American Politics Commons^™

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

"Of all the difficulties facing the historian in his task of understanding and discussing the past, none can be greater than that of emphatically recreating the popular 'mood' defining any particular event or period," writes Paul Kennedy. This issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy is about mood and politics and how synergistic interplay of the two in recent years reflects both the national and local psyche.

Who Was That Woman I Didn't See You With Last Night?, Norman W. Merrill

New England Journal of Public Policy

The 1988 presidential campaign elicited numerous complaints about negative campaigning. But compared to the vicious rhetoric popular at the birth of the republic the rhetoric of the latest campaign was quite mild. Invective rhetoric was employed by the Founding Fathers, men like John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and James Callender. The partisan press of the time contributed greatly to the harsh tone of politics. All participants felt free to make acerbic remarks directed at the man rather than the issue, a tradition that continued throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. Many of the charges made by American politicians were …

On Being A Republican In Massachusetts: Notes Of A Party Chairman, Andrew Natsios

New England Journal of Public Policy

In the 1970s the Democratic and Republican national and state parties initiated efforts at party renewal in order to reverse their declining institutional power. Between 1980 and 1987 the Massachusetts Republican Party undertook a renewal effort modeled after that of the Republican National Committee under William Brock. This model emphasized the provision to candidates and to the grassroots party organization of campaign sendees such as literature design, polling, direct mail fund-raising, telephone banks, and campaign schools. The Massachusetts Republican Party concentrated these services to candidates for the state legislature, achieving the largest net gain in seats since 1962. Campaign technology …

U.S. House Journals Of William H. Natcher, Vol. 55, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

U.S. House Journals of William H. Natcher

Journal, 13 March 1989 to 28 March 1990, of U.S. Congressman William Huston Natcher while he was representing Kentucky’s 2nd District. The journal includes an almost daily account of Natcher’s reflections on current events and transactions with the U.S. House of Representatives. Many of the entries contain typescripted newspaper articles with some editorial comment provided by Natcher, others are more personal in nature.

Women, Politics, And The Nineties: The Abortion Debate, Susan Estrich

New England Journal of Public Policy

The fight for political empowerment of women may finally break wide open over the issues of reproductive freedom. This article posits that while public attention has focused on courtroom attempts to limit Roe v. Wade, the issues will ultimately be decided in the political arena. Here, Estrich says, the framer of the question may be the ultimate victor. For those on the pro-choice side of the debate, the next election cycle may be their first real opportunity to vote as a bloc and wield real political power.

Women And Power: Women In Politics, Cathleen Douglas Stone

New England Journal of Public Policy

Are women making progress in the political arena, or are their frustrations at access to elective office severe enough to warrant their own political party? This article examines the statistics and argues that women should seize political power by voting as a bloc. As loyalty to traditional parties declines while their interest in and sensitivity to social issues grows, the moment is right for a real increase in women's political power.

Yale Political Magazine 1989 November, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

Small Groups And Political Influence: A Case Study, Rhonda Q. Hayes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In early civics lessons Americans are taught that theirs is a system of participatory government, that one person's vote does have meaning, and that by making views known to representatives they will be acted upon. They are taught about the governmental process, the steps involved in legislation, the function of the judicial and executive branches, and the means of political participation. Seemingly, they are given a working knowledge of government in action. What they are not made aware of during these lessons is that there are systems within the system and certain unwritten rules which must be followed in order …

The Past As Prologue? What Past Industrial Conflicts Within The Gop Tell About The Future Of The Bush Administration, Thomas Ferguson

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article analyzes patterns of GOP campaign finance with an eye to the light they can shed on the future of the Bush administration. After flashing back to 1980 and 1984, it presents a detailed statistical breakdown of who contributed to whom in the 1988 GOP primary, based on a large and carefully constructed sample of top corporate executives and investors. The Dole campaign emerges as especially important for the clues it provides about the opponents of major changes in U. S. policy toward Eastern Europe and the USSR.

