Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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2009 - 200912010 - 20161

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Merchant Marine

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    CAST OFF: MARITIME LABOR IN AMERICA FROM 1935 TO 1955
    (2016) Swaim, Carlyn Marie; Sicilia, David B.; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Many studies have observed the precipitous decline in American shipping following the Second World War. Most focus on changes in maritime policy and the upsurge of flags of convenience. Yet this interpretation relegates mariners to a footnote. This thesis argues that America abandoned its seamen years before it abandoned its merchant marine, and that the labor story is an integral and largely overlooked dimension of the industry’s broader decline. It explores how the status and makeup of American seamen underwent monumental shifts from 1935 to 1955. Increased nationalization, improved conditions, and a patriotic cause boosted the standing of the industry, but federal and union intervention also changed the composition of the workforce and even eroded seamen’s status. These greater controls on mariners negatively affected the industry and this work contends that labor played a role in the transformation, and even decline, of the overall American Merchant Marine.
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    Ships of State: Maritime Policy as Foreign Policy Under the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946
    (2009) Beers, Lloyd Anthony; Sicilia, David B.; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    U.S. maritime policy immediately following World War II included the disposal of surplus merchant vessels to foreign countries under the terms of the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946. Concurrently, U.S. foreign policy was directed toward restoring balanced international trade and monetary flows. The U.S. Maritime Commission and the U.S. Department of State found a common purpose in the sales of surplus ships to foreign nations. The Maritime Commission wanted to rid itself of vessels it had no need to operate or maintain, and the State Department was anxious to facilitate vessel sales to further its foreign policy goals that included rapid global economic recovery, thriving multilateral trade, and containment of communism. This thesis examines the international objectives and outcomes of the combined efforts of the U.S. Maritime Commission and the U.S. Department of State to distribute surplus war-built merchant vessels to the maritime nations of the world.