Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1970, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2023, English/Literature

This project explores the ideological implications of Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by exploring the physical journey described within the text, the contrast between the novel's two central characters Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo. Building off of existing scholarship on the journalistic nature of the novel, I explore how the novel suggests a libertarian conception of the “American Dream” by constructing Duke, a stand-in for Thompson himself, as a libertarian. In doing this, I explore how the novel can be understood as a journalistic chronicle of the historical moment where libertarianism, in the United States, emerged as third-way ideology amidst the failures of the left-counterculture in the 1960s and the resurgence of traditional conservatism under President Richard Nixon. I explore how physical journey detailed in the novel reveals this emergence of libertarianism through contrasting depictions of San Francisco, home to the left- counterculture, and Las Vegas, a city that the novel frames representative of cultural conservatism in the United States. Further, I explore how Dr. Gonzo and Duke demonstrate contrasting responses to the collapse of the left-counterculture, with Dr. Gonzo falling into hedonism and Duke adopting a libertarian stance.

Committee: Philip Dickinson Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jolie Sheffer Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; American Studies; Journalism; Literature

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1961, Communication Studies

Committee: Raymond Yeager (Advisor) Subjects: Communication

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1961, Communication Studies

Committee: Duane E. Tucker (Advisor) Subjects: Communication

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1957, Communication Studies

Committee: Raymond Yeager (Advisor) Subjects: Communication

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1957, Communication Studies

Committee: Raymond Yeager (Advisor) Subjects: Communication

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2022, History

On June 26, 1973, Congress passed a supplemental appropriations bill that included a rider that immediately cutoff the use of U.S. funds for U.S. combat activities in Cambodia or Laos. President Nixon vetoed this bill and the House failed to override the veto. Nixon and Congress negotiated a “compromise” under which the cutoff did not take effect until August 15, 1973 and applied also to Vietnam. This thesis concerns the reasons that Congress passed this revised rider, that Congress expanded the rider to Vietnam, and that Nixon signed the revised rider. Changed circumstances (such as the Vietnam Peace Accords) helped Congress pass the rider. Nixon counselor Mel Laird and House Republican leader Gerald Ford took actions that facilitated Congress adding Vietnam to the rider and that compelled Nixon to sign the rider. Sources reviewed for this thesis include Congressional sources, executive branch sources, memoirs, oral histories, and secondary sources.

Committee: Jonathan R. Winkler Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Kathryn B. Meyer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Paul Douglas Lockhart Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; International Relations; Military History

PHD, Kent State University, 2015, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

The strains and aftermath of the Vietnam War prompted U.S. presidents of the 1970s to be the first ones to contemplate a complete withdrawal of U.S. ground forces from South Korea. The ensuing debate forced American civilian and military leaders to confront a long-held traditional mindset about the importance of U.S. credibility and reputation that had been forged in the early Cold War. Scholars have long noted that this identifiable Cold War mindset consisted of apparent lessons from World War II about appeasement and key assumptions about the nature of the Soviet enemy and the broader Cold War conflict that encouraged a "fixation" on U.S. credibility. The presence and influence of this traditional mindset's "credibility" imperative in the post-Vietnam Cold War, however, has largely been ignored or discounted. The debate over withdrawing U.S. ground forces from South Korea in the 1970s occurred in the context of a relatively static conflict between North Korea and South Korea, which provides a unique, relatively unchanging backdrop against which to evaluate this neglected period of U.S. Cold War credibility concerns. Diachronic analysis of the troop withdrawal debate and decision making reveals important continuities and discontinuities in U.S. Cold War thinking, and highlights the ebb and flow of the influence of a persistent early Cold War mindset as it competed with other values and imperatives, especially fiscal responsibility and disentanglement, in the shadow of the Vietnam War. Using the debate as barometer of U.S. Cold War discourse, one finds that the post-Vietnam recession in the prominence of credibility concerns was modest and temporary, and that a traditional Cold War mindset and credibility fixation still exerted considerable influence on U.S. policymakers. It overarched the withdrawal debate and defined much of the conceptual space in which the debate could take place. As in other debates over national security in previous decades, the concep (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mary Ann Heiss (Advisor); Steven Hook (Committee Member); Kevin Adams (Committee Member); Clarence Wunderin (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; International Relations; Military History; Military Studies; Modern History; Peace Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2015, History

