Voices of the Past

The Second World War was a conflict that spanned the world and affected every individual alive in the combatant nations. It was a total war, a conflict that required immense involvement by combat troops and the populous at home. Anyone alive during the time remembers events from the war, even seventy-five years after it began. The war changed American society.

In order to understand what life was like for children during the Second World War, Alex interviewed two individuals. The first person he interviewed was his paternal grandmother, Margaret Nichols. The second person he interviewed was hi maternal grandmother, Margaret Vogel. Both born in 1930 to American families, they experienced the war first-hand as children and grew up in the aftermath. Their lives weren’t purely dictated by war, but it was a large part of their beginnings. See the transcripts of his interviews and listen to the interviews here!

The stacks of literature collect far and wide in the ivory towers as scholars continue to examine political polarization in the United States. Arguments are made for and against this idea, but ultimately scholars are left divided in dissent. Oral history is the last piece to this puzzle. Academia has the aggregate data, the studies, and nomothetic trends, but what the scholars are neglecting to study is how people perceive and speak about polarization. By integrating four oral histories into his research about political polarization, Ryan developed three key arguments. First, political polarization exists in both the political elite and the American electorate. Second, this problem results from the collective action of deregulated campaigning, lead party activists, and the mass media. Finally, a divide like this can be mended. Through studying how it is minimized in local governments, by increasing the accountability of elected officials, the effect of polarization can be diminished. A problem such as this, festering over time, will continue to wreak havoc on the American political system, making it is essential to adopt a solution sooner rather than later.

His interviews included Laura Fahey, 21, who will be graduating from the University of Rochester in May 2014 with a degree in International Relations, his grandmother Jean Olson, 63, who spent over a decade in politics at the local level, Kristian Seeley, 20, who is studying physical education at Hudson Valley Community College, and his father, Scott Olson, 49. See the transcripts of his interviews and listen to the interviews here!

The days, weeks and months after September 11th, 2001 were tumultuous ones. The United States scrambled to restructure an intelligence system that had been disintegrating since the fall of the Berlin Wall, multiple meetings were held between the highest levels of the Executive Branch and Pentagon, and George W. Bush was deciding the future of the United States. What was disarray in the government, however, was borderline panic in the public. Many just wanted answers. How did this happen? Who would do this?

Jordan chose to interview his mother, JoAnn Rogers, and a local Canton, NY woman, Kimberly Busch, about their experiences after the 9/11 attacks and the eventual invasion of Iraq as US citizens. See the transcripts of his interviews and listen to the interviews here!