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open access

Advising the ARVN: Lieutenant General Samuel T. Williams in Vietnam, 1955-1960

Description: Beginning in 1954, the United States Army attempted to build a viable armed force in South Vietnam. Until the early 1960s, other areas commanded more American attention, yet this formative period was influential in later United States involvement in Vietnam. This thesis examines United States advisory efforts from 1955 to 1960 by analyzing the tenure of Lieutenant General Samuel T. Williams as Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group in South Vietnam. During Williams's tenure, the commun… more
Date: August 1990
Creator: Schneider, Frederick W. (Frederick Walter), 1959-
open access

Americans who did not wait: the American Legion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1915-1917

Description: This study examines the five American Legion battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force formed in 1915 specifically to recruit American volunteers for the Canadian overseas contingent of the First World War. This study reviews the organization of Canada's militia and Anglo-American relations before examining the formation of the American Legion, the background of its men, and the diplomatic repercussions it sparked. This study is based largely on material in the Public Archives of Canada in… more
Date: May 1996
Creator: Smylie, Eric
open access

An Analysis of Status: Women in Texas, 1860-1920

Description: This study examined the status of women in Texas from 1860 to 1920. Age, family structure and composition, occupation, educational level, places of birth, wealth, and geographical persistence are used as the measurements of status. For purposes of analysis, women are grouped according to whether they were married, widowed, divorced, or single.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Breashears, Margaret Herbst
open access

The Anglo-American Council on Productivity: 1948-1952 British Productivity and the Marshall Plan

Description: The United Kingdom's postwar economic recovery and the usefulness of Marshall Plan aid depended heavily on a rapid increase in exports by the country's manufacturing industries. American aid administrators, however, shocked to discover the British industry's inability to respond to the country's urgent need, insisted on aggressive action to improve productivity. In partial response, a joint venture, called the Anglo-American Council on Productivity (AACP), arranged for sixty-six teams involving… more
Date: May 1999
Creator: Gottwald, Carl H.
open access

Behold the Fields: Texas Baptists and the Problem of Slavery

Description: The relationship between Texas Baptists and slavery is studied with an emphasis on the official statements made about the institution in denominational sources combined with a statistical analysis of the extent of slaveholding among Baptists. A data list of over 5,000 names was pared to 1100 names of Baptists in Texas prior to 1865 and then cross-referenced on slaveownership through the use of federal censuses and county tax rolls. Although Texas Baptists participated economically in the slave … more
Date: May 1993
Creator: Elam, Richard L. (Richard Lee)
open access

"The Best Stuff Which the State Affords": a Portrait of the Fourteenth Texas Infantry in the Civil War

Description: This study examines the social and economic characteristics of the men who joined the Confederate Fourteenth Texas Infantry Regiment during the Civil War and provides a narrative history of the regiment's wartime service. The men of the Fourteenth Infantry enlisted in 1862 and helped to turn back the Federal Red River Campaign in April 1864. In creating a portrait of these men, the author used traditional historical sources (letters, diaries, medical records, secondary narratives) as well as st… more
Date: December 1998
Creator: Parker, Scott Dennis
open access

Beyond the Merchants of Death: the Senate Munitions Inquiry of the 1930s and its Role in Twentieth-Century American History

Description: The Senate Munitions Committee of 1934-1936, chaired by Gerald Nye of North Dakota, provided the first critical examination of America's modern military establishment. The committee approached its task guided by the optimism of the progressive Social Gospel and the idealism of earlier times, but in the middle of the munitions inquiry the nation turned to new values represented in Reinhold Niebuhr's realism and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Second New Deal. By 1936, the committee found its views out o… more
Date: May 1996
Creator: Coulter, Matthew Ware
open access

Black Nationalism Reinterpreted

Description: Black nationalism responded to America's failure to examine the effects of slavery's legacy. Its aims represent those issues that were either unsupported by or in opposition to the goals of the civil rights leadership. In particular, the civil rights movement dismissed any claims that the history of slavery had a lasting effect on African-Americans. This conflict developed because of mainstream America's inability to realize that the black community is not monolithic and African-Americans were … more
Date: May 1995
Creator: Largent, Mark Aaron
open access

