Political History Commons^™

America's First Secession: The Lost State Of Franklin Fell Just Short Of Admission To The Young Union, Kevin T. Barksdale

History Faculty Research

On Dec. 14, 1784, a small assemblage of Tennessee Valley leading men met at a rustic courthouse in Jonesboro, N.C. under a darkening cloud of political uncertainty, 28 western political and economic leaders voted overwhelmingly to declare their communities' independence from their parent state of North Carolina and to form America's 14th state- Franklin.

A.L. Burruss: The Life Of A Georgia Politician And A Man To Trust, Margaret Walters

KSU Press Legacy Project

A. L. Burruss was an extraordinary, compassionate, self-effacing, and personable man. He was the eldest of eleven children and son of a painter and carpenter whose family moved to Smyrna, Georgia in the 1930s. After high school, the Navy trained him as a refrigeration machinist and the imaginative and hard-working Burruss used his skills to start a refrigeration business. Eventually Burruss bought out one of his clients-a partner with Tim Top Poultry in Marietta, Georgia-and helped the company to become immensely successful. Despite his prosperity, Burruss ran for political office as "a way to help others" and achieved political prominence …

La Follette’S Autobiography: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, And The Glorious, Nancy Unger

History

La Follette's Autobiography: A Personal Narrative of Political Experiences is a remarkable primary document of the Progressive Era. Originally published in 1913, it remains in print today and has the dubious honor of being one of Richard Nixon's three favorite books. It illuminates the crucial role that La Follette's home state of Wisconsin played in molding La Follette as a man and as a politician, thereby influencing his national progressive agenda; but it also reveals much more.

Tracking The Language Of Time And Space, 1945-2008, Roderick P. Hart, Elvin T. Lim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article explores how contemporary historians can avail themselves of quantitative approaches to examine how elusive concepts like ‘time’ and ‘space’ have been used in the public domain. By making use of specifically designed programs, historians can use digital tools to harness an unprecedented mass of information. This is a particularly important methodological innovation at a time of rapidly expanding data: news, speeches, and commentary are available first electronically, and they are available on countless sites in an unprecedented array of formats. Mastering these sources digitally is not only imperative for the contemporary historian; it also provides essential source material …

“We Will Hold Our Land:” The Cherokee People In Postrevolutionary North America, 1781-1792, Kevin T. Barksdale

History Faculty Research

In June of 1783, Spain’s newly-appointed Governor of Louisiana Estevan Miro convened a conference of southeastern Indians in Pensacola with representatives from the dominant regional Amerindian groups, including the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creeks in attendance. Among the attendees at the West Florida congress was a small contingent of Chickamauga Cherokee, led by their principal chief Dragging Canoe. During the parlay, Governor Miro implored the Indians to “not be afraid of the Americans,” promised to provide guns and ammunition in their ongoing efforts to prevent the further loss of their lands, and urged them to “continue to fight against American” westerners.

The Collapse Of Yugoslavia And The Bosnian War: The Impact Of International Intervention In A Regional Conflict, Jeffrey Scott Passage

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the role of international intervention in the area formerly known as Yugoslavia during its collapse in the first half of the 1990s (1991-1995). The Cold War had just ended, and the United Nations (UN), NATO, and the nations they represented were reevaluating their roles in a world without competition between two superpowers. The collapse of Yugoslavia and ensuing civil war presented these international bodies with an opportunity to intervene and show that they were ready to take charge in future conflicts in pursuing and achieving peace. However, what followed revealed them to be short-sighted and ill-prepared for …

A Position Of Strength: Arms Dealing As Diplomacy Under The Reagan Administration, William D. Watson

Masters Theses

My thesis is an examination of the Cold War during the 1980s, with a focus on arms dealing and diplomacy under President Ronald Reagan from 1981-1989. I chose to write about three specific case studies based on the unique intersections of American diplomatic goals in relation to geography, the sophistication of weapons technology involved, and geopolitical considerations. The purpose of this thesis is to explain why and how the Reagan administration was able to carry out three separate arms deals, and in turn, how those deals fit into the broader, global Cold War between the United States and the Soviet …

No Sure Victory: Measuring U.S. Army Effectiveness And Progress In The Vietnam War, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Conventional wisdom holds that the US Army in Vietnam, thrust into an unconventional war where occupying terrain was a meaningless measure of success, depended on body counts as its sole measure of military progress. In No Sure Victory, Army officer and historian Gregory Daddis looks far deeper into the Army's techniques for measuring military success and presents a much more complicated-and disturbing-account of the American misadventure in Indochina.

