There are some similarities with the election law debates today and the 1852 election. By the 1850s, the parties were solidified, you were either a Whig or a Democrat. Both parties ran a war hero from the Mexican War and both parties endorsed the biggest issue of the day, the 1850 Compromise. So, for this … Continue reading Class Notes
Author: James Finck
Dr. James W. Finck was raised in the shadows of history in the great state of Virginia. Growing up it was difficult to travel too far without running into a monument or battlefield from the Revolutionary or Civil War. In this environment, Finck developed a love for studying the past and from his youth knew that he wanted to make it his life’s work. Finck received a B.A. from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. He then studied under James I. Robertson and William C. Davis at Virginia Tech, while earning a Master’s degree. Finally, he received his Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas, under the direction of Daniel Sutherland. For five years, Finck taught at the University of Texas-Pan American before accepting his current position as American Historian at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in 2011. At a small liberal arts institution, Finck considers himself a generalist in history, but his specialties are the Civil War and American Politics. Finck has established himself in Oklahoma with the creation of the Oklahoma Civil War Symposium, which has brought in leading Civil War scholars for the past eight years, and he has spoken at many venues around Oklahoma, especially working with the Honey Spring Battlefield. Finck is the author of Divided Loyalties: Kentucky’s Struggle for Armed Neutrality in the Civil War, as well as Images of America: Chickasha. Finck is also the author of the syndicated newspaper column “Historically Speaking.”
Class Notes
By the 1970s the environment had started to become a major political issue. Americans had begun to realize that they were hurting the planet. A very savvy President Nixon was able to use the environment as a unifying issue. The silent majority, businessmen, and student protesters could all agree saving the planet was a positive … Continue reading Class Notes
Class Notes
The Mexican War made it difficult to keep the new political parties intact. Because the north saw the war as an attempt to acquire more slave land the politicians began to side more with their section than with their party. When David Wilmot tried to pass a rider on an appropriations bill that outlawed slavery … Continue reading Class Notes
Class Notes
Today instead of a class note I want to write an editorial. I think all Americans should be concerned about the executive order made yesterday by President Biden. Try to forget for a moment, if you can, whether you agree with Biden or not and try instead to focus on the procedure. Democrats in Congress … Continue reading Class Notes
Class Notes
1967 became known as the "Summer of Love," as thousands of hippies flocked to the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. Here they experienced an orgy of drugs, music, and free love. The nightly concerts introduced artists like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and the Grateful Dead. It was not meant to be political but can … Continue reading Class Notes
Class Notes
The Whigs had been cheated out of a victory in the 1840 election. They had finally won the presidency, only to have him die after a month. His replacement, John Tyler, had been a Democrat but used by the Whigs to get southern votes. Tyler, who fought against the Whigs, was basically a man without … Continue reading Class Notes
Class Notes
By 1968, the New Left movement began to fall apart. The Democratic Party turned on Johnson over his Vietnam policies. Eugene McCarthy basically stopped campaigning after Bobby Kennedy’s assassination. The Civil Rights groups pulled out after Martin Luther King’s assassination. Finally, when the Democrats nominated Hubert Humphrey, who wanted to continue Johnson’s fight over seas, … Continue reading Class Notes
Jim Crow Voting?
Possibly one of the most important fights of this new century is being waged right now in the halls of Congress, in state houses across the nation, and with lesser significance on social media. The question is about voter accessibility and who has the right to determine it. With COVID-19, voter accessibility was expanded and … Continue reading Jim Crow Voting?
Book Review
Stephen Kinzer, All the Shaw’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror, John Wiley and Sons, 2008 In 1953, there was an interesting and tragic event that occurred in Iran that hardly any Americans know anything about, but yet almost every Iranian does. The year before the tragedy, the very popular … Continue reading Book Review
Class Notes
In many ways during the 1960s the fight against authority or “the Man” started in colleges. They were seen as a microcosm of the larger issues the students felt they were facing. In the 1960s, colleges still functioned as “In Loco Parentis,” or replacing the role of parents when the students were under their care. … Continue reading Class Notes
