This is the first single volume to focus on the presidencies of both James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. Drawing from a host of studies on the foreign and domestic policies of the nation during the Gilded Age, as well as from his own primary research, the author presents a somewhat revisionist look at Garfield and Arthur—revisionist in that he gives the reader a renewed appreciation of both men. Far from being cynical spoilsmen or naive incompetents, individuals whose presidencies provide studies in ineptitude, Garfield and Arthur emerge as men of considerable ability. While making no claims of greatness, Doenecke maintains that each was a significant transitional figure, playing a crucial role as the institution of the presidency moved from the weak leadership of Andrew Johnson to the forceful direction of Theodore Roosevelt. According to Doenecke, Garfield saw the office of chief executive primarily in administrative terms, and his great battle was over keeping the power of appointment in his own hands. His victory over the Stalwarts enhanced both the power and prestige of the office. His knowledge of how government worked was unmatched; long before Woodrow Wilson made his mark, Garfield was "the scholar in politics." The diplomacy of Secretary of State James G. Blaine comes under critical scrutiny. Doenecke evaluates his performance in the Chile-Peru War (War of the Pacific), the Guatemala-Mexico dispute, the isthmian-canal issue, Irish-American activities in Britain, and efforts to secure markets in Korea. ,br>Garfield was assassinated less than six months after he entered office; he had yet to be tested on major issues of public policy. Chester A. Arthur was ill prepared to be chief executive, was in poor health much of the time while he was in office, and was faced with a hopelessly divided party. Nevertheless, he was one of the nation's great political surprises. His administration pioneered in the development of the navy, sought foreign markets for American surpluses, fostered civil-service reform, and pressed for a scientific tariff. Doenecke devotes one chapter to the spoils system and the background to the Pendleton Act, one to Arthur's strategy regarding the South, and then offers an in-depth analysis of diplomacy during Arthur's tenure. During the presidencies of Garfield and Arthur, the United States attempted to intervene in a war between Chile and Peru, sought to turn Nicaragua into a protectorate, supplied leading advisers to Madagascar and Korea, and took a major part in the Congo conference of 1884. In examining these activities, even while pointing to uncoordinated statecraft and inept diplomacy, Doenecke challenges the long-held view that, from 1881 to 1885, the nation was withdrawn and insular. His fresh perspective on the Garfield and Arthur years will be of considerable interest to historians of the Gilded Age.

Traces the modern research and development center from its dual origin when David Taylor and George Melville brought science and technology to the emerging steam-driven steel fleet, through a full century of modernization and several reorganizations. Details the constant work to transform vision into reality, and to keep innovation flowing from cutting-edge science and technology into the Navy's ships and submarines.

In a work of unprecedented scope, Thomas D. Schoonover combines exhaustive multicountry archival research with a sophisticated theoretical framework grounded in world systems theory to elucidate the relations between the United States and Central America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Schoonover's archival research in Central America, Europe, and the United States encompasses public, business, organizational, and individual records. In analyzing this material, Schoonover applies a world systems theory approach with that of social imperialism and dependency theory to underscore the broad, multistate dimension of international affairs. In exploring the international history of Central America, Schoonover describes the role of personalities such as John C. Frémont, Otto von Bismarck, Theodore Roosevelt, Manuel Estrada Cabrera, and José Santos Zelaya; the impact of railroad building and canal projects; and the role of pan-Americanism, nationalism, racism, and anti-Americanism.

This book spans more than 200 years of U.S. diplomatic history. Its geographical scope widens along with the expanding interests of America itself, from initial exclusive concern with the empires of Europe, to the emerging nations of Latin America, to the commercial opportunities and geopolitical concerns of Asia and Africa. The ambassadors chosen for inclusion reflect these historical changes in American foreign relations. Organized alphabetically, the biographies present an implicit account of the evolution of the U.S. diplomatic service, from its founding and early principles through the 20th century evolution of its habits and culture.

The thirteen mainland colonies of early America were arguably never more British than on the eve of their War of Independence from Britain. Though home to settlers of diverse national and cultural backgrounds, colonial America gradually became more like Britain in its political and judicial systems, material culture, economies, religious systems, and engagements with the empire. At the same time and by the same process, these politically distinct and geographically distant colonies forged a shared cultural identity—one that would bind them together as a nation during the Revolution. Anglicizing America revisits the theory of Anglicization, considering its application to the history of the Atlantic world, from Britain to the Caribbean to the western wildernesses, at key moments before, during, and after the American Revolution. Ten essays by senior historians trace the complex processes by which global forces, local economies, and individual motives interacted to reinforce a more centralized and unified social movement. They examine the ways English ideas about labor influenced plantation slavery, how Great Britain's imperial aspirations shaped American militarization, the influence of religious tolerance on political unity, and how Americans' relationship to Great Britain after the war impacted the early republic's naval and taxation policies. As a whole, Anglicizing America offers a compelling framework for explaining the complex processes at work in the western hemisphere during the age of revolutions. Contributors: Denver Brunsman, William Howard Carter, Ignacio Gallup-Diaz, Anthony M. Joseph, Simon P. Newman, Geoffrey Plank, Nancy L. Rhoden, Andrew Shankman, David J. Silverman, Jeremy A. Stern.

In recent decades the Internet has played what may seem to be a unique role in international crises. This book reveals an interesting parallel in the late nineteenth century, when a new communications system based on advances in submarine cable technology and newspaper printing brought information to an excitable mass audience. A network of insulated copper wires connecting North America, the Caribbean, South America, and Europe delivered telegraphed news to front pages with unprecedented speed. Britton surveys the technological innovations and business operations of newspapers in the United States, the building of the international cable network, and the initial enthusiasm for these electronic means of communication to resolve international conflicts. Focusing on United States rivalries with European nations in Latin America, he examines the Spanish American War, in which war correspondents like Richard Harding Davis fed accounts of Spanish atrocities and Cuban heroism into the American press, creating pressure on diplomats and government leaders in the United States and Spain. The new information system also played important roles in the U.S.-British confrontation in the Venezuelan boundary dispute, the building of the Panama Canal, and the establishment of the U.S. empire in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

This volume seeks to critically review the contemporary state of maritime historiography, as it stands at the volume's publication date of 1995. The volume is comprised of thirteen essays, each focused on the recent research into the maritime concerns of a particular geographical location, listed as follows: Australia; Canada; China; Denmark; Germany; Greece; Ibero-America; India; the Netherlands; the Ottoman Empire; Spain; the United States; and a final chapter concerning historians and maritime labour in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. One concern made evident by the collection is the lack of stable identity and cohesive aims within maritime history, the subject holds many conflicting definitions and concepts. The purpose of this volume is to explore the recent developments in maritime history, plus the growth of scholarly interest, to provide a 'beacon and stimulus for future work' and to clearly direct and define maritime historiography toward a solid position in the field of history.