Category: History & Politics

Reflections on Mandan History & Culture By Joseph T. Stuart, PhD, Associate Professor of History, University of Mary As early as the 16th century, Mandan Indians lived in villages on both sides of the confluence of the Heart and Missouri Rivers, near the present-day cities of Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota. The Mandan referred to this area as “the heart of the world” because the Heart River (Natka Passahe or “river of the heart”) runs for 180 miles through the middle of their territory. Here, they believed, First Creator had made the world. Mandan villages, which are very near...

The Unpopular Origins of Populism By Jesse Russell, PhD Assistant Professor of English, University of Mary On March 4, 1829, Andrew Jackson was inaugurated as the seventh president of the United States. Following a new American tradition, Jackson hosted a reception at the White House. As well as the usual suspects of Washington’s high society, Jackson invited the frontiersmen and hillbillies who had helped sweep him into the White House. After losing a bitterly contested election in 1824, Jackson drew on the support of the American people and ran again in 1828, defeating John Quincy Adams, a fixture of...

Nuclear Weapons & the Always-Never Dilemma By Joseph T. Stuart, PhD Assistant Professor of History, University of Mary On September 18, 1980, Senior Airman David F. Powell dropped the nine-pound socket that he was using with a wrench to unscrew a Titan II missile pressure cap. Although Powell was only 21 years old, he was already an experienced Titan repairman. But it had been a long day and he was tired. As the socket bounced on the work platform, he tried to catch it. Powell missed and the socket fell through the gap between the platform and the missile....