From the start of the First Indochina War to the Paris Peace Accords of 1973, Vietnamese and Americans (each with their many allies) fought to claim Vietnam in the name of communism or democracy. While violent bloodshed and constant miscommunication did occur quite frequently, both parties attempted to cross cultural boundaries in hopes of negotiation. This project focuses upon cross-cultural communication from 1945-1969. I highlight letters and telegrams between the following American presidents and North, South Vietnamese leaders: Ho Chi Minh and Harry Truman, Ngo Dinh Diem and Dwight Eisenhower, Ngo Dinh Diem and John F. Kennedy, Ho Chi Minh and Lyndon B. Johnson, and Ho Chi Minh and Richard Nixon. I use more personalized forms of communication to create interconnections rather than continue to emphasize cultural disconnect and misunderstanding. Specifically, I argue that despite ideological and socio-cultural differences, each leader did strive and hope for something other than war. Unfortunately, these individuals remained steadfastly devoted to the idea of ideology and victory more than peaceful resolution. Letters, telegrams, memorandums, and meetings serve as the main primary sources for this project. Since the release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, government documents pertaining to the Vietnam War have been declassified, transcribed, and made public. In particular, this project utilizes the National Archives' digital collection of the Pentagon Papers and Office of the Historian's digital Foreign Relations of the United States.

Committee: Michael Brooks Ph.D (Advisor); Dwayne Beggs Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; World History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, History

This dissertation examines the international history of the Palestinian armed struggle from late 1967 until the beginning of the Lebanese Civil war in 1975. Based on multi-archival and multilingual research in Lebanon, the United States, and the United Kingdom, I argue that the Palestinian guerillas won the struggle for international recognition by identifying themselves with the cultural forces of anti-colonialism and Third World internationalism. By laying claim to the status of a national liberation struggle, Palestinian fighters tapped into networks of global support emanating from places like Beijing, Hanoi, Algiers, and Havana that allowed them to achieve a measure of political legitimacy in the international community and provided for the continued survival of their movement. At the same time, these efforts to emulate revolutionary movements from other parts of the world helped to reshape Palestinian national identity into a profoundly cosmopolitan organism; a product of twentieth century globalization. However, these radical visions of national liberation ran headlong into U.S. designs for global order; if radical Palestinians could create a “second Vietnam” in the Middle East, the implications for U.S. authority in the Third World could be disastrous. Through support for regional police powers like Israel and Jordan, Washington was able to mount a sustained counterinsurgency campaign that prevented a guerilla victory.

Committee: Peter Hahn (Advisor); Robert McMahon (Committee Member); Stephen Dale (Committee Member); Kevin Boyle (Committee Member) Subjects: History; International Relations; Middle Eastern History

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2009, History

In March 1972, the United Automobile Workers (UAW) struck for eighteen days at the General Motors (GM) assembly complex in Lordstown, Ohio. Previous historical studies have focused on the origins of labor-management conflict at the factory. Drawing upon documents from the UAW's archives, the business press, and automotive industry trade publications, this thesis contextualizes the strike by linking shop floor conditions with GM's business strategy, the Nixon administration's economic policy, and working class life in the Mahoning Valley. The UAW and GM saw the Chevrolet Vega, manufactured at Lordstown, as the domestic industry's best response to import competition. But bureaucratic imperatives, especially within GM's management structure, encouraged a series of confrontations between the company and union that culminated in the strike and undermined the Vega's viability. The thesis expands our understanding of an iconic moment in American labor history and illuminates the ongoing problems confronting the U.S. automobile industry.

Committee: Kevin Boyle PhD (Advisor); Paula Baker PhD (Committee Member); Mansel Blackford PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American History

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2008, Political Science (Arts and Sciences)

The relationship between the president and the people is often hard to determine, especially in times of war. Several questions arise when looking at this relationship, including whether or not the president feels that the public is competent enough to formulate opinion and whether the president feels compelled to act as a direct result of incoming opinions from both the public and the media. The following analysis looks at the Vietnam War and the three administrations most closely dealing with the war - the administrations of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M. Nixon - to determine whether there is a direct relationship between the opinions of the people and specific strategies employed during the war. It also examines the relationship between the president, the public, and the media during the war.

