Date of Award

5-27-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Charles Romney

Abstract

This paper examines the ideology of obligation on the American home front in Central Arkansas during World War I and the World War II national defense period from November 1940--February 1941. Fundamental to the research is historian Robert Westbrook's contention that America, as a liberal democracy, relied on alternate means to encourage the discharge of obligations and commitments during the Second World War. The state appealed to private responsibilities, such as the family, in order to promote service when unable to rely upon the thicker sense of citizenship emblematic of republican ideology. In order to test Westbrook's theories of obligation, research employed primary source data, including completion reports from the World War I era army cantonment, Camp Pike, statewide newspaper reportage, and oral historical interviews with individuals displaced by the 40,000-acre expansion of the Camp Joseph T. Robinson military installation in early 1941.

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