Making Citizen-Soldiers: ROTC and the Ideology of American Military ServiceThis book examines the Reserve Officers Training Corps program as a distinctively American expression of the social, cultural, and political meanings of military service. Since 1950, ROTC has produced nearly two out of three American active duty officers, yet there has been no comprehensive scholarly look at civilian officer education programs in nearly forty years. While most modern military systems educate and train junior officers at insular academies like West Point, only the United States has relied heavily on the active cooperation of its civilian colleges. Michael Neiberg argues that the creation of officer education programs on civilian campuses emanates from a traditional American belief (which he traces to the colonial period) in the active participation of civilians in military affairs. Although this ideology changed shape through the twentieth century, it never disappeared. During the Cold War military buildup, ROTC came to fill two roles: it provided the military with large numbers of well-educated officers, and it provided the nation with a military comprised of citizen-soldiers. Even during the Vietnam era, officers, university administrators, and most students understood ROTC's dual role. The Vietnam War thus led to reform, not abandonment, of ROTC. Mining diverse sources, including military and university archives, Making Citizen-Soldiers provides an in-depth look at an important, but often overlooked, connection between the civilian and military spheres. |
Contents
12 | |
A Favored Position on Campus The Military and Higher Education in the Cold War Era 19501964 | 35 |
The Origins of Postwar Dissatisfaction | 60 |
The ROTC Vitalization Act 19641968 | 84 |
ROTC from Tet to the AllVolunteer Force | 112 |
ROTC in the Era of the AllVolunteer Force 19721980 | 151 |
A New Academic Program ROTC 19721980 | 182 |
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Common terms and phrases
academic administrators Affairs AFROTC Air Force American Archives argued Armed Army ROTC arts assigned Association authority believed cadets campus changes civilian Cold colleges Command commission Committee continued Corps created curriculum Defense Department desire draft drill early engineering enrollments existed faculty File Folder goals graduates groups higher education History important increased institutions instructors interest issues John junior Land-Grant less liberal Library major Meeting military training Naval navy noted NROTC Number offered officers percent position President Press problems produced professional professor recommended reform remained Report Research Reserve responsibility Robert role ROTC courses ROTC program ROTC units scholarship schools Science serve society staff subjects substitution teach tion traditional uniform University of Illinois University of Michigan University of Pittsburgh Vietnam Washington women World York
Popular passages
Page 16 - And whereas standing armies in time of peace are inconsistent with the principles of republican governments, dangerous to the liberties of a free people, and generally converted into destructive engines for establishing despotism...
Page 1 - It proves more forcibly the necessity of obliging every citizen to be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans and must be that of every free state. We must train and classify the whole of our male citizens and make military instruction a regular part of collegiate education. We can never be safe until this is done.
References to this book
Bunker Hill to Bastogne: Elite Forces and American Society Briton Cooper Busch No preview available - 2006 |