Showing papers in "Pacific Historical Review in 1988"
TL;DR: The authors celebrated the centennial of a vigorous liberal arts college and the completion of John Schutz's mission of leading the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association well on its way toward the celebration of its own centennial.
Abstract: We celebrate this evening the centennial of a vigorous liberal arts college, as well as the completion of John Schutz's mission of leading the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association well on its way toward the celebration of its own centennial. This year's program has been a rich one, including panels on Chinese history offered by distinguished world authorities, especially fellow historians from Japan. The growing field of Pacific Rim studies has now received full recognition from our branch of the Association.
28 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the evolution of various proposals for a broad Pacific pact and emphasize the importance of various aspects of the subject in connection with an exposition of overall British or U.S. East Asian policy.
Abstract: 1. The Pacific pact has been mentioned in a number of writings. Some have treated it as a way-station on the road to the ANZUS Pact, while others have touched on one or more aspects of the subject in connection with an exposition of overall British or U.S. East Asian policy. Examples of the first tendency are Sir Percy Spender, Exercises in Diplomacy: The ANZUS Treaty and the Colombo Plan (New York, 1969); Trevor Reese, Australia, New Zealand and the United States: A Survey of International Relations, 1941-1968 (London, 1969); Joseph M. Siracusa and Glen St. John Barclay, "Australia, the United States, and the Cold War, 1945-51: From V-J Day to ANZUS," Diplomatic History, V (1981), 39-52. Examples of the second are Ritchie Ovendale, "Britain and the Cold War in Asia," in Ovendale, ed., The Foreign Policy of the British Labour Governments, 1945-1951 (Leicester, Eng., 1984), 121-148; Ovendale, "Britain, the United States and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, 1949-1950," International Affairs, LVIII (1982), 447-464; Ovendale, The English-Speaking Alliance: Britain, the United States, the Dominions and the Cold War, 1945-1951 (London, 1985); Robert M. Blum, Drawing the Line: The Origin of American Containment Policy in Asia (New York, 1982). While both approaches are valid, this article emphasizes the evolution of various proposals for a broad Pacific pact.
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11 citations
TL;DR: The pressure to do so was considerable. From January to May 1942, various local, state, and federal officials demanded that all "enemy" aliens and their families be interned for the duration of the war as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: States in December 1941, government bureaucrats in Washington and San Francisco, having already relocated approximately 10,000 German and Italian aliens along the West Coast for no other reason than their nationality, struggled with the question of whether or not to take the additional step of interning them and tens of thousands of others. The pressure to do so was considerable. From January to May 1942, various local, state, and federal officials demanded that all "enemy" aliens and their families be interned for the duration of the war.'
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10 citations
TL;DR: More is known about the urban history of the twentieth-century American West than ever before as mentioned in this paper, and urbanization, the working class, city bosses and reform mayors, ethnic minorities, and the "metropolitan-military complex" can be discussed with increasing sophistication.
Abstract: More is known about the urban history of the twentieth-century American West than ever before. For California, urbanization, the working class, city bosses and reform mayors, ethnic minorities, and the "metropolitan-military complex" can be discussed with increasing sophistication.1 Studies of these subjects provide important historical insight while at the same time provoking interest in another ques-
10 citations
9 citations
TL;DR: The United States entered the race for colonies, intervened militarily in several Latin American countries, and established close ties with its former antagonist, Great Britain, the world's leading colonialist power as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: But there have also been strong counter trends. The United States entered the race for colonies, intervened militarily in several Latin American countries, and established close ties with its former antagonist, Great Britain, the world's leading colonialist power. As a result, whenever in the twentieth century the United States encountered nationalism in a European colony, its response was ambivalent. Nowhere was this more apparent than in India-the jewel in the crown of the British empire-where (outside of the Philippines) Asian nationalism in a colonial setting first became an important issue for American foreign policy. Indian nationalists had long demanded a larger role in the affairs of their country. After World War I the Indian National Congress, which had been formed several decades
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the origins of water-resource history as a new field of American historiography and take into account the fact that the humid East wrote its development history first, under the aegis of the frontier school and its offshoot, a land-policy school of history.
Abstract: Sectionalism must be taken into account when one considers the origins of water-resource history as a new field of American historiography. The subject matter has had an active life of more than a century. During the period 1878-1978, historical writing developed around a central theme, namely, the reclamation by water of arid land in the West. Reclamation, through the instrumentality of irrigation agriculture, was conceived as the agent of development for the West. The region embraced the area of seventeen states and territories served by the Reclamation Bureau. At the same time, the eastern United States witnessed the acceptance and heady success of Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis, accenting the role of agricultural settlement and land as an important agent for economic development there. Simply put, the humid East wrote its development history first, under the aegis of the frontier school and its offshoot, a land-policy school of historiography. Western reclamation historiography appeared later and only recently, in the 1960s, broadened beyond its association with western agriculture to a water-resource historiography of its own.' Reclamation historiography, by and large, was the handi-
6 citations
TL;DR: In fact, a considerable majority of "forward thinking" southerners of the early postbellum period sought to modernize the South without turning to economic expansion, geographical growth, and international conflict.