Hechiceras E Inquisidores: The Relative Lack Of Severity Of Witchcraft Prosecution Among Spanish Imperial Territories, Jeffrey Michael Mastrianni

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper examines the social, cultural, political, and judiciary motivations behind the prosecution of witchcraft in the Spanish Empire between the years of 1492 and 1643. Included as background material are introductions to witchcraft, the history of the Empire, and the behaviors of the Spanish Inquisition. The paper attempts to illustrate the fact that witchcraft prosecution was neither severe nor overly violent in the Empire, and that each of the four major regions of the Empire (Spain proper, the Netherlands, Italy, and the Viceroyalty of Mexico) witnessed a steady and early decline of witchcraft prosecutions, albeit for different reasons. It …

The Crucible Of Texas Politics: An Analysis Of The United States Senatorial Primaries Of 1941 And 1948., Ginger Mcgoldrick Spradlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lyndon Johnson's opponents used the outcome of his 1948 senatorial bid to demonstrate his dishonesty. This win by eighty-seven disputed votes gave him the derogatory title, "Landslide Lyndon." Johnson's initial senate campaigns in 1941 and 1948 are examined for Texas Politics as usual.

Upon Senator Sheppard's death in 1937, a special election precipitated with Martin Dies, Gerald Mann, Lyndon Johnson, and W. Lee O'Daniel as the candidates. Although this election has not received the notoriety of 1948, it exemplifies Texas Politics as usual where thousands of manipulated votes resulted in O'Daniel's late victory.

Johnson's next race for the senate came …

The Nationalism Of Joachim Meyer: An Analysis Of German Pride In His Fighting Manual Of 1570., William Charles Adamson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work addresses the nationalistic elements in the 1570 work Kunst des Fechtens by Joachim Meyer of Strassburg. Meyer's teachings on the longsword are attached to the Swabian Johannes Liechtenauer and then transferred to the Italian rapier thus establishing Meyer as less concerned with nationalist purity as others of his century. His teachings are examined for their pleadings for moral conduct and the preservation of martial studies to the youth of Germany and the young Duke of Bavaria, Johann Casimir. Using modern examples alongside Meyer's writings the case is also made for the integration of nationalist sentiments, moral and ethical …

Federalists Vs. Republicans: The Nature Of Man In A Republic 1787-1800, Benjamin J. Barlowe

Senior Honors Theses

During the early years of the American Republic known as the Federalist Era (1787-1800), a conflict arose which led to America’s first formal political parties and the formation of the two-party system. The parties’ disagreements, characterized most succinctly by the exchanges between the two party leaders, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, involved some of the most basic ideology of the American experiment. The conflicts of the Jeffersonian Republicans and the Hamiltonian Federalists set the precedent of the nature of the political atmosphere of the United States to this day.

This thesis examines the basic viewpoint of the two parties in …

The Responsibility Of Intellectuals: Chomsky And Student Opposition To The Vietnam War, Matthew S. Krane

Young Historians Conference

The paper offers a critical perspective on the relevance of noted public intellectual Noam Chomsky’s work to American opposition to the Vietnam War. It gives a brief background of the war and United States policies in order to set the stage for an analysis of Chomsky’s critique. Then, the paper situates Chomsky’s main work of dissent, The Responsibility of Intellectuals, in the proper chronological and historical context. Two paradigms of protest by intellectuals and students are noted: logical and reactionary. In Vietnam, it is argued that the former was rooted in the latter, which no intellectual justification touched; therefore, while …

Book Reviews, Dick Jonsson, Bizeck Jube Phiri, Gear M. Kajoba, Obrian Ndhlovu

Zambia Social Science Journal

Reviews of:

Why Africa is Poor – and what Africans can do about it. By Greg Mills;

Living the End of Empire: Politics and Society in Late Colonial Zambia. Edited by Jan-Bart Gewald, Marja Hinfelaar and Giacomo Macola;

