This project examines the scientific developments, strategic considerations, and political circumstances that led to the rise and fall of herbicidal warfare in Vietnam. The historical narrative draws on a wide range of primary and secondary source literature on the Vietnam War and the Cold War, the history of science, and American and international history of the 1960s and 1970s. The author conducted archival research in the United States in a variety government and non-government research facilities and toured formerly sprayed areas in Vietnam. This project utilizes oral history interviews of American and Vietnamese scientists who were involved in some aspect of the Agent Orange controversy. The thesis explains why American scientists were able to force an end to the herbicide program in 1971 and ensure that the United States would not engage in herbicidal warfare in the future. This political success can be understood only in the context of two major political transformations in the Vietnam Era: the collapse of Cold War containment as a salient model of American foreign policy, and the development of globally-oriented environmental politics and security regimes. The movement to end herbicidal warfare helped shift the meaning of security away from the Cold War toward transnational efforts to combat environmental problems that threaten all of the world's people. / History

In 1931 the United States Children's Bureau asserted that "nothing short of really healthy children should satisfy parents." This thesis examines how literature published by the Children's Bureau from 1913 to 1933 shaped perceptions of motherhood and of maternal control over the body. As the bureau taught mothers how to care for their children, it also taught them that by following bureau advice, mothers could shape the bodies of their children to adhere to normative body standards. The research considers the relationship between mothers, the state, and the physical body. This thesis is divided into chapters about prenatal care and maternal marking; infant care and maternal policing; and child care and maternal control.

The "decision costs" of unanimity are a well known fact of collective decision making and in many instances provide the reason for rejection of such a rule. These costs, however, would not have proved prohibitive had the unanimity rule been applied to decisions regarding reorganization in government. Consolidation as a means of efficiency has been accepted by both the public administration literature and the public administrator alike; scarcely a word has been raised in objection when this means has been proposed to reduce cost. Recently, however, this unanimity has been challenged, notably or perhaps expectedly, by a number of individuals identified with the theory of public choice. These heretics have suggested the perverse relation, increased government spending as a result of consolidation. Their arguments are fashioned on the basis of some solid microeconomic theory and are well suited to the esoteric environment in which they have been presented. The contribution of this thesis will be clearly institutional rather than theoretical. I make no apology for this fact. What is needed before the inertia of a century of consolidation of government sweeps aside the voices of dissent is a presentation and discussion of the actual results of consolidation in light of its stated intent. Specifically the thesis will trace a history of government reorganization at the federal level while at the same time focusing on the continued emphasis placed upon consolidation. Additionally the discussions, events, and relevant characters involved in actual consolidations of government will be examined. The statistical method will allow a comparison of the actual allocation of resources to the consolidated bureau with that which could have been expected had consolidation not occurred. This comparison will result in an evaluation of whether consolidation does or does not achieve economy in government. / Ph. D.

