietnam War, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Articles and Research

This article explores the impact of one of the key non-military events in the U.S. war in Vietnam, at least in the crucial years from 1964 to 1968. During a two-day U.S.–South Vietnamese conference held in Honolulu in early 1966, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk laid out a series of overarching strategic objectives, both military and political, that shaped the allied war effort through the 1968 Tet offensive, and even beyond. The goals outlined at the summit remained the touchstone of U.S. military strategy until they were superseded in 1969 by a policy …

Media Discourses That Normalize Colonial Relations: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of (Im)Migrants And Refugees, Meng Zhao, Jorge Rodriguez, Lilia D. Monzó

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The im(migration) and refugee crisis that are being exacerbated under the Trump administration, is a manifestation of empire-building and the long history of colonization of the Global South. A Marxist-humanist perspective recognizes these as consistent aspects of a clearly racist global capitalism that functions in the interest of multibillion dollar U.S.–based corporations and increasingly transnational corporations. Trade agreements, international economic policy, political intervention, invasion or the threat of these, often secure corporate interests in specific countries and regions. The authors use critical discourse analysis to examine the discourses around Mexican, Central American, and Syrian im(migrants) and refugees as examples of …

"May Justice Be Done!" The Soviet Union And The London Conference (1945), Irina Schulmeister-André, David M. Crowe

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"The London Conference, which ended on August 8, 1945, with the signing of the London Four-Power Agreement¹ with annexed statute, was a crucial step in the planning of the Nuremberg IMT trial of major German war criminals. The joint development of the statute is regarded as an important example historically of the cooperation of the Allied Powers, who, despite their different legal traditions, found ways to reach a consensus acceptable as the legal basis for their common goal: to carry out a trial of the major war criminals. This was particularly remarkable, given that they had to negotiate the …

Introduction To Stalin's Soviet Justice: "Show" Trials, War Crimes Trials, And Nuremberg, David M. Crowe

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"Once Stalin won his power struggle against his principal rival, Leon Trotsky, he adopted new campaigns to collectivize Russian agriculture and dramatically increase industrial production. He decided in the late 1920s to use "show" trials as one of the ways to respond to growing domestic opposition to both programs. The 'show' trials, extralegal proceedings that bore modest resemblance to more traditional Western-style trials, were carefully orchestrated to convince the public of the dire nature of such threats. Thematically, Stalin used them to highlight his fears about an ongoing threat of domestic and international forces determined to destroy the Soviet state. …

Late Imperial And Soviet "Show" Trials, 1878-1938, David M. Crowe

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"According to Cassidy, the imperial 'show' trials, which began in the 1870s, were a series of 'highly publicized public spectacles that spread the ideas of Russian radicalism even as they condemned the radicals themselves to imprisonment, exile, hard labor, civil death, or execution.'⁴ They also became a source of 'popular entertainment' that drew large audiences and helped, according Elizabeth A. Wood, create a link in the public imagination between 'revolution and trials.' Georgii Plekhanov, one of Russia's foremost Marxists, saw the 'revolutionary trials in the 1870s and 1880s' as 'the greatest historical drama which is called the trial of …

Review Of Levis Sullam, Simon, The Italian Executioners: The Genocide Of The Jews Of Italy, Shira Klein

History Faculty Articles and Research

A book review of Simon Levis Sullam's The Italian Executioners: The Genocide of the Jews of Italy.

Keith Haring: Silence = Death, Nellie Jalalian

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The American aids crisis is one of the most important epidemics of the contemporary world, yet many americans do not know the severity of the crisis or the true lasting effects on recent society. In my project I will go over personal accounts of individuals directly affected by the illness, like famed artist Keith Haring, to give it a more human perspective. I will also reflect on the art that was created at the time, and how that was reflective on the people affected. Aids is an immunodeficiency virus that has been proven difficult to diagnose in the early on …

Review Of The Revolution Of '28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, And The Coming Of The New Deal, Robert A. Slayton

History Faculty Articles and Research

A review of Robert Chiles' The Revolution of '28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, and the Coming of the New Deal.

A Roundtable On Robert K. Brigham, Reckless: Henry Kissinger’S Responsibility For The Tragedy In Vietnam, Amanda Demmer, Richard A. Moss, Scott Laderman, Luke A. Nichter, David F. Schmitz, Robert K. Brigham

Presidential Studies Faculty Articles and Research

A set of reviews of Robert K. Brigham's Reckless: Henry Kissinger and the Tragedy of Vietnam, with a response from the author.

1st Place Contest Entry: Countering The Current: The Function Of Cinematic Waves In Communist Vs. Capitalist Societies, Maddie Gwinn

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Maddie Gwinn's submission for the 2019 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won first place. It contains her essay on using library resources, a three-page sample of her research project on how the Czech New Wave and New Hollywood cinema are defined by their agency in preserving and prescribing cultural meaning across their societies while being bound to their economic systems, and her works cited list.

Maddie is a senior at Chapman University, majoring in Film Production. Her faculty mentor is Dr. Carmichael Peters.

3rd Place Contest Entry: Aesthetic Activism: Protest Art In The Delano Grape Strike, Felicia Viano

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Felicia Viano's submission for the 2019 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won third place. It contains her essay on using library resources, a three-page sample of her research project on the use of art as a social movement tactic by the United Farm Workers during the Delano Grape Strike, and her works cited list.

Felicia is a senior at Chapman University, majoring in History and Peace Studies. Her faculty mentor is Dr. Robert Slayton.

H-Diplo Roundtable Xx-20 On Matthew J. Ambrose. The Control Agenda: A History Of The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, Scott Kaufman, Ronald J. Granieri, John Maurer, Luke A. Nichter, David Tal, Matthew Ambrose

Presidential Studies Faculty Articles and Research

A set of reviews of Matthew J. Ambrose's The Control Agenda: A History of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, with a response from the author.

Spanish California Missions: An Economic Success, Lynne Doti

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

Starting in 1769, the Spanish established missions in Alta California. A small band of soldiers, Franciscan priests and volunteers walked from Baja California to San Francisco Bay through semi-arid, scarcely populated land stopping occasionally to establish a location for a religious community. Usually two priests, a few soldiers and a few Indians from Baja California settled at the spot. Their only resources for starting an economy were themselves, a few animals and a nearby source of water. They attracted the local Indians to join the community and perform the work necessary to create a strong economy. After only a few …