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 …

Foreword To Relativizing Newton, Vernon L. Smith

Economics Faculty Books and Book Chapters

A foreword to Ramzi Suleiman's book Relativizing Newton.

Bibliography For Hispanic Heritage Month, Hakeem Wakil

Library Displays and Bibliographies

An informative display recognizing Hispanic & Latino Culture, History, & Heritage in the Leatherby Libraries at Chapman University.

Viktor Vasnetsov’S New Icons: From Abramtsevo To The Paris “Exposition Universelle” Of 1900, Wendy Salmond

Art Faculty Articles and Research

This essay examines Russian artist Viktor Vasnetsov’s search for a new kind of prayer icon in the closing decades of the nineteenth century: a hybrid of icon and painting that would reconcile Russia’s historic contradictions and launch a renaissance of national culture and faith. Beginning with his icons for the Church of the “Savior Not Made by Hands” at Abramtsevo in 1880–81, for two decades Vasnetsov was hailed as an innovator, the four icons he sent to the Paris “Exposition Universelle” of 1900 marking the culmination of his vision. After 1900, his religious painting polarized elite Russian society and was …

Review Of The Third Disestablishment: Church, State, And American Culture, 1940-1975. By Steven K. Green, John W. Compton

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

A book review of Steven K. Green's The Third Disestablishment: Church, State, and American Culture, 1940-1975.

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 …

List Of Editors

Voces Novae

No abstract provided.

Author Biographies

Voces Novae

No abstract provided.

Engineering Mankind: The Sociopolitical Impact Of Eugenics In America, Megan Lee

Voces Novae

During the early twentieth century, the American eugenics movement prospered, spreading its influence within the sociopolitical framework of the United States. The notion of eugenics – the control of human breeding to increase desirable traits, was extensively propagated through the creation of sterilization laws and public programs. Eventually, the public came to view eugenics as a necessity in order to preserve and improve the quality of mankind for the future.

The Rise And Fall Of The Ku Klux Klan In Oregon During The 1920s, Ben Bruce

Voces Novae

At the turn of the twentieth century the Ku Klux Klan experienced a major revival in the United States. By the early 1920s, nationwide membership reached over two million. As it grew, the Klan sought new territory in the West to expand into. Being over ninety-five percent white, eighty-five percent native-born and mostly Protestant, the Oregon population was a perfect target for the Klan. Oregon soon became home to one of the country’s largest KKK organizations with over 30,000 sworn members in fifty separate chapters across the state. The Klan in Oregon also printed its own newspaper and had a …

The Anatomy Of Patriotism: The Commodification Of American Gender Roles And The Female Body In World War Ii Print Media, Adison Beals

Voces Novae

During World War II, the United States turned to the female gender roles that underpinned American society and commodified them in print media to sell the war effort and female participation in it, resulting in the appearance of hands, lips, and legs in propaganda, makeup advertisements, and pinup images. This phenomenon reflects how physical presentation indicates social anxieties and American constructions of gender, as well as how the female body is imbued with cultural symbolism.

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 …

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.

Translation Of "Three Jewish Men Are Accused Of Sodomy (Rome, 1624)", Shira Klein

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

A translation of "Three Jewish Men Are Accused of Sodomy (Rome, 1624)", testimony of captain Jacobus Spellatus. Dr. Klein is responsible for the translation, but did not author the editor's note at the top of the first page.

Volunteer Women: Militarized Femininity In The 1916 Easter Rising, Sasha Conaway

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

Women were an integral part to the Easter Rising, yet until recently, their contributions have been forgotten. Those who have been remembered are often women who bucked conservative Irish society’s notions of femininity and chose to actively participate in combat, which has led to a skewed narrative that favors their contributions over the contributions of other women. Historians and scholars favor these narratives because they are empowering and act as clear foils to the heroic narratives of the male leaders in the Easter Rising. In reality, however, most of the women who joined Cumann na mBan or worked for the …

Ike's Last War: Making War Safe For Society, Jesse A. Faugstad

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

This thesis analyzes how Eisenhower defined war and its utility in his New Look defense policy and the ramifications for America’s interactions with the world through its foreign policy. It argues that Eisenhower redefined the relationship between war and society as he executed his grand strategy, further removing society from the decision for war. To avoid what he believed to be the inevitable global destruction of a general war turned nuclear, Eisenhower broadened the scope of ‘war” to balance domestic opinion for containing communism while also avoiding the devastating consequences of war in American society. By authorizing coups in Iran …

Denied To Serve: Gay Men And Women In The American Military And National Security In World War Ii And The Early Cold War, Gianni Barbera

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

Gay men and women have existed in the United States and in the armed forces much longer than legally and socially permitted. By World War II, a cultural shift began within the gay communities of the United States as thousands of gay men and women enlisted in the armed forces. Military policies barred gay service members by reinforcing stereotypes that gay men threatened the wellbeing of other soldiers. Such policies fostered the idea that only particular kinds of men could adequately serve. There were two opposing outcomes for the service of returning gay and lesbian veterans. For many hiding their …

In The Shadow Of Shuri Castle: The Battle Of Okinawa In Memory, Blake Altenberg

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

The memory of the battle of Okinawa was shaped by politics. The memory of the battle for Okinawans emphasizes war crimes committed against them and the devastating impact that was inflicted upon their peaceful island. Their emphasis on sole victimization led to other Okinawan narratives being either downplayed or outright denied. To remove American bases off their island, gain recognition for Japanese atrocities plus reparations, the Okinawans portrayed themselves as a peaceful people that were the sole victims of the battle of Okinawa. The United States glossed over the crimes committed by the Japanese on Okinawa and Asia to use …

Diversity And Democracy At War: Analyzing Race And Ethnicity In Squad Films From 1940-1960, Lara K. Jacobson

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

Both the Second World War and the Korean War presented Hollywood with the opportunity to produce combat films that roused patriotic spirit amongst the American people. The obvious choice was to continue making the popular squad films that portrayed a group of soldiers working together to overcome a common challenge posed by the war. However, in the wake of various racial and ethnic tensions consistently unfolding in the United States from 1940 to 1960, it became apparent to Hollywood that the nation needed pictures of unity more than ever, especially if America was going to win its wars. Using combat …

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 …

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.

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.

Bibliography For Women’S History Month, Hakeem Wakil

Library Displays and Bibliographies

A bibliography created to accompany a display in honor of Women's History Month at the Leatherby Libraries at Chapman University.