History Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2778
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Item Minding the Gap: Western Export Controls and Soviet Technology Policy in the 1960s(2010) Cappiello, Diana Marie; David-Fox, Michael; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis examines the origins and evolution of Western export controls intended to limit the transfer of high technology, particularly computers, to communist countries, and how technology policy within the Soviet Union and other communist states was shaped by these controls. This work intends to demonstrate that Western attempts to control trade in high technology were responsive to changing economic and political realities and that changes in export controls produced corresponding changes in policy within the USSR. Ultimately, policies on both sides served to maintain and widen the technology gap between East and West far more dramatically than anticipated, deepening the economic stagnation of Eastern Europe and hastening the collapse of communism.Item The Practical Engineers' Rebellion: Evans Patent Safety Guard and the Failure of Scientific Technology in the Steam Boat Inspection Service, 1830-1862(2008-07-31) Bernhardt III, John A.; Friedel, Robert; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The U.S. Congress's initiative to solve the problem of steamboat boiler explosions in the mid-nineteenth century resulted in the Steamboat Act of 1852. The Act brought radical changes to the western rivers, including reform of the engineering cadre, introduction of new safety devices and procedures, and the creation of a new bureaucracy (the Steam Boat Inspection Service). One of the new safety devices introduced by the Treasury Department was the controversial Evans Patent Safety Guard. This is the story of the safety guard as a central actor in framing the expertise of scientists, inventors, and practical engineers in attempting to make technology safe. The safety guard helps us to understand where expertise came from, how it was defined and justified by government officials, and why the notion of technological expertise depends on a complex mix of technical, institutional, and socioeconomic factors.Item Commanding Men and Machines: Admiralship, Technology, and Ideology in the 20th Century U.S. Navy(2008-08-05) Hagerott, Mark Regan; Sumida, Jon T; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation engages the important historical and sociological question: how do organizations develop leaders? As technological complexity increased, the military struggled to produce leaders who could understand technology and yet integrate the operations of disparate parts of large organizations. In the late 20th century, the senior leader model in the U.S. military shifted from a 'generalist' to what can be described as a 'technical specialist' model. The commanding elite that resulted have been criticized as overly technical in orientation, and the system of leader development has been subject to several reform efforts. Missing from the reform debates is an historical understanding of how and why the officer system changed. This study contributes to the history by exploring the shift in U.S. Navy leader models from 'generalist' to 'technical specialist'. It is widely believed in military circles that the shift in leadership models from 'generalist' to 'specialist' was natural, an inevitable consequence of technological change. Among scholars, the shift in the U.S. Navy from 'generalist' to 'specialist' is typically associated with aviation, circa 1935-47. This dissertation challenges these notions. The shift in leader models was not fated by technology, but was the result of highly contingent bureaucratic battles fought between general line officers (generalists) and nuclear reactor specialists for control of the development of young officers. Chance events-- in particular, the sinking of USS THRESHER-- also shaped officer policy. This study argues that for six decades--from 1899 to 1963-- navy leadership affirmed the 'generalist' as the preferred model for commander. But in the 1960s the Navy abandoned the 'generalist' model. Admiral H.G. Rickover was largely responsible for the change. In the space of a decade, Rickover restructured assignment and education processes to produce technically expert officers for his nuclear machines. Naval Academy admissions criteria and curricula were changed such that specialized technical majors replaced general degrees and universal language education. The restructured processes encouraged officers to value specialized technical expertise over general knowledge, that is, integrated operational, strategic, and cultural knowledge. Aviators and surface officers followed Rickover's cue and by the 1970s adopted more specialized models of development for their respective officers.Item The Maintainers of Safety and Efficiency: The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, 1900-1940(2008-05-09) Williams, Robert C; Sicilia, David; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen is a little-known technical and political organization that gained power during the opening decades of the twentieth century through the increasingly complex nature of members' work, the vision of its leaders, and their abilities to gather support from other unions and the federal government. This thesis is organized around three themes: first, how the growing complexity of signal systems continually challenged signalmen to broaden signalmen's skills, which, in turn, gave them an advantage in asking for recognition as a skilled craft union; second, how the skills that signalmen employed brought them into conflict with other unions over signal department jobs; and third, how, despite having only between 10,000 and 19,000 members, the organization's leaders learned to negotiate using reason, evidence, and logic to demonstrate the union's importance in the industry as the custodians of public safety and rail traffic efficiency.Item "SCIENTIFIC TRUTH, RIGHTLY UNDERSTOOD, IS RELIGIOUS TRUTH": THE LIFE AND WORKS OF REVEREND EDWARD HITCHCOCK, 1793-1864(2005-12-13) Segal, Ariel Jacob; Gilbert, James B; History/Library & Information Systems; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Reverend Edward Hitchcock (1793-1864) was an important figure in 19th century American science. He contributed to the fields of geology and paleontology, and was the founder of paleoichnology. The overriding passion of Hitchcock's life was the reconciliation of science with evangelical Protestant Christianity. For most of his career, he located all of geological time in a "gap" between the first two verses of Genesis, but later tended to view the Creation days themselves as symbolic. Hitchcock also dealt intensively with the scientific understanding of Noah's flood. At first, he advocated a Deluge covering the entire planet. Subsequently, he held that the Deluge only affected the portion of the planet inhabited by humanity during the time of Noah. Hitchcock used evidence from science to support both natural and revealed religion. He combined this synthesizing with an increasingly extravagant romanticism, and confidently looked forward to continuing his scientific investigations in Heaven.Item Engineering Consent: Peenemuende, National Socialism, and the V-2 Missile, 1924-1945(2005-09-02) Petersen, Michael Brian; Herf, Jeffrey; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: ENGINEERING CONSENT: PEENEMUENDE, NATIONAL SOCIALISM, AND THE V-2 MISSILE, 1924-1945 Michael Brian Petersen, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation Directed By: Professor Jeffrey Herf Department of History This dissertation is the story of the German scientists and engineers who developed, tested, and produced the V-2 missile, the world's first liquid-fueled ballistic missile. It examines the social, political, and cultural roots of the program in the Weimar Republic, the professional world of the Peenemünde missile base, and the results of the specialists' decision to use concentration camp slave labor to produce the missile. Previous studies of this subject have been the domain of either of sensationalistic journalists or the unabashed admirers of the German missile pioneers. Only rarely have historians ventured into this area of inquiry, fruitfully examining the history of the German missile program from the top down while noting its administrative battles and technical development. However, this work has been done at the expense of a detailed examination of the mid and lower-level employees who formed the backbone of the research and production effort. This work addresses that shortcoming by investigating the daily lives of these employees and the social, cultural, and political environment in which they existed. It focuses on the key questions of dedication, motivation, and criminality in the Nazi regime by asking "How did Nazi authorities in charge of the missile program enlist the support of their employees in their effort?" "How did their work translate into political consent for the regime?" "How did these employees come to view slave labor as a viable option for completing their work?" This study is informed by traditions in European intellectual and social history while borrowing from different methods of sociology and anthropology. I argue that a web of professional ambition, internal dynamics, military pressure, and fear coalesced in this project. The interaction of these forces made the rapid development of the V-2 possible, but also contributed to an environment in which terrible crimes could be committed against concentration camp prisoners in the name of defending National Socialist Germany.