"But a Mournful Remedy": Divorce in Two Texas Counties, 1841-1880

Description: Little scholarship has been dedicated to nineteenth-century Texas family life and no published scholarship to date has addressed the more specific topic of divorce. This study attempts to fill that gap in the historiography through a quantitative analysis of 373 divorce actions filed in Washington and Harrison Counties. The findings show a high degree of equity between men and women in court decisions granting divorces, and in property division and custody rulings. Texas women enjoyed a relativ… more
Date: May 1999
Creator: Pruitt, Francelle LeNaee
open access

The Causes of the American Civil War: Trends in Historical Interpretation, 1950-1976

Description: This thesis examines the trends in historical interpretation concerning the coming of the American Civil War. The main body of works examined were written between 1950 and 1976, beginning with Allan Nevins' Ordeal of the Union and concluding with David M. Potter's The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861. It also includes a brief survey of some works written after 1976. The main source for discovering the materials included were the bibliographies of both monographs and general histories published durin… more
Date: May 1992
Creator: Tate, Michael Joseph
open access

Charles Beard versus the Founding Fathers: Property Concepts in the Eighteenth Century

Description: This thesis deals with the role of property in the formation of the American Constitution and government. Charles Beard's views on property are compared with writings from the eighteenth century. Beard's writings on property and his critics are examined in the first two chapters. Then, the thesis's two historical contexts are evaluated. Concentrating on the Enclosure Acts, the fourth chapter looks at the importance of land to the former Englishmen. The eighteenth century view of property is the… more
Date: May 1992
Creator: Breaux, Rhonda J. (Rhonda Janise)
open access

Class and Freedom of Choice in the Marriage Patterns of Antebellum Texas Women

Description: Little scholarly analysis has been devoted to the hypothesis that antebellum Texas women generally married within their own socioeconomic (slaveholding) class, and thus had only limited choice in the selection of marriage partners. This quantitatively based investigation suggests that the popular image should be carefully qualified. This study reveals that although a majority of Texas women who married during the early 1850s chose men who had the same slaveholding status, a significant minority… more
Date: December 1991
Creator: Brown, Lisa (Lisa Christina)
open access

Creating a Mythistory: Texas Historians in the Nineteenth Century

Description: Many historians have acknowledged the temptation to portray people as they see themselves and wish to be seen, blending history and ideology. The result is "mythistory." Twentieth century Texas writers and historians, remarking upon the exceptional durability of the Texas mythistory that emerged from the nineteenth century, have questioned its resistance to revision throughout the twentieth century. By placing the writing of Texas history within the context of American and European intellectual… more
Date: August 1998
Creator: McLemore, Laura Lyons, 1950-
open access

Dallas Barrio Women of Power

Description: This thesis discusses Mexican immigration into Texas, and the communities in which the immigrants settled. The focus is on Dallas, with particular emphasis placed upon the women of Little Mexico, a specific barrio there. Sources include interviews with the subjects and their descendants, newspaper articles, journals, unpublished theses about Little Mexico, and books.
Date: May 1992
Creator: Guzman, Jane Bock
open access

Daniel's Battery: A Narrative History and Socio-Economic Study of the Ninth Texas Field Battery

Description: This thesis combines a traditional narrative history of a Confederate artillery battery with a socio-economic study of its members. A database was constructed using the Compiled Service Records, 1860 census, and county tax rolls. The information revealed similarities between the unit's members and their home area. Captain James M. Daniel organized the battery in Paris, Texas and it entered Confederate service in January 1862. The battery served in Walker's Texas Division. It was part of a reser… more
Date: December 1995
Creator: Perkins, John Drummond
open access

Defense Industries in North Texas, 1941-1965: the Social and Economic Impact on Bowie County

Description: World War II was a watershed in American history, altering Americans' perceptions of their place in society. This study focused on Bowie County, Texas, during the twenty-five-year period that began with America's entry into the war. The construction of two defense plants there, Red River Army Depot and Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant, brought immediate changes to surrounding communities, and local residents faced many challenges as they struggled to adjust. This study used extensive primary sou… more
Date: August 1995
Creator: Brantley, Janet G.
open access