Throughout the development of our country attitudes toward wilderness have gradually evolved, reflecting ever changing values and concerns. While colonial man viewed wilderness with fear and distaste and believed the worth of such areas was solely dependent on the economic value of its resources, his modern counterpart has begun to realize that the absolute preservation of wilderness is desirable and necessary in order to protect important inspirational, educational and ecological values generated from these lands. It follows that the federal agency we consider to be one of the largest holders of wilderness lands—the National Park Service—has not always employed wilderness preservation as a major criterion for national park establishment. The intent of this thesis is, thus, to trace the evolution of national attitudes toward wilderness through an examination of the development of the national park system, focusing on the types of parks created in different periods of time and the rationale used to justify park establishment. In this investigation the national park system was divided into five peak periods of establishment. Two parks were then selected from each period for examination as representative case studies. It was found that the parks of each period tended to possess similar physical characteristics, featured objects of preservation and rationale for inclusion into the system. As the park system developed a gradual broadening of concerns was apparent. With the introduction of new rationale and featured objects of preservation from peak to peak, rarely were previous concerns displaced entirely. Thus, the overall development of the park system can be interpreted as an additive process, resulting in the representation of an entire spectrum of environmental concerns by the fifth period of park establishment. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of History / Mark P. Parillo / The United States Army became the dominant U.S. government agency for post-World War II occupation planning. Despite President Roosevelt’s own misgivings, shared by several influential members of his Cabinet, the Army nonetheless prevailed in shaping occupation policy in accordance with its understanding and priorities. The Army’s primacy resulted from its own cultural and organizational imperatives, to include its drive towards professionalization and its acceptance of legalized standards for conflict in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Other related factors included the Army’s ability to create coherent internal doctrine, the training and experience of its leaders, the relative weakness of comparative civilian agencies, the real-world experiences of civil affairs in North Africa in 1942-43, and the personality and leadership style of President Roosevelt himself. As a result, the Army created internal training and education, doctrine, and organizations that operated both at the strategic and tactical level to implement military government in accordance with the Army’s institutional understanding. The Army’s planning and implementation of military government in Germany, Austria, and Korea show the effects of the Army’s dominance in planning and implementing the postwar occupations. Furthermore, in these three occupations (unlike Japan’s), of particular concern were how the Americans interacted with their Soviet counterparts in the occupied territories at the beginning of the Cold War. As these three occupations reveal, American military government in those locations, as well as the actions of the occupants themselves, profoundly shaped American interests in those countries and thus profoundly shaped American policy during the early Cold War.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of History / Mark P. Parillo / This dissertation examines the influence of the US Army experience in military government and occupation missions on occupations conducted during and immediately after World War II. The study concludes that army occupation experiences between the end of the Civil War and World War II positively influenced the occupations that occurred during and after World War II. The study specifically examines occupation and government operations in the post-Civil War American South, Cuba, the Philippines, Mexico, post-World War I Germany, and the major occupations associated with World War II in Italy, Germany, and Japan. Though historians have examined individual occupations, none has studied the entirety of the American army‘s experience with these operations. This dissertation finds that significant elements of continuity exist between the occupations, so much so that by the World War II period it discerns a unique American way of conducting occupation operations. Army doctrine was one of the major facilitators of continuity. An additional and perhaps more important factor affecting the continuity between occupations was the army‘s institutional culture, which accepted occupation missions as both important and necessary. An institutional understanding of occupation operations developed over time as the army repeatedly performed the mission or similar nontraditional military tasks. Institutional culture ensured an understanding of the occupation mission passed informally from generation to generation of army officers through a complex network of formal and informal, professional and personal relationships. That network of relationships was so complete that the World War II generation of leaders including Generals Marshall, Eisenhower, Clay and MacArthur, and Secretary of War Stimson, all had direct personal ties to individuals who served in key positions in previous occupations in the Philippines, Cuba, Mexico, or the Rhineland. Doctrine and the cultural understanding of the occupation mission influenced the army to devote major resources and command attention to occupation operations during and after World War II. Robust resourcing and the focus of leaders were key to overcoming the inevitable shortfalls in policy and planning that occurred during the war. These efforts contributed significantly to the success of the military occupations of Japan and Germany after World War II.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Kevin S. Blake / Monuments and memorials are how we record history on the landscape. History is created, preserved, and remembered by those who envision, design, and ultimately pay a visit to, these sites. The Oregon Trail is replete with interpretive sites relating to various events and people who lived along or traveled this route. From Independence, Missouri to Fort Laramie National Historic Site in Wyoming along the Great Plains section of the trail, Plains Indians are represented in thirty-two sites that convey various versions of history. The majority of these sites, twenty-seven, either ignore the Plains Indians or turn them into a stereotypical form of Sioux. These two representations give a sense that “No One is Home” or that “Siouxification” has occurred, a process by applying Sioux cultural traits to non-Sioux Plains Indians. The other five sites are categorized as “Getting It Right.” These sites either portray an accurate or close-to-accurate representation of the Indians and their role along the Oregon Trail. “No One is Home” is found all throughout the trail; “Siouxification” is clustered in the eastern study area; and “Getting It Right” primarily in the eastern portion.

