A Consequence of Crisis: A Historical Policy Analysis Examining the Relationship between Economic and Military Crises and the Development and Effects of Early Federal Policy in Higher Education during the Twentieth century, 1934 to 1963

Author

Jon Edward Gorgosz, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

5-1-2018

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

History

First Advisor

Bean, Jonathan

Abstract

This study explores the effect of economic and military crises on federal policy growth in higher education from 1932 to 1963. By analyzing federal records, campus materials, newspapers and educational association journals, the papers demonstrates that economic crises led the federal government to institute decentralized state building efforts to resolve the emergency, while military crises resulted in more centralized growth. In addition, the paper also examines the effects of federal growth during the period on different institution types within higher education. The study explores how individual structures at each institutional type—such as missions, financial stability and history—influenced reactions to federal assistance. By examining institutional structures and their interaction with federal policy during the period, the paper provides a more complex analysis of the outcomes of federal growth for land-grant institutions, religious colleges and women’s colleges and universities that enriches the current historical understanding.