A Political History of the Postwar American Midwest
Over the last two decades, the political narrative of the "liberal coasts" and the "conservative heartland" has become something of a truism, leading many Democrats to write off much of the Midwest as a Republican stronghold. Today's polarized divide between rural and urban voters makes it easy to forget that things have not always been this way. ......
A Political History of the Postwar American Midwest
Over the last two decades, the political narrative of the "liberal coasts" and the "conservative heartland" has become something of a truism, leading many Democrats to write off much of the Midwest as a Republican stronghold. Today's polarized divide between rural and urban voters makes it easy to forget that things have not always been this way. ......
Few women have had a more significant impact on the development and growth of Lawrence, Kansas, and the University of Kansas than Elizabeth Miller Watkins. Elizabeth Josephine Miller was born in Ohio in 1861 and moved with her family to Lawrence when she was a child. She attended the University of Kansas's preparatory school in the 1870s but could ......
Portrayals in Popular Culture from the Great Depression to the Cold War
When John Kennedy ran for president, some Americans thought a Catholic couldn't-or shouldn't-win the White House. Credit Bing Crosby, among others, that he did.For much of American history, Catholics' perceived allegiance to an international church centered in Rome excluded them from full membership in society, a prejudice as strong as those ......
How DeFunis and Bakke Bleached Racism from Equal Protection
In The Making of Reverse Discrimination Ellen Messer-Davidow offers a fresh and incisive analysis of the legal-judicial discourse of DeFunis v. Odegaard (1974) and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), the first two cases challenging race-conscious admissions to professional schools to reach the US Supreme Court. While the ......
How DeFunis and Bakke Bleached Racism from Equal Protection
In The Making of Reverse Discrimination Ellen Messer-Davidow offers a fresh and incisive analysis of the legal-judicial discourse of DeFunis v. Odegaard (1974) and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), the first two cases challenging race-conscious admissions to professional schools to reach the US Supreme Court. While the ......
War, Politics, and Institutional Crisis, 1945-1952
The compelling history of how the US Marines and their allies fought to preserve the Corps and establish its role in national defense. Only five years after Marines raised the American flag on Iwo Jima, the United States Marine Corps was close to becoming a hollow force. A parsimonious Truman administration and a hostile defense secretary, Louis ......
How the Press and Public Opinion Shaped Allied Strategy During World War II
World War II was a media war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the press to a great extent, of course, but as the war progressed, the media also came to influence commanders' decisions on the battlefield. Rescuing General Douglas MacArthur from the Philippines in deference to public opinion forced the Allies to divide the Pacific War between ......
The Mormon military experience is unique in American history. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is the only denomination to field military units for its own support and purpose rather than national interests, an effort which began in Missouri in 1838 and lasted through the Spanish American War of 1898. From World War I onward, ......