Master of Arts / Department of History / Sue Zschoche / In the United States, legal authorities well into the 20th century wanted to maintain the integrity of the marriage union; therefore, early divorce laws made it difficult to get divorced. When two individuals, a man and a woman, signed a marriage contract, their identities as two individuals became secondary to their identities as husband and wife. The “unit” established by the marriage was now a matter of public interest and of greater social importance than either individual. Legally, legislatures writing the laws and the courts enforcing them therefore did their best to maintain this unit. When one member of the unit petitioned for divorce, in effect they were claiming the actions of the other member of the unit had violated the legal and sacred bonds of that unit. In the late 19th century, western states, including Kansas began to make more liberal provisions for divorce. This study will examine those liberal divorce laws in Kansas with a particular focus on women who, like the Populist orator Mary Elizabeth Lease, used the law to protect their individual property interests in a marriage. Though such women were by no means the majority of women who sought divorce, their cases highlight a growing controversy in late nineteenth century Kansas over the state’s provisions for divorce. The openness of the state’s divorce laws allowed individuals, including female individuals, to use the law for their own purposes. Faced with the staggering increase in the Kansas divorce rate by the end of the century, some judges complained that the law did not adequately protect the state’s interest in preserving marital unions. To date, the historiography on divorce has focused on nation-wide trends. By focusing on Kansas law and the experience of women in the north central part of the state, this study seeks to open up an analysis, not just of the law, but of how individuals used the law. Chapter One includes a discussion on the evolution of divorce law in the United States. Chapter Two focuses on Kansas law and examines the uses that two particular women made of that law to act on their own behalf. Chapter Three examines the growing controversy in the late nineteenth century Kansas regarding the rising divorce rate and uses a controversial Clay County case to highlight some of the judicial concerns about the “abuses” of the law.

Master of Architecture / Department of Architecture / Richard L. Hoag / The years of World War II mark a time of significant sociological and cultural change. In the United States, new technologies were introduced, and family structure and family economics changed. These changes were reflected in the popular media, including housing design publications. This thesis examines the design of the American house from 1935 to 1955 as presented in House Beautiful, originally The House Beautiful and first published in 1896, and how it changed during this twenty-year period. Seven themes were used to organize and describe change during this period. These themes are: 1) family structure and economics, 2) technology, 3) construction, 4) automobile, 5) site and spatial relationships, 6) status, and 7) privacy. Changes in presentation of the house in House Beautiful are shown by comparing and contrasting feature house articles across the twenty-year study period. The focus audience of House Beautiful magazine was what the publishers of House Beautiful characterized as the average American, while in fact the designs were not for the masses. Rather, the magazine catered to the ideal image of the average American. Trends discussed in relation to changes in house design include the following: family stability and security, privacy, home-ownership, transportation, suburban development, the process of Americanization, quality of life, and household efficiency.

Master of Arts / Department of History / Robert D. Linder / As the United States descended into war in 1861, the religious leaders of the nation were among the foremost advocates and recruiters for both the Confederate and Union forces. They exercised enormous influence over the laity, and used their sermons and periodicals to justify, promote, and condone the brutal fratricide. Although many historians have focused on the promoters of war, they have almost completely ignored the Disciples of Christ, a loosely organized religious movement based on anti-sectarianism and primitive Christianity, who used their pulpits and periodicals as a platform for peace. This study attempts to merge the remarkable story of the Disciples peace message into a narrative of the Civil War. Their plea for nonviolence was not an isolated event, but a component of a committed, biblically-based response to the outbreak of war from many of the most prominent leaders of the movement. Immersed in the patriotic calls for war, their stance was extremely unpopular and even viewed as traitorous in their communities and congregations. This study adds to the current Disciples historiography, which states that the issue of slavery and the Civil War divided the movement North and South, by arguing that the peace message professed by its major leaders divided the movement also within the sections. In fact, by the outbreak of war, the visceral debates that occurred among the Disciples leadership did not center on the issue of slavery, constitutionality of secession, or even which belligerent was in the right. The chief point of contention was whether a Christian, based on New Testament precepts, could participate in war. The nonviolent leaders thought that their peace message derived from the New Testament would be the one thing that would preserve unity in the brethren. In reality, it became the primary source of division.