Yale Political Magazine 1989 April, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

For months on end we were subjected to the rituals of irrelevance: to posturing as patriotism, incoherence as eloquence, innuendo as nuance, character assassination as candor, sound-bites as substance, carefully memorized one-liners as expressions of spontaneity, self-righteousness as self-deprecation. Misstatement, outright fabrication, deliberate falsehood, and conscious distortion were spewed out by spin-masters, merchants of manipulation, propagandists, pollsters, shysters of the slick and technicians of the fast fix, all in the name of the democratic process. Nor were the two presidential candidates, Michael Dukakis and George Bush, themselves immune to the malaise, proving themselves extraordinarily adept time and again at not …

U.S. House Journal Of William H. Natcher, Vol. 54, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

U.S. House Journals of William H. Natcher

Journal, 14 March 1988 to 10 March 1989, of U.S. Congressman William Huston Natcher while he was representing Kentucky’s 2^nd District. The journal includes an almost daily account of Natcher’s reflections on current events and transactions with the U.S. House of Representatives. Many of the entries contain typescripted newspaper articles with some editorial comment provided by Natcher, others are more personal in nature.

Lincoln And Oregon, Todd Hageman

Masters Theses

The Civil War is one of the most significant events in American history. President Abraham Lincoln’s term in office was dominated by the War, therefore the study of Lincoln has likewise been dominated by War developments. The War’s battles were overwhelmingly concentrated in the eastern United States, and hence the American west has largely been ignored by Lincoln scholars. This study attempts to uncover Lincoln’s policy toward Oregon, including War developments and his domestic policy, to partially fill the “western gap” in Lincoln scholarship.

Oregon was admitted to the federal Union in 1859, and by Lincoln’s election in 1860 that …

Policy Gambit: Conservative Think Tanks Take On The Welfare State, David Stoesz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Conservative policy institutes have reevaluated their position regarding welfare and begun to present proposals to change social welfare policy. Instrumental in this development are the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, conservative think tanks which have developed projects for the purpose of making social policy more consonant with conservative philosophy. If progressive organizations are to reassert their role in the policy process, they will have to use some of the aggressive techniques pioneered by the conservative think tanks.

Yale Political Monthly 1987 November, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

The Failure Of The Destitute Mother's Bill: The Use Of Political Power In Social Welfare, Eve P. Smith

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Although social and economic conditions and prevailing popular philosophies may affect the success or failure of an attempt at change in social welfare policy and practice, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the political forces for and against the change may be more important. In 1897, fourteen years before the passage of the first U.S. Mothers' Pension law in Illinois, New York State Senator John Ahearn attempted such a law in New York. Although the bill was passed unanimously by both houses of the State Legislature, it was never signed into law. The reason was that the children's institutions and …

H.R. 286, Homelessness, The Mickey Leland Papers & Collection Addendum. (Texas Southern University, 2015)

Series 2: Legislative Files, Washington, 1978 - 1989

Bill to prevent homelessness. 86 pages

H.R. 5140, Homelessness, The Mickey Leland Papers & Collection Addendum. (Texas Southern University, 2015)

Series 2: Legislative Files, Washington, 1978 - 1989

Letter from ML to committee members

U.S. House Journal Of William H. Natcher, Vol. 53, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

U.S. House Journals of William H. Natcher

Journal, 8 May 1987 to 11 March 1988, of U.S. Congressman William Huston Natcher while he was representing Kentucky’s 2^nd District. The journal includes an almost daily account of Natcher’s reflections on current events and transactions with the U.S. House of Representatives. Many of the entries contain typescripted newspaper articles with some editorial comment provided by Natcher, others are more personal in nature.

Trust, Self-Interest, And Representation In Economic Policymaking: Rhode Island Reconsidered, Thomas J. Anton, Darrell M. West

New England Journal of Public Policy

Industrial policy has become an increasingly central focus of political debate as American society struggles with new and troubling economic realities. Yet despite the importance of this subject, little is known about how the public gains or processes information on these matters, or about the evaluative standards used to judge industrial-policy proposals. A recent referendum in Rhode Island offered a unique opportunity to study these questions. Citizens participated directly in the debate over new industrial policy by soundly rejecting the Greenhouse Compact, a novel and comprehensive plan to "reindustrialize" Rhode Island. Here we report the results of a public opinion …

Yale Political Monthly 1986 November, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

U.S. House Journal Of William H. Natcher, Vol. 52, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

U.S. House Journals of William H. Natcher

Journal, 27 June 1986 to 7 May 1987, of U.S. Congressman William Huston Natcher while he was representing Kentucky’s 2^nd District. The journal includes an almost daily account of Natcher’s reflections on current events and transactions with the U.S. House of Representatives. Many of the entries contain typescripted newspaper articles with some editorial comment provided by Natcher, others are more personal in nature.