Abstract: lived by the creed of sectional reconciliation, industrialism, progressive agriculture, and traditional social values-generally did not include in their blueprint for sectional change the concept of American expansion. Granted, Alabama's Senator John Tyler Morgan headed a small clique of southerners who often cooperated with northeastern expansionists. And, in fact, by 1900 Morgan's ideas would be embraced by most New South leaders. Nevertheless, a considerable majority of "forward thinking" southerners of the early postbellum period sought to modernize the South without turning to economic expansion, geographical growth, and international conflict. They were not attracted to the late-nineteenth century competition for empire which enticed so many others.'
5 citations
TL;DR: The United States-Japan relationship has been characterized by the American military strategy of preventing Soviet expansion and the American goal of ensuring participation on an equal basis of most countries in the vast global exchange of goods and services as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: When the military occupation of Japan ended in 1952, not even a Cassandra could have foretold what lay ahead for United States-Japanese relations. Now, a full generation later, the problems that divided the two countries before the Pacific War are absent. With generally similar diplomatic interests, Japan subscribes not only to the American military strategy of preventing Soviet expansion but also the American goal of ensuring participation on an equal basis of most countries in the vast global exchange of goods and services. Americans and Japanese alike, mindful of the exceptional role Japan currently plays in world affairs, are sensitive to the fact that, if Japan became alienated from the United States, its foreign policy might take any conceivable course-from accommodation with the Soviet Union to a mas-
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the Wilson administration's sincere but frustrated effort to help suffering Mexicans during the Mexican civil war, focusing on Wilson's meddling in the factional strife but ignoring American efforts to organize a humanitarian relief program.
Abstract: During the summer of 1915, while President Woodrow Wilson sought an agreement with the factional chiefs to end the Mexican civil war, the U.S. State Department asked the American Red Cross to accept responsibility for relieving threatened starvation in many areas of Mexico. Well aware of desperate conditions in areas of heavy fighting, Red Cross officials agreed to offer a helping hand, but did so reluctantly because of the problem of organizing relief in areas controlled by military chiefs. Unfortunately for millions of suffering Mexicans, Red Cross relief efforts were terminated within a few months by the Constitutionalist government of the First Chief, Venustiano Carranza, because of his fear of American intervention. This study examines the Wilson administration's sincere but frustrated effort to help suffering Mexicans. Historians of Mexican-American relations during this period have concentrated on Wilson's meddling in the factional strife but have ignored American efforts to organize a humanitarian relief program.' Fighting at various points south of the border during the insurrection of Francisco Madero against President Porfirio
TL;DR: The recall of elective officers is a basic component of democratic government in many state and local governments of the United States as mentioned in this paper and was first adopted in Los Angeles, where John Randolph Haynes and his associates labored for its passage to eliminate corruption in city government brought on by machine politicians.
Abstract: The recall of elective officers is a basic component of democratic government in many state and local governments of the United States. A panacea of Progressive era reform, the recall was first adopted in Los Angeles, where John Randolph Haynes and his associates labored for its passage to eliminate corruption in city government brought on by machine politicians and special interests. Reformers believed this "direct democracy" measure, along with the initiative and referendum, gave voters more influence in political affairs by empowering them to remove incompetent and unscrupulous officials before the end of their elected terms. In Los Angeles the recall was used to remove a city councilman and force a mayor to resign in the progressives' heyday, and to remove another councilman and mayor during the next thirty years.'
TL;DR: On November 16, 1936, Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested to his Cabinet that most of the western Pacific might be "neutralized" to maintain peace with Japan, which elicited a long, negative memorandum from the State Department that Roosevelt found infuriatingly "defeatist." Yet neutralization continued to pique the President's interest until 1937 when the Sino-Japanese conflict escalated into a major war as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: On November 16, 1936, Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested to his Cabinet that most of the western Pacific might be "neutralized" to maintain peace with Japan. The idea elicited a long, negative memorandum from the State Department that Roosevelt found infuriatingly "defeatist."' Yet neutralization continued to pique the President's interest until 1937, when the Sino-Japanese conflict escalated into a major war. At most, historians have seen in this brief episode evidence either of the administration's eagerness to "avert trouble with Japan," of the President's disappointment with the State Department, or of FDR's personal frustration because he could come up with no solution to the crisis in the Far East.2 Following Harold Ickes's report that Roosevelt wanted to promote "hemispheric neutrality" at the upcoming PanAmerican Conference, they have regarded his proposal for the Pacific more as a hint of what the United States intended