The advent and vast extent of immigration to the Great Plains states during the years 1865 to 1914 is perhaps best understood in light of the new international context that emerged during the 1860s in the aftermath of six large wars whose consequences included the enlargement of civil liberties, an acceleration of economic growth and technological…

In WW II, there was no nationwide shortage of scrap on the home front. In backyards, attics, barns, ditches, garages, and factory storage sheds across the country, all sorts of scrap material awaited transport and eventual conversion to arms. Yet the public's awareness of the scrap, and the national willpower necessary to collect it, seemed to be…

Representative Usher Burdick, who sat between 1949-1959, contributed to the isolationist label given to North Dakota. This Republican politician, not enthusiastic about U.S. participation in the Korean War, eagerly lambasted foreign aid during the Truman-Eisenhower years. Above all, the congressman attracted attention during the postwar period for…

As a major social force throughout the nineteenth century, religion proved an important factor in the settlement of the American West. Yet the idea of a religious figure as a western hero has never emerged in the popular culture adaptations of the Western, since the clergy are usually portrayed as gentle, "soft," or even somewhat…

In 1867, in an effort to avoid the high costs of war and protect overland transportation routes, Congress passed a bill authorizing a commission to establish peace with the Plains Indians. Despite signing treaties with a number of plains and western tribes, Congress failed to fulfill the treaty stipulations, and instead of initiating an era of…