De Facto New Federalism: Phase Ii?, John Shannon

New England Journal of Public Policy

1985 marked year seven for de facto new federalism, the fiscal decentralization process nudged along by strong public support for the Reagan administration's conservative policies and growing fiscal stringency at the federal level. New federalism is most dramatically illustrated by the national government retreat along the entire state-local aid front — a kind of "sorting out" — as an increasing share of the federal budget goes to strictly national government programs. The mounting public concern about massive federal deficits will quicken the federal pullback on the state-local aid front. The only question is whether it will be a ragged retreat …

Rhode Island: The Defeat Of The Greenhouse Compact, Ira Magaziner

New England Journal of Public Policy

Rhode Island has not shared equally in New England's economic resurgence of recent years. A major reevaluation of the state's economic malaise in 1982-84 resulted in a $250 million program called the Greenhouse Compact to improve business in the state. Initially supported in polls by a two-to-one margin, the Compact was defeated overwhelmingly when it went to a statewide referendum. The timing of the referendum and mistakes in the public relations strategy and in the structure of the Compact all played a role in the outcome, but post-election polls showed that defeat, based on a massive shift of undecided voters, …

De Facto New Federalism And New England: A Discussion, Kenneth Curtis, Chester Atkins, Richard Licht, David Walker, Roger Porter

New England Journal of Public Policy

Using John Shannons paper as a broad frame of reference (see previous article), a panel discussion titled "The Changing Nature of FederalI State Relations: The Fiscal Impact on New England" took place on 18 November 1985 at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. The discussion was sponsored by the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs and was presented in a roundtable forum. The members of the panel were Kenneth Curtis, former governor of Maine; Chester Atkins, member of Congress from the Massachusetts Fifth Congressional District; Richard Licht, lieutenant governor of Rhode Island; David Walker, professor of political science at …

John W. Mccormack, Paul M. Wright

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

A short biography of Boston native and United States Congressman John W. McCormack, prepared for the dedication of John W. McCormack Hall at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, April 26, 1985.

U.S. House Journal Of William H. Natcher, Vol. 51, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

U.S. House Journals of William H. Natcher

Journal, 28 August 1985 to 26 June 1986, of U.S. Congressman William Huston Natcher while he was representing Kentucky’s 2^nd District. The journal includes an almost daily account of Natcher’s reflections on current events and transactions with the U.S. House of Representatives. Many of the entries contain typescripted newspaper articles with some editorial comment provided by Natcher, others are more personal in nature.

The Development Of Elementary And Secondary Education Policy In The Minnesota Legislature, Joyce Krupey, Gene Mammenga

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

This discussion of the political climate in which elementary and secondary education is funded in Minnesota begins with the Minnesota Miracle of 1971. In each successive legislative session some adjustments have been made in this formula. In this paper we describe the various lobbying groups that try to affect education legislation. We also discuss the role played by the governor, key legislators, legislative and Department of Education staff, the State Board of Education, and the commissioner of education in educational policy formation. In conclusion, we summarize major formula changes since 1971 and review the many education-related issues before the legislature …

Ua37/30/2 Wku Research Notecards - E Topics, Lowell Harrison

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Notecards created by Lowell Harrison while researching his book Western Kentucky University. The cards transcribed below are for 104 topics beginning with E ranging from Eagle Prep to Extension.

Urban Distress, Educational Equity, And Local Governance: State Level Policy Implication Of Proposition 2 1/2 In Massachusetts, Edward P. Morgan

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

This report examines the impact of Proposition 2-1/2 on different types of communities and the implications of this impact for state aid and state-level policies. The effects of 2-1/2, especially first-year effects in public education, are evaluated from the perspective of four general policy objectives or values: equity, efficiency, accountability, and local autonomy. The primary concern of this report is for various considerations of equity and inequality.