Left Behind: Rural Zambia in the Third Republic. By Jeremy Gould;

Gender Budgeting as a Tool for Poverty Reduction. By The African Capacity Building Foundation. African Capacity Building Foundation

Race And Justice In Mississippi's Central Piney Woods, 1940-2010, Patricia Michelle Buzard-Boyett

Dissertations

“Race and Justice in Mississippi’s Central Piney Woods, 1940-2010,” examines the black freedom struggle in Jones and Forrest counties. The writer concludes that more than any other region of Mississippi, the Central Piney Woods became the pivotal theater in the war for racial justice because the intensity of its racial oppression combined with its unparalleled suffrage campaign, and watershed street protests forced a federal alliance, instigated landmark court rulings, and generated black political victories that lay the foundations for a more equitable racial order. To obtain a broader perspective on the forces that transformed racial justice over time, this community …

Development For The Past, Present, And Future: Defining And Measuring Sustainable Development, Max Cantor

Senior Honors Projects

In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which defined sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this definition provides a relatively stable theoretical base from which development economists and political scientists can begin to tackle issues surrounding sustainable development, the inherently amorphous nature of this definition has also created a fair amount of ambiguity in both the economic literature surrounding sustainable development and the subsequent attempts by economists to measure it.

Historically, those interested in the science of development have typically …

"The Africans Have Taken Arkansas": Political Activities Of African-American Members Of The Arkansas Legislature, 1868-73, Christopher Warren Branam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African-American lawmakers in the Arkansas General Assembly during Radical Reconstruction became politically active at a time when the legislature was addressing the most basic issues of public life, such as creating the infrastructure of public education and transportation in the state. They were actively engaged in the work of the legislature. Between 1868 and 1873, they introduced bills that eventually became laws. Arkansas passed two civil rights laws at the behest of African-American lawmakers. Education, law and order, and economic development--issues that reflected the southern Republican agenda that dominated the state's politics between 1868 and Democratic Redemption in 1874--also drew …

1983: The Most Dangerous Year, Andrew R. Garland

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A series of otherwise unrelated events culminated to make 1983 the most dangerous year the world has ever known, with the United States and the Soviet Union even closer to war than during the much more well-known events of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The crisis of 1983 arose from a sequence of accidents, misunderstandings, and mistakes. From highly publicized events such as President Ronald Reagan‘s application of morality to foreign policy to the Soviet Union‘s attempt to discover NATO‘s secret attack plans, an extraordinary confluence of events brought the two superpowers closer to nuclear exchange than is commonly believed. …

“Change” In The 2008 Presidential Campaign: A Study In Rhetorical Definition, Graciela Saez Kleriga

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Every election cycle, the major party candidates accept a nomination for the presidency and launch the general campaign. These rhetors not only weave a narrative about themselves as qualified candidates; they also forward an argument about how the public should choose between two candidates. In particular, the 2008 presidential campaign's central question asked Americans about the type of change the nation should undertake. By tracing the definitional arguments utilized at the outset of the general election, this project analyzes how Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain utilized this desire for "Change" as a strategic theme.

Political History After The Cultural Turn., Steven Pincus, William J. Novak

Articles

Traditional political history is dead and is still dying. Over two decades ago, Lynn Hunt observed, "Social history has ovenaken political history as the most important area of research in history." The proponents of the new social history called for a broader, bottom-up, and more sociological account of the past. These scholars turned to historical sociology, social theory, as well as new empirical, socialscience methodologies in creating a fresh approach to history. More recently, of course, cultural history has ovenaken social history as the historical subdiscipline in which most doctoral research is conducted. While literary theory has played an important …

The Economics Of The Atomic Bomb: Cost And Utilization, Jonathan M. Davis Mr.

Senior Honors Theses

Few moments in human history can be compared to the culmination of events that brought the atomic bomb into creation.  It is incredible to contemplate that while a nation was fighting a two front war that spanned from Europe into the Pacific, that the United States was able to utilize the time, energy, brains, materials, manpower, and capital to complete a project in four years. That under any other circumstances would have taken greater than half a century to complete.

