VEHEMENT VERN MILLER: A NARRATIVE APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING ANTI-DRUG POLICIES AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
| dc.contributor.author | Harstick, Julia Mary Kennis | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-08-20T15:33:36Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-08-20T15:33:36Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-05-02 | |
| dc.description | Submitted to the Department of History of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for departmental honors. | |
| dc.description.abstract | This paper explores how the early War on Drugs, identified as 1965-1975 in this paper, played out at the local level by focusing on Kansas Attorney General Vern Miller and his campaign to crack down on drug use in Lawrence, Kansas, during the early 1970s. While Nixon framed the drug war as a unified, national effort, its impact varied widely from state to state. Lawrence—a college town known for its counterculture scene and diverse demographics—offers a revealing case study full of contingencies of how local politics, culture, and demographics shaped the enforcement of federal drug policy and emphasizes state power and local officials’ ability to interpret national policy. Miller’s extreme tactics show how state officials interpreted and adapted national drug policy to fit local concerns and conditions. By looking closely at the tensions between federal goals and local realities, this paper sheds light on how the early War on Drugs was not just a top-down campaign, but also a series of local battles that shaped the broader national story in ways that have often been overlooked. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1808/36147 | |
| dc.publisher | Department of History, University of Kansas | |
| dc.rights | Copyright 2025 Julia Mary Kennis Harstick | |
| dc.rights.accessrights | openAccess | |
| dc.thesis.degreeDiscipline | History | |
| dc.thesis.degreeLevel | B.A. | |
| dc.title | VEHEMENT VERN MILLER: A NARRATIVE APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING ANTI-DRUG POLICIES AT THE LOCAL LEVEL | |
| dc.type | Undergraduate thesis | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| kusw.oapolicy | This item does not meet KU Open Access policy criteria. |
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