Committee: Patricia A. Weitsman PhD (Committee Chair); Barry Tadlock PhD (Committee Member); Michelle Frasher-Rae PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2011, English

In this dissertation I show how the conservative movement lured the white working class out of the Democratic New Deal Coalition and into the Republican Majority. I argue that this political transformation was accomplished in part by what I call the "invention" of Middle America. Using such cultural representations as mainstream print media, literature, and film, conservatives successfully exploited what came to be known as the Social Issue and constructed "Liberalism" as effeminate, impractical, and elitist. Chapter One charts the rise of conservative populism and Middle America against the backdrop of 1960s social upheaval. I stress the importance of backlash and resentment to Richard Nixon's ascendancy to the Presidency, describe strategies employed by the conservative movement to win majority status for the GOP, and explore the conflict between this goal and the will to ideological purity. In Chapter Two I read Rabbit Redux as John Updike's attempt to model the racial education of a conservative Middle American, Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, in "teach-in" scenes that reflect the conflict between the social conservative and Eastern Liberal within the author's psyche. I conclude that this conflict undermines the project and, despite laudable intentions, Updike perpetuates caricatures of the Left and hastens Middle America's rejection of Liberalism. Chapter Three illustrates how conservative rhetoric and much of popular culture had merged into a unified message of conservative populism. I argue that the first two Dirty Harry movies and the novel and film adaptation of Death Wish dramatize the Right's talking points on crime and the judiciary, and I describe how they reinforce the conservative movement's construction of Liberalism as effete and out of touch. In Chapter Four I detail the Hardhat Riots of May 1970 to establish the context for my reading of the film Joe, which depicts the resentment-based alliance between white collar economic conservatives and blue coll (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Timothy Melley PhD (Committee Chair); C. Barry Chabot PhD (Committee Member); Whitney Womack Smith PhD (Committee Member); Marguerite S. Shaffer PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; Film Studies; Literature; Motion Pictures

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2003, History

This thesis examines relations between the United States and South Africa during Richard Nixon's first presidential administration. While South Africa was not crucial to Nixon's foreign policy, the racially-divided nation offered the United States a stabile economic partner and ally against communism on the otherwise chaotic post-colonial African continent. Nixon strengthened relations with the white minority government by quietly lifting sanctions, increasing economic and cultural ties, and improving communications between Washington and Pretoria. However, while Nixon's policy was shortsighted and hypocritical, the Afrikaner government remained suspicious, believing that the Nixon administration continued to interfere in South Africa's domestic affairs despite its new policy relaxations. The Nixon administration concluded that change in South Africa could only be achieved through the Afrikaner government, and therefore ignored black South Africans. Nixon's indifference strengthened apartheid and hindered liberation efforts, helping to delay black South African freedom for nearly two decades beyond his presidency.

Committee: Jeffrey Kimball (Advisor) Subjects: History, United States

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2008, History

This dissertation analyzes the most significant events that took place in United States-European relations during the presidency of Richard M. Nixon, from 1969 to 1974. The first major study on transatlantic relations for this time period, it is drawn from newly released multi-lingual archival documents from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Richard Nixon Presidential Materials Project (NPMP), the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, the presidential libraries of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Gerald R. Ford, the archives of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU), the British National Archives (Kew), and the Nixon tapes. Through a groundbreaking presentation of diverse events such as Nixon and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Henry A. Kissinger's 1969 tour of European capitals, the condition of NATO after French withdrawal and the invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Nixon knockdown of and subsequent collapse of the Bretton Woods monetary regime on August 15, 1971, the 1973 American policy “The Year of Europe”, and the 1974 renegotiation of the terms of British membership of the European Community (EC), this study shows how while Nixon began his term of office in 1969 with a great public emphasis on close ties with Europe, over time Transatlantic relations were downgraded in importance by the White House as Nixon used Europe to launch more important foreign policy initiatives for which he is better known, including detente with the Soviets, rapprochement with the PRC, and bringing American military involvement in Southeast Asia to a final end.

Committee: Douglas Forsyth (Committee Chair); Gary Hess (Committee Member); Thomas Schwartz (Committee Member); Theodore Rippey (Committee Member) Subjects: History