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From the Editor
Get PDFDear Reader:On behalf of the Editorial Board and Staff, I am proud to present to you thetwelfth edition of the Fairmount Folio, an annual publication of some of the besthistorical research from WSU\u27s graduate and undergraduate students.This issue has a marked emphasis on American history, where minority groups such as Native Americans and gays and lesbians figure prominently. This emphasis is not intentional. The selection was made by the Editorial Board based on the merit of the research papers, and from this process, five outstanding papers were selected.The opening piece by Marquez is titled "Understanding Homosexuality in Postwar Kansas." In this the author examines some of the major developments that were occurring in the nation\u27s cities concerning the understanding of homosexuality, and how these were reflected in Kansas at a time when the interstate highway system was beginning to emerge. In the second piece, "Smallpox: The American Fur Company Pox Outbreak of 1837-1838," Ables discusses the great smallpox epidemic, and its effects on the Native American population of the Upper Missouri region. Ramsey\u27s "Understanding the Cherokee War" is an analysis of the diplomatic relations between Cherokees and English, and the events that led to the British-Cherokee conflict of 1759, and Marquez\u27s "Persecution of Homosexuals in the McCarthy Hearings" deals with the role that the famous senator played in the lavender scare of the early fifties. The closing piece departs from this thematic pattern. In "Preparing for the Future War," Munshaw analyzes the major Soviet military buildup of the early thirties, as previewed in Stalin\u27s First Five Year Plan.I would like to extend my gratitude to the Editorial Board members for their hard work in reviewing and selecting these research papers. In addition, I would like to thank professors Robert Owens and Robin Henry for their useful feedback in the improvement of the students\u27 works. Finally, I thank Dr. Helen Hundley for her enthusiastic support and great editorial vision in aiding me with this privileged task. In times of economic stress and budget cuts, publications like this show that supporting the humanities never goes unrewarded.Hugo MarquezApril 201
Dr. John Brinkley: Quack Doctor, Radio Personality, and Politician
Get PDF"What a little tinkering with his character, a little more honesty here, a little more intelligence there-would have made him a real leader of men."1 William Allen White, the famous newspaperman from Emporia never was an ardent fan of Dr. John R. Brinkley. During much of the 1930s, White, along with other news writers, newspaper owners, medical journal writers, radio men, and other various commentators, engaged in a campaign to destroy the famous "rejuvenation" doctor. Others considered Brinkley to be the greatest doctor in North America, if not the world. Brinkley indeed, could have improved on his honesty and his character. However, he was not unintelligent or backwards. On the contrary, he was one of America\u27s first true media moguls. He had a true savoir-faire for self-promotion and understanding for the awesome possibilities of mass media marketing. Brinkley saw potential in new technologies and devised new methods to exploit them to their fullest. He used both good and bad press to further the world\u27s knowledge of himself and his work. He pioneered mass advertising by utilizing America\u27s modern postal system, newspaper advertisements, pamphlets, radio, and recorded media. With the same zeal that he exuded in his medical practice, he unintentionally became an innovator in radio broadcasting, modern American political campaigning, mass media advertising and "get rich quick" schemes. Much of what we are familiar with today in the world of "as seen on TV", quack medicines and cures, contemporary political campaigning and the modern day country music industry, can be traced, in part, back to Dr. John Brinkley, the goat-gland doctor
From the Editor
Get PDFDear Reader:We are pleased to present the fourteenth edition of the FairmountFolio. This year we present works from both undergraduate and graduatestudents in Wichita State University\u27s history department. Each of theseessays was chosen for its content and overall quality by the EditorialBoard and carefully edited by myself and Dr. Helen Hundley to providethe reader with the highest caliber of scholarship.This issue, all of our entries deal with war: the reaction to war, war itself, the effects of war, and war of a different kind in our own society. An unattributed quote my mother often told me growing up was, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting their own battle." This has resonated throughout the editing of this volume. As I encountered American Indian relations in the American Revolution with Jason Herbert\u27s work, john Skelton\u27s work about venereal disease among soldiers, the oft-looked over Memel problem in Nathaniel Lutke\u27s essay, Sarah Lavallee\u27s work on post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers, Angela Sager\u27s writing on the Mennonite reaction to the Vietnam War, and Tyler Thornton\u27s work on local battles in the fight for rights of Wichita\u27s homosexual community, I realized that battles are fought in every aspect of life; including editing, writing, and college level studentship in general. By analyzing these topics as they do, the student writers allow us to realize the effects of battles on everyday people fighting both militaristic wars and wars in society.I must thank Dr. Helen Hundley for her supreme leadership role, kindness, and keen eye in the editing process. The Folio, as always, is indebted to the Editorial Board: Dr. Robert Weems, Dr. Jay Price, and student editor Jason Herbert. Lastly, a thank you to Denise Burns is necessary, who has helped students who do not have the insight in word processors that she does format their papers for our use.Enjoy.Jillian OverstakeApril 2012
Wichita\u27s Gay Rights Ordinance No. 35-242: Back in the Closet
Get PDFThroughout the 1970s, several jurisdictions in the United States outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. At the same time, a major shift regarding policy in LBGT (Lesbian Bisexual Gay Transgender) issues occurred. On one side there were advocacy groups that sought to formalize the protection of homosexuals against discrimination in housing and employment.286 There were equally vocal arguments from those who opposed these anti-discriminatory laws, sometimes resulting in their repeal
Revelation Ignored: Newspapers and Eschatology in Colonial America, 1690-1775
Get PDFHistorians have often asserted that during the colonial era, prominent ministers and their congregations, especially those in New England, imagined themselves as living in a "city on a hill" or a "New Jerusalem." This belief, if true, placed colonists at the literal center of the spiritual universe. But, unlike ministers, colonial newspapers were not above using the imagery of the apocalypse for secular arguments, such as humorously linking radical English politician John Wilkes with the antichrist. Alan Heimert wrote in Religion and the American Mind, that, "Whether the millennial theory of post-Awakening Calvinism was intellectually respectable may be questioned, but what cannot be gainsaid is that the expectancy expressed in that theory controlled the mind of the period."2 Heimert\u27s thesis, controversial even at its birth, that the Great Awakening provided the impetus for the American Revolution, has since its publication been largely discarded as provocative but unpersuasive.3 Despite Heimert\u27s discourse-provoking work, the understanding of how eschatology was approached by ministers and laymen has remained largely stagnant. If eschatology, broadly defined as the theology of the last things including judgment, death, heaven and hell, did not control the entire mind of the period, did it at least control religious thought? The record provided by religious texts appeared clear; Colonial Americans believed in and feared the imminent destruction of the earth and the thousand-year reign of Christ, though not necessarily in that order. However, an examination of colonial newspapers suggests that millennial theory did not control religious thought and that furthermore, newspapers deliberately declined to publish discourse related to the serious study of eschatology.
