UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Suitcase Diplomacy: The Role of Travel in Sino-American Relations, 1949-1968(2010) Rubin, Daniel Aaron; Olson, Keith; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines U.S. travel in the context of Sino-American relations between 1949 and 1968. Building on recent scholarship on tourism and foreign relations, this dissertation argues that historians cannot develop a comprehensive understanding of the U.S. relationship with the People's Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and Hong Kong without establishing travel and travelers as significant agents of historical change. Using tourism as a centerpiece of historical inquiry, moreover, adds complexity to the traditional Cold War narrative and suggests that other forces, aside from East-West struggle, defined the international climate in the post-World War II period. The post-1945 boom in recreational tourism did not materialize uniformly around the world. On the mainland of China, swept up in civil war, travel was difficult and unappealing. The emergence of Cold War tensions in the region added a new obstacle to tourism as Washington imposed restrictions on American travel. Using the founding of the PRC as a starting point, this dissertation follows the course of American travel and travel policy in the region. As opposed to being marked by isolation and disengagement, the period from 1949 to 1968 saw incredible activity in the area of travel. In terms of U.S.-PRC relations, travel served as a medium of engagement and both sides showed a willingness to initiate travel exchanges and reforms to travel policy as a means of feeling out the opposing camp. Moving beyond the mainland of China, U.S. officials, private industry, and individual travelers perceived Taiwan and Hong Kong as "alternatives" to the PRC and both destinations experienced huge booms in tourism. In all these realms, travel developed both as a crucial element of U.S. containment policy and as a phenomenon that seemed disconnected from Cold War strategy. Using government archival material, travelogues, travel guides, records from international tourism associations, and popular advertisements, this dissertation demonstrates that tourism was not always the most efficient channel for foreign policy. The expectations and motivations of individual tourists, the overwhelming belief in a "right to travel," and the unpredictable impact of tourism on local economies, all worked to add complexity and nuance to the Sino-American post-World War II relationship.Item Pawns of the Cold War: John Foster Dulles, the PRC, and the Imprisonments of John Downey and Richard Fecteau(2004-08-16) Rubin, Daniel Aaron; Olson, Keith W; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In November 1954 Chinese officials produced two American prisoners who they had accused and convicted of being Central Intelligence agents. Outraged American officials denied the charges, labeling the men "civilians." This thesis traces the subsequent, twenty-year imprisonments of these two Americans - John Downey and Richard Fecteau and places the prisoner issue in the context of Sino-American relations throughout the first two decades of the Cold War. Analyzing American and Chinese policy between 1954 and 1973, this thesis argues that the imprisonments need not have lasted as long as they did. Due to the uncompromising and anticommunist actions of Secretary of State Dulles, the United States missed several opportunities (created by the Chinese) to bring the men home. Despite the ineffectiveness of Dulles's policy, it was not until the 1970s, at the height of Sino-American détente, that American and Chinese officials reached a final agreement on the two prisoners.