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Sambo, an acronym commonly derived from the Russian Samozashchita Bez Oruzhiya (self-defence without weapons), is a Soviet created grappling martial art noted for its assortment of painful holds, heavy throws, and take downs. Originally part of a secret military training syllabus with roots in judo, the sport was officially adopted by the USSR All-Union Sports Committee in 1938. Throughout the Cold War period, Soviet sambo slowly inserted itself into the wrestling halls and martial arts dojos of the United States, capturing the attention of American judoka and wrestlers. Sport sambo arrived in the United States at a time in which the Cuban missile crisis remained fresh in the memories of the citizenry while young Americans were being drafted to fight communists in the Vietnam war. Though Cold War tensions had cooled somewhat compared to the days of McCarthyism, the Soviet-US rivalry continued to colour public discourse, permeating every facet of American society. This paper breaks new ground in Western scholarship by analyzing the reception of sambo in the USA during the 1960s and 70s by the professional martial artists and athletes, in the lead up of the 1980 Olympics against the political backdrop of the Cold War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health policy plays a critical role in determining a state's or nation's overall population health, and health system change has been a priority for a majority of Americans for at least a decade. News coverage can influence health policy development, but little research has examined the quality of that coverage, in part because no consensus exists regarding what information health policy stories should include. This paper describes a series of in-depth interviews with eight health policy experts and 12 experienced journalists who have covered health policy. While rejecting the notion of strict quality criteria that could be applied to all health policy stories, the interviewees agreed on several factors that would improve health policy coverage. They recommended that health policy stories should include information about financial costs to consumers, evidence that a policy will have its intended effect, historical context for the policy, and "relatable hooks" that help consumers understand which groups a policy will affect and how. In addition, the interviewees stressed the importance of building policy coverage on trustworthy sources representing multiple viewpoints and the need to recognize how audience members' values influence their acceptance and interpretation of evidence. These findings provide an important foundation for future research examining the impact of health policy reporting on both public opinion and public policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a case study and historical textual analysis, this article explores how small-city newspapers offer a window into urbanism and identity formation in the early twentieth century. These newspapers pursued a content and circulation strategy that combined publishing characteristics associated with the mass circulation dailies and industrial journalism of major metropolitan areas with more community-oriented elements, such as booster content and hyperlocal news items. These newspapers operated as an important part of the early twentieth century American media system and represented a distinct type of publication that embraced the aspirational urbanism of local business interests and civic boosters. Despite flourishing literature on newspapers in twentieth century American society, large, urban areas tend to dominate scholarly analysis, while leaving out the sorts of communities that had a self-conscious experience of industrial modernity. By focusing analysis on the 1920s, this article explores how the Superior (Wisconsin) Telegram embraced this aspirational urbanism. It shows how the Telegram operated as a platform for its readers to navigate the tensions of the decade, articulate the city's urban ambitions, and serve as a symbol of the city's modern and progressive ideals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Immigration Restriction League (IRL) made literacy, and by extension education, a major aspect of immigration reform in United States in the early twentieth century. Appealing to an educated, conservative constituency, it promoted a literacy test aimed at systematically excluding "undesirable" immigrants. Literacy was initially treated as a learned skill, but eventually became linked to fixed, presumably heritable traits. The justification for requiring these tests was directly influenced by the growing Eugenics Movement. Literacy thus became intricately tied to an expanded conception of race and, consequently, the imagined worthiness of different ethnic and nationality groups. The 1917 Literacy Test Act, also referred to as the Immigration Act of 1917, limited migration to the United States and marked the IRL's eventual success. By that time, however, such tests had become seen as a proxy for presumably rigid, racialised, national characteristics, and the IRL pushed for even more restrictive measures. IRL members remained active beyond the First World War and contributed to the extension of immigration restriction policies in 1921 and 1924. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the transformation of Robert College, the first American college founded abroad, from 1923 to 1970. Based on a careful investigation of Robert College archives and personal accounts of the College staff, it contends that the school's missionary character acquired a new identity after the foundation of Republican Turkey. Robert College gradually abandoned its missionary tradition to become an institution of liberal learning in the service of westernizing Turkey. The College presidency and trustees have long elaborated on the new context and trends in liberal education in the United States. At the same time, the Turkish officers and graduates quickly adjusted to this new character immersed in secular values. The College's transition involved a shared commitment going beyond political partnership, reflecting an intellectual vision that came out of long years of negotiations within the College establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the gallows and fields of war to the street and bedside, chaplains of color have been present and instrumental in providing spiritual and emotional support in public and private settings across the United States. Their histories and experiences are not well documented and integrated into the field of spiritual care and chaplaincy, a field often understood as predominantly White, male, and Christian. This article introduces this special issue by offering historical context—particularly for Black chaplains—and naming the key themes that weave through the articles included. Naming the experiences of chaplains of color is a central step in responding to historically grounded racial inequities in the work of chaplaincy and spiritual care in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic signaled a lasting and ongoing history of racism in the United States. These events were a reminder to reexamine the condition of Asians and Asian Americans in the field of social work in the U.S. The purpose of this article is to support inter-solidarity movements in social work to uplift the lived experiences of Asian Americans with four recommendations: conceptualizing and positioning the Asian American identity, acknowledging the heterogeneity of the Asian American population, integrating Asian American history in the social work curriculum, and using research strategies to address anti-Asian racism uplift the experiences of Asian Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]