First, this thesis will discuss breakthroughs in research that led scientists to believe that the atomic weapons could be built, …

South Kingstown’S Own: A Biographical Sketch Of Isaac Peace Rodman Brigadier General, Robert E. Gough

Special Collections (Miscellaneous)

No abstract provided.

Walking The Tightrope: The United States’ Policy In Vietnam, 1952-1954, Erin Flynn

Annual Celebration of Student Scholarship and Creativity

This thesis demonstrates how the Truman and Eisenhower administrations sought to avoid direct intervention in Indochina and halt the spread of communism at the same time. This purpose is achieved through careful analysis of primary and secondary sources, with a particular focus on the primary documentation found in Foreign Relations of the United States: 1952-1954. Through examination of these day-by-day recordings and memos, the futility of pursuing the two conflicting aims becomes clear.

Review Of A Question Of Command: Counterinsurgency From The Civil War To Iraq, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Articles and Research

A review of A Question of Command: Counterinsurgency from the Civil War to Iraq, by Mark Moyar.

The West's Feet Of Clay: Transmuting The Pillars Of Liberty From Gold Into Dross, Jin Seock Shin

Senior Honors Theses

This study seeks to support the centrality of the Judeo-Christian heritage to the growth and sustenance of liberty, a form of individualism limited by moral values. The pillars of liberty—self-government, private property, representative government, and limited government—reflect the structural contributions made by the Judeo-Christian heritage. Unfortunately, much of Western civilization suffers from a spiritual crisis, which has introduced and exacerbated fractures in the pillars. Pitirim Sorokin’s social and cultural analysis of Western civilization provides a framework to better understand the fractures evident in the history of liberty in Europe and America, and developed in each pillar of liberty—fractures that reaffirm …

Migration, Community, And Stereotype: Shaping Racial Space In The Twentieth-Century Urban West, Stefani Evans

Psi Sigma Siren

African Americans who migrated to western cities in the twentieth century encountered a polyglot mix of Euro Americans, Asians, Latinos, and Native Americans. Diverse western populations dictated that western racial contests over space and power would evolve differently from those in the North or the South. This paper examines the discourse on white, Latino and African American racial landscapes in western cities through themes of migration, community formation, and white stereotypes and community responses to those stereotypes in seven key monographs and two articles published between 1993 and 2005.

Price Ceilings And Rationing: The Base Ingredients Of The Black Market Food Industry In Nevada During World War Ii, Richard B. Keeton

Psi Sigma Siren

After the Empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Americans braced themselves for what would surely be a long, hard-fought war. In World War II, brave young United States soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice across the seas on both the European and Pacific fronts. However, the millions of citizens on domestic soil also made countless sacrifices in a national mobilization to support the war effort. People in Nevada and across the nation gave up everyday conveniences and seemingly ordinary items to show their support for the troops. Government agencies instituted tight rationing guidelines on a variety of consumer goods. Perhaps the …

Uncoiling The Modern Sino-American Relationship, Amanda Mcatee

Psi Sigma Siren

For this particular paper I seek to qualify the true nature of the Sino-American relationship as it has developed over the last quarter of the twentieth century. To more fully appreciate the complex relationship that evolved between such seemingly antithetical nations, I will critically review both James Mann‘s About Face: A History of America’s Curious Relationship with China, From Nixon to Clinton and Margaret MacMillan‘s Nixon and Mao: The Week that Changed the World. This paper will specifically focus on evaluating the similarities and inconsistencies between Mann‘s and MacMillan‘s theses, elucidate the structural differences between each author‘s arguments, and …

Community Control: Civil Rights Resistance In The Mile High City, Summer Burke

Psi Sigma Siren

Black power in the late 1960s was once blamed for the fall of the civil rights movement. The more militant and abrasive black power approach was mistaken for the alternative civil rights movement, contradictory to the progressive approach of nonviolent marches in the South. However, recent scholarship contextualizing black power and the Black Panthers in particular, restructured this paradigm. This move toward a more inclusive approach to studying black resistance across the country steered The Movement out of the Memphis to Montgomery narrative, and instead provides a more textured understanding of black radicalism as a vital aspect of civil rights …

Naccs 38th Annual Conference, National Association For Chicana And Chicano Studies

NACCS Conference Programs

Sites of Education for Social Justice
March 30-April 2, 2011
The Westin Pasadena