Understanding the Cherokee War
Get PDFThe Cherokee Nation launched a war against its former English allies in the fall of 1759, which lasted until the fall of 1761. The complex diplomatic relationship between the English and the Cherokees led to this relatively brief period of conflict. Against the backdrop of the North American Seven Years\u27 War between France and England, Britain\u27s continued exploitation and condescension toward the Cherokees, and its insatiable hunger for Cherokee land led to a great bloodshed of colonists and Cherokees. An examination of the events leading to the dissolution of this once robust alliance reveals the motivations for both British and Cherokees, as well as the cultural misunderstandings that existed between the two. This in turn helps us recognize and understand the near inevitability of the Cherokee War
Persecution of Homosexuals in the McCarthy Hearings: A History of Homosexuality in Postwar America and McCarthyism
Get PDFThe postwar years were a time of great changes for homosexuals in the United States. The conjunction of the fear and anxiety of the first Cold War years, negative stereotypes held as scientific truths explaining homosexuality, and the greater awareness people had about the existence of gays and lesbians resulted in an environment of misunderstanding and persecution. Within this environment, positive scientific contributions toward the understanding of homosexuality such as Kinsey\u27s report were twisted to fit the larger societal preconceptions, and even influenced the creation of legislation aimed at eradicating homosexuals from the government
Those Pirates and Muslim Barbarians: The American Public View of the Barbary Nations and the United States Participation in the Barbary War
Get PDFAlthough the Marine Anthem is sung quite often throughout the country, relatively few know the extent of its history or the meaning of the phrase, "from the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli." In the early 1800s the United States was at war with the Barbary Nations in what would come to be known as the Barbary Wars. The American public glorified the United States and made the Barbary nations into an evil enemy. The historiography of the Barbary Wars tends to be written from a diplomatic or military approach, and understandably so. The fight against these North African pirates afforded some of the earliest and most celebrated actions of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. This combat also began a long and ongoing U.S. military presence in the Middle East, and the American public\u27s interest in the greater Islamic world. Little has been written, though, on the new nation\u27s reaction to the war. This article will address the American people\u27s reaction to the United States dealing with the Barbary Nations.
Unburied Hatchet: The Creek Struggle for Neutrality During the American Revolution
Get PDFBritish General Archibald Campbell could not have been happy. Besieged on all sides in the South by Patriot and Spanish forces, he mustered little support from his native allies, the Creek Indians. When he engaged his enemy, few Creeks were present for battle. With the American Revolution rapidly drawing to a close, Campbell experienced the ambivalence of the Creek nation in late 1781. This was especially frustrating and disappointing for British goals of keeping at least the southernmost colonies. That England was not able to ever fully recruit what James Adair referred to as "the most powerful Indian nation we are acquainted with on this continent" may have lost them South Carolina, Georgia, and East and West Florida. As John Alden later wrote, "It was a happy circumstance for the Southern states, suffering as they did from Cherokee onslaughts that the belligerent Creeks never threw their full weight into the war on the Southern frontier."
Early Developmental Screening in High-Risk Communities: Implications for Research and Child Welfare Policy
Get PDFEarly detection of developmental delays in children living in high-risk communities enables effective intervention and promotes positive outcomes. Until now, the mechanisms by which these risks and benefits arise and persist have yet to be documented from a synergistic perspective. We take a dynamic, ecological theoretical approach to examine the interplay between developmental surveillance, professional support and parental understanding of children\u27s developmental progress. The Regional ASQ Developmental Screening Project* used geo-mapping to target the highest risk communities in three metropolitan Detroit counties. Statistical analyses using paired t tests compared screening results for 1,640 children in high-risk communities to results for 24,220 children living in surrounding communities. Children in high-risk communities had a substantially higher risk of developmental delay than the rest of Metro Detroit (43% vs. 28%). There were significant differences in the overall scores from the initial screens (M =2.38, SD = .788) to subsequent screens (M = 2.46, SD =.706): t (1,640) = -5.104 p < .05, suggesting that risk of delay decreases over time. There were statistically significant differences in the overall risk for developmental delay and within in the domain of fine motor development. These results 19 provide an empirical basis to develop prevention and intervention programs and child welfare policy. We suggest ways to build capacity at the individual, institutional, and societal levels. Future research should focus on exploring the unique interplay of community-level risk with family and child level risk and protective factors