American Politics Commons^™

American Challenges, Jim Gomes

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

In the autumn of 2008, with the United States facing myriad problems both foreign and domestic and entering the final stage of a historic election, The Boston Globe asked Mosakowski Institute Director Jim Gomes to write a series of op-ed pieces about critical issues on the nation’s agenda. The result is the six columns collected here in American Challenges. “When I wrote these pieces,” said Gomes, “the country had entered a period of great uncertainty. So much of what had been taken as a given in the last half of the 20th century, from broadly shared prosperity to the health …

The Politic 2008 Fall (Special Issue), The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

The Politic 2008 Fall, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

The Crash And A Third Bloomberg Term, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Political Conventions - Democratic, 1852 (Sc 40), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 40. Letter to Dr. W.P. Reyburn from four Louisiana state delegates to the National Democratic Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, June 1852, appointing him their representative and instructing him to vote for General Lewis Cass for President.

Section 2: 2008 Election And The Supreme Court, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Rodes Collection (Sc 33), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 33. Letter (facsimile) written by Andrew Jackson, U.S. President, 1845, Hermitage, Tennessee, to Major William B. Lewis, regarding national politics, and an invitation to Mr. & Mrs. John G. Barrett, Louisville, Kentucky, to a reception for President and Mrs. Hayes at the Galt House, Louisville, Kentucky, 1877.

Ward Family Letters (Sc 27), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 27. Letter written to Jonathan Ward, Plymouth, New Hampshire, by his brother, Daniel Ward, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1840, which concerns family affairs and politics, and a letter written to Ralph Ward by his mother, Mrs. Catherine Ward, Talbottom, Georgia, 1861, which concerns her experience of traveling on a railway car with Jefferson Davis and southern pre-Civil War sentiments.

Harrison, William Henry, 1773-1841- Relating To (Sc 28), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 28. William Henry Harrison campaign ribbon badge used for advertising during the 1840 presidential campaign, often referred to as the "log cabin and hard cider" campaign.

Schneringer, Kenneth E. (Sc 1743), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1743. Letter 17 November 2000 from Kenneth E. Schneringer, Woodstock, Georgia to Constance Ann Mills, Bowling Green, Kentucky in which he discusses the presidential election of 2000 and the candidates.

Resolution Rs2008-426, Metropolitan Council

Debate '08

Resolution passed by Nashville's Metropolitan Council recognizing and congratulating Belmont University for hosting the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate.

Signed by Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors and Council Member Keith Durbin.

The Political Personality Of 2008 Republican Presidential Nominee John Mccain, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Arizona senator John McCain, Republican nominee in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data regarding Sen. McCain was extracted from biographical sources and published reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed in accordance with interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC manual. McCain’s …

Temple Collection (Mss 55), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 55. Correspondence, 1931-1970 (33 items), chiefly of William Montgomery Temple, originally of Bowling Green, Kentucky, an autograph collector; his collection of papers of Kentucky governors, 1805-1951 (50); other autograph letters, 1715-1941 (17); and articles about Bowling Green, etc., (23).

Natcher, William Huston, 1909-1994 (Sc 1686), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1686. Copies of letters from William H. Natcher, U.S. Representative from Kentucky's 2nd district, Washington, D.C., to his four grandsons in Cambridge, Ohio. He comments about historical people and incidents and gives his views on the Panama Canal treaty.

Confronting Fiscal Stress In Municipal Governments: Support By Michigan Residents For Eight Common Strategies, Jered Carr

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This report discusses findings from a survey of 660 randomly selected Michigan residents in winter 2007. The survey examined attitudes of Michigan residents toward eight strategies to resolving situations where current revenues are inadequate to support local services at past levels. The strategies examined fall into two broad categories. The first set (tax increases, state and federal aid) seeks to increase local revenues available to support services at previously existing levels and quality. The second set of strategies focus on reducing the costs of providing services with the objective of maintaining previous levels at a lower cost. This set includes …

How The Social Context Of Bill Clinton's Childhood Shaped His Personality: Using Oral History Interviews Of His Childhood Peers And Relatives, Karen Sebold

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since individual personality plays an important role in presidential decision-making (Barber, 1972), then understanding the setting that impacted the personality is an important component in any understanding of a president's personality. This study seeks to understand the setting that shaped the personality of William Jefferson Clinton. This case study was selected for two reasons: (1) there is a plethora of descriptive psycho-biographies of Clinton (Maraniss, 1995, Renshon 1996b, Post, 2006) and (2) there are oral history interviews from individuals who were part of Clinton's familial and childhood peer networks. The interviews used for this study are part of the Clinton …

Predicting State Allocation Of Funds: The Case Of John Rowland And His Hometown Of Waterbury, Connecticut., Matthew Ciarleglio

Honors Scholar Theses

This study attempts to analyze the underlying factors and motives influencing the allocation of discretionary state expenditures. The fact that some cities receive more money than other cities begs the question of what accounts for this variation. After framing the provision of state money within the theoretical framework of political patronage, a case study of Governor Rowland’s tenure in office and the accompanying expenditures to Connecticut’s 17 largest cities from 1995 to 2004 was conducted to evaluate whether a disproportionate amount of money was given to Rowland’s hometown of Waterbury, Connecticut. Besides employing a statistical analysis that determined that cities …