The Development of IAM District Lodge 776 in Fort Worth, Texas, 1942-1946: A Case Study in the Growth of Organized Labor During World War II

Description: This thesis concentrates on a local union of the International Association of Machinists (IAM), District Lodge 776, of Fort Worth, Texas, during the war years. The main argument of the thesis runs along three basic lines. First, it demonstrates that the experiences of the Fort Worth Machinists clearly fit into the national labor movement during the war years. Second, it argues that the existence, survival, and strength of the union depended greatly on outside forcesan expanding national economy… more
Date: August 1999
Creator: White, Kirk
open access

Echoes of Eugenics : Roe v Wade

Description: Traces the inter-related histories of the eugenics movement and birth control, with an emphasis on abortion. Discusses Sarah Weddington's arguments and the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v Wade. Straws the eugenic influences in the case and asserts that these influences caused the decision to be less than decisive.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Wunderlich, Jo (Jo Parks)
open access

George Washington's Development as an Espionage Chief

Description: The American Revolution was a war of movement over great distances. Timely intelligence regarding the strength and location of the enemy was vital to the commanders on both sides. Washington gained his early experience in intelligence gathering in the wilderness during the French and Indian War. By the end of the American Revolution, Washington had become a skilled manager of intelligence. He sent agents behind enemy lines, recruited tory intelligence sources, questioned travelers for informati… more
Date: May 1993
Creator: Ritchey, David (David Benjamin
open access

A History of the Mississippi River Commission, 1879-1928: from Levees-Only to a Comprehensive Program of Flood Control for the Lower Mississippi Valley

Description: In 1879 Congress created the Mississippi River Commission (MRC) to develop and coordinate federal flood control policy for the Lower Mississippi River. Through 1927, that Commission clung stubbornly to a "levees-only" policy that was based on the mistaken belief that levees alone could be effective in controlling the flood waters of the Mississippi River. When the levees failed--and they occasionally did--the MRC responded by raising and strengthening the system but refused to adopt a more comp… more
Date: August 1996
Creator: Pearcy, Matthew Todd, 1967-
open access

Jefferson's Leap of Faith: the Embargo Acts of 1807-1809 as a Failure of Jeffersonian Ideology

Description: Thomas Jefferson's political ideology centered on the importance of individual liberty and choice for the common person. Activities throughout his career were grounded on this concept. It is interesting, therefore, that events during the final years of his presidency appear to have prompted him to abandon this philosophy in favor of a more pragmatic, less democratic, approach. The embargo acts which Congress passed at Jefferson's request in between December 1807 and January 1809 outlawed all fo… more
Date: December 1994
Creator: Hamilton, James M. (James Milburn)
open access

Making a Good Soldier: a Historical and Quantitative Study of the 15th Texas Infantry, C. S. A.

Description: In late 1861, the Confederate Texas government commissioned Joseph W. Speight to raise an infantry battalion. Speight's Battalion became the Fifteenth Texas Infantry in April 1862, and saw almost no action for the next year as it marched throughout Texas, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory. In May 1863 the regiment was ordered to Louisiana and for the next seven months took an active role against Federal troops in the bayou country. From March to May 1864 the unit helped turn away the Union Red… more
Date: December 1998
Creator: Hamaker, Blake Richard
open access

The Many Battles of Glorieta Pass: Struggles for the Integrity of a Civil War Battlefield

Description: This study focuses on modern-day attempts to preserve the site where Union volunteers from Colorado defeated a Confederate army from Texas at the 1862 Battle of Glorieta Pass to curtail Confederate expansion westward. When construction workers in 1987 accidently uncovered remains of the war dead, a second battle of Glorieta Pass ensued. Texas and New Mexico officials quarreled over jurisdiction of the war casualties. Eventually Congress authorized the National Park Service to expand the Pecos N… more
Date: August 1999
Creator: Hull, William Edward, 1945-
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