Mohl, Raymond A.

This thesis examines the history of the influential Ge rman colony in
Guatemala and the deportation of the Germans to United States detention
camps and nationalization of their properties during World War II. Material
is included on the historical, economic, and political factors
which made the presence of a powerful German colony in Guatemala intolerable
to the United States and which led to the strong measures taken
against the colony during the war.

This thesis examines the circumstances leading to the 1968 ghetto riot in the Liberty City community of Miami, Florida. After placing the Liberty City uprising in national and local contexts, the thesis chronicles race relations and African American living conditions in Miami from the late nineteenth century through the 1960s. The thesis focuses upon major grievances of Miami's black community in the 1960s. These included deplorable housing conditions, economic exploitation, bleak employment prospects, racial discrimination, poor police-community relations, and economic competition with Cuban refugees who settled in the Miami area during the 1960s. The thesis argues that the riot in Liberty City constituted a form of African American protest against these factors. In brief, Miami's 1968 ghetto revolt marked an attempt by local black residents to improve their life chances and living standards by demanding empowerment within their own communities and control over the processes that affected their lives.

In this study, public documents, zoning maps, and government correspondence are used to examine how local, state, and federal housing policy maintained segregated and blighted low-income housing along Palm Beach County's I-95 corridor. Since the 1960s, federal housing subsidies were cut and responsibility for provision of affordable housing devolved upon local officials. Additionally, state officials were stagnated by discussions of the role of government in the provision of affordable housing. At the local level, land-use patterns and ineffective use of federal programs prevented the expansion of housing opportunities for minorities and the poor, thereby maintaining racial and socioeconomic segregation.

Miami's economic and demographic boom of the post-World War Two years attracted many workers to south Florida. In this tourist town on the South's periphery, the service sector industries played an important role. Hotel, restaurant, and laundry workers provided services to the tourists and many new residents. But manufacturing, such as in the garment industry, also expanded in the Miami area. Labor unions followed the workers to south Florida. But they encountered a hostile environment in a "right to work" state. Nonetheless, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), the Laundry Workers International Union (LWIU), and the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union (HERE) made a difference in Miami, facilitating its transition from a south tourist town to the multicultural international city of today. Labor historians, though, have ignored Miami's interesting labor history, perhaps because it does not represent a typical southern workplace. This thesis is an attempt to draw scholarly attention to Miami and its workers. Florida labor history is a "new frontier," but should not remain so.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the social and institutional forces that created the second ghetto in Miami during the three decades following World War II. During this period, Miami's inner-city ghetto was razed and a new ghetto, sanctioned by federal and local legislation and agencies, was established in the northwest section of Dade County. The northwest section, which contained a few black enclaves in 1945, was transformed into a sprawling black ghetto by 1960. The transition of the area from predominantly white to black produced racial conflicts that erupted into violence as the white majority tried to uphold segregation in Miami. In 1980, 85 percent of Dade County's African American population resided in the northwest section. This did not happen by accident; Miami's second ghetto was shaped, maintained, and reinforced through government policy, the real estate industry, and racial prejudice.

As professional baseball came of age in the early 20th Century, teams sought any and every edge over their opponents. No sooner did spring training become the rule, than Florida emerged as the most popular site for the preseason ritual. In the early years, cities hoped to attract a spring training team for the novelty of having big league ballplayers in their midst. Since the 1920s, many south Florida cities have succeeded in attracting major league spring camps. While many of these relationships have withered, several others have flourished. The successful and enduring relationship of the Los Angeles Dodgers with Vero Beach stands out as a model of spring training camps. South Florida cities compete with one another, often at great expense, to host major league spring training. Potential host cities are guided by the perception that spring training brings promotional benefits and tourist revenue. This perception grew as the modern media helped mold the game of baseball into a big business. The accuracy of this perception, however, is debatable.

The principal purpose of this thesis is to provide an historical perspective on the Jewish presence in Greater Miami from its beginnings in 1896 to the present. In the early years, Jews were forced to endure widespread anti-Semitism. However, by the 1950's Jewish tenacity largely defeated the exponents of bigotry. Jewish entrepreneurship produced an environment that resulted in world-wide recognition of Miami Beach and its environs as the ultimate winter resort area. During this process, Miami's Jews built a strong sense of community that revolved around a variety of religious and cultural institutions. By 1975, the Miami area's Jewish population reached 289,210. Since then, an aging population, indifferent leadership, Black militancy, a vast crime increase, and a Hispanic population explosion contributed to a Jewish exodus that brought about a precipitous decline of Jewish population to 202,000. In nine decades, the Jewish presence has gone from spectacular growth to alarming decline.

During the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, Broward County blacks established their place in the ranks of freedom fighters. The Supreme Court decision of 1944 in the case of Smith v. Allright opened the door for the black community to become involved in the political process. Jim Crow laws were eliminated throughout the south. Other covert barriers are now being overcome. At-large elections that prevent black representation are being overturned. Annexation of black neighborhoods has still not been accomplished to any great extent. As a result, thousands of Broward's black residents have no voice in municipal government. Qualified black residents are not registering to vote in numbers that reflect their population. Despite fair housing legislation, discrimination in housing is rampant. Police departments have yet to meet agreed quotas of black officers under federal consent decrees. Overt racism is not an acceptable attitude today, but covert racism is alive and well.

A Christian view of the future labelled premillennial dispensationalism developed and replaced postmillennialism in middle nineteenth-century America. Dispensationalism predicts deteriorating conditions, leading to a "rapture" of the true church just prior to the second coming of Christ. After tracing three centuries of millennial thinking in America, this study examines the social reforms sponsored by dispensationalists. Contrary to their escapist, or pessimistic eschatology, selected dispensationalists sponsored a variety of reform measures in the middle nineteenth and early twentieth-century America. This study examines the contributions of five remarkable dispensational, social activists: The Reverends A. J. Gordon, A. T. Pierson, W. B. Riley, J. R. Straton and M. A. Matthews. Their activism demonstrates some dispensationalists actively led social reforms in urban America. They successfully balanced an eschatology which argues for a declining culture, while affirming the biblical mandate to care for the impoverished.

Miami experienced considerable ethnic and racial tension after the Cuban influx began in 1960. Large numbers of Cuban, and later Haitian immigrants altered the social complexion of the city. During this period of rapid change, the Cuban, Anglo and black communities attempted to improve their standard of living. Economic and political competition created hostility among the ethnic groups. In the twenty-five year period ending in 1985, the groups perceived that the gains of one came at the expense of the others. This attitude spawned ethnic and racial tension that prevented cooperation and adversely affected the social harmony within the city to this day.