Dilemmas Of Strategy, Melvyn P. Leffler, Jeffrey W. Legro

Political Science Faculty Publications

America’s crystal ball on strategy is murky. Officials in the next administration will face a complex world, will receive conflicting advice, and will need to mobilize domestic support for their policies. They must nonetheless act, most likely without the convenience of a single threat such as the Soviet Union during the cold war or terrorism in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. In this conclusion, our aims are to highlight the decisive issues of consensus and contention that resonate across the chapters. We seek to delineate the trade-offs involved in making choices, and we hope to illuminate the national …

Introduction, Melvyn P. Leffler, Jeffrey W. Legro

Political Science Faculty Publications

For many Americans, the past decade has been a bewildering era. They have seen their country attacked and their husbands, sons, wives, and daughters sent to war in faraway places. They have read about orange alerts and red alerts. They have waited on long lines at airport security checks. They know that defense expenditures have soared and that Homeland Security has mushroomed. They have seen gruesome daily headlines about the carnage in Iraq, the strife in Afghanistan, and the turmoil in Pakistan. They read about the suicide attacks that were prevented or aborted in Europe, and they know, darkly, that …

Can Deliberative Democracy Work In Hierarchical Organizations?, Jason Pierce, Grant W. Neeley, Jeffrey Budziak

Political Science Faculty Publications

Some measure of equality is necessary for deliberative democracy to work well, yet empirical scholarship consistently points to the deleterious effect that hierarchy and inequalities of epistemological authority have on deliberation. This article tests whether real-world deliberative forums can overcome these challenges. Contrary to skeptics, it concludes that the act of deliberation itself and the presence of trained moderators ameliorate inequalities of epistemological authority, thus rendering deliberative democracy possible, even within hierarchical organizations.

Equality News (Summer 2008), Matthew R. Dubois

Equality news / EqualityMaine (2004-2008)

No abstract provided.

Global And Functional Strategic Issues, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

Jimmy Carter's Foreign Policy: The Battle For Power And Principle, Frances M. Jacobson

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Evaluating the foreign policies of presidents while they are in office or shortly after their tenure ends can sometimes lead to conclusions that prove to be unsound in the future. The case of Harry Truman exemplifies this. When he left office in 1952 his approval rating was in the 20 percentile range. Yet, he set the tone and direction of United States foreign policy that led eventually to the successful conclusion of the Cold War. The foreign policy of President Jimmy Carter was also generally viewed as a failure by many scholars in the field, both during his time in …

Legacy Of A Leader, Michael Staib

Honors Independent Research Papers

This study assesses the historical legacy of former Commander-In-Chief and 40th President, Ronald Wilson Reagan. Research references Reagan’s formidable contribution to subsequent U. S. politics by analyzing his domestic and foreign policy. Ultimately, Reagan revolutionized the presidency and provided conservative reconstruction, restoring moral guidance to American society. Epitomizing the Roosevelt Corollary, the aphorism popularized by Teddy Roosevelt, “Speak softly, but carry a big stick,” Reagan followed an aggressive foreign policy. Exercising diplomacy, Reagan deterred those countries deemed dangerous, while preserving peace with amiable nations. Essay examines his ideological perspective, constitutional interpretation, executive appointment of Supreme Court justices, laissez-faire economic strategy, …

Editor's Notebook: A Politcal Reality Check, Michael Kryzanek

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Stephen James On The Battle For Welfare Rights: Politics And Poverty In Modern America By Felicia Kornbluh. Philadelphia: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. 287pp., Stephen James

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Battle for Welfare Rights: Politics and Poverty in Modern America by Felicia Kornbluh. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. 287pp.

Gender, Race, And Intersectionality On The Federal Appellate Bench., Todd Collins, Laura Moyer

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

While theoretical justifications predict that a judge’s gender and race may influence judicial decisions, empirical support for these arguments has been mixed. However, recent increases in judicial diversity necessitate a reexamination of these earlier studies. Rather than examining individual judges on a single characteristic, such as gender or race alone, this research note argues that the intersection of individual characteristics may provide an alternative approach for evaluating the effects of diversity on the federal appellate bench. The results of cohort models examining the joint effects of race and gender suggest that minority female judges are more likely to support criminal …

Coalitions For Victory: The Necessity Of Alliance Creation For Progressive Ballot Initiative Campaigns, Julie Bero

Honors Theses

My paper consists of three sections. In the first, I explain the function of ballot measures and discuss why Americans have supported or opposed the use of direct democracy. I will also offer the history of direct democracy. In the second section, I will discuss the current national state of affairs in direct democracy, specifically analyzing recent ballot measures. I will analyze three cases, focusing on information gathered from the news media and personal interviews with campaign organizers. Finally, I will draw conclusions about these three measures and assert implications for the future of direct democracy.

Attacking Ethos: The Rhetorical Use Of Uncertainty In The 2004 Election, Theron Allen Verdon

Dissertations

The rhetorical use of uncertainty in political communication (and other areas) has many implications. Uncertainty plays a major role in everyday life. Therefore, it likely plays a major role in political decision-making. Research has shown that uncertainty about a candidate affects a voter's voting preference. Uncertainty usually affects voter decisions. Uncertainty was a factor in the 2004 presidential election. The Bush-Cheney Campaign used uncertainty to corrupt the ethos of the Democratic nominee, Senator John Kerry. The Bush-Cheney campaign rhetorically manipulated information about Senator Kerry to create a perception of a leader whose actions revealed an unpredictable flip-flopper. A lack of …

Actor Preference And The Implementation Of Ins V. Chadha, Darren A. Wheeler

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.