Honors in the Major - Liam Philbin and “New York City: The Urban Crisis and the Road to Giuliani“
My name is Liam Philbin. I came to FSU two years ago and I just graduated this summer. I really enjoy history, mostly American history, but I found other courses, like Dr. Scholz’ Reformation class, fascinating too. Looking back, I can’t quite remember what got me started on history, but I remember as far back as elementary school, I would be reading books like David McCullough’s biography of Harry S. Truman. I have always liked stories, and that book digs very deep into Truman’s life, which really drew me in. I am about to start my master’s degree in History at FSU this fall.
The topic
My Honors in the Major project is a history of welfare and policing in New York City mostly from the 1960s to early 1990s. My main argument is that while Rudy Giuliani (mayor, 1994-2001) is often portrayed as bringing in new drastic policies to deal with the problems of urban crime, in reality his reforms were just an extension of what his predecessors had already put in place. For example, there was David Dinkins (mayor, 1990-93) with the Civil Enforcement Initiative of 1992, or Ed Koch (mayor, 1978-89) and the Nuisance Abasement Law of 1986. What we see is a continuity of similar policy initiatives by liberal and conservative mayors alike. I argue that while Giuliani’s policy contributed to NYC’s revival, he also benefitted from policies put in place earlier, as well as a general improvement from the economy and other societal factors.
In Spring 2024, I took a class with Dr. Azad Gundogan in the Honors College on global urbanization, in which we looked at both approaches to urban studies and the history of different cities. I was part of a group that did their presentation on policing in Istanbul, looking at the role of the police during the 2013 Taksim Square/ Gezi Park riots. Based on that presentation and class, I asked Dr. Gundogan if he would be my HITM thesis director for a project comparing police activity in a set of different cities. Of course, Dr. Gundogan told me to focus on just one example so that the project was doable within two semesters. That made me settle on NYC, as it had been one of the cities on my original list. I asked Dr. Katherine Mooney to be on my committee as I had had a class with her before, and she suggested Dr. Paul Renfro given his expertise in 20th-century U.S. History.
The process
Finding sources for my project was a trial by fire– I had never completed a research project as large as HITM before. I began with reviewing secondary literature, journal articles, and books to understand the basics of my topic. I had not taken any classes that dealt with New York’s history before. I looked through a lot of newspapers and then found material on the Department of Justice website like police and law reports. I think I had a decent mix of primary and secondary material in the end.
Starting this project was scary in the beginning. I was very nervous because I knew that I wanted to do research and I knew that this was a larger project. I kept asking myself – do I really want to do this? Can I do this? Can I stay on track and make it to the prospectus, to the completed paper, to the defense. My advisor had cautioned me that doing research can be hard, and he said to call him whenever I wanted to talk. So, I was nervous, but after completing each new step in the process, I told myself: ‘This is doable.’
Since I want to do an MA in History, I felt that this was a great learning process. The HITM project is really unlike anything else I have done in undergrad. It taught me how to process all the information that I researched. As I did not know much about my topic when I started out I learned to evaluate the importance of different pieces of information and to make decisions on what lines of research to pursue. A few times, as I discovered new things, I thought ‘Wow, this is so cool and novel,’ and then I would discover several sources that already discussed the point. That made the process both nerve-wracking and exciting.
Honestly, the most fun part of the whole process was the defense. I am not afraid of public speaking, and I had spent more than two semesters learning about this topic, really digging into the nitty-gritty details. The defense was a great excuse to talk to people about my ideas for an hour! I got to dress up too, which I had not done in a while. I was a bit nervous going into the meeting but once it started, I felt I had prepared enough and could talk about my sources and explain my work. In many ways, this was the most straightforward part of the whole process, as my advisor and the committee had all been involved in my project from the beginning and had read through the many drafts and the final thesis. The defense marked the end of this long project, this big effort, and I got to talk with my professors about my work. How cool is that!
Challenges
I stayed on top of my project by juggling coursework and HITM work. In the beginning, I made a master schedule for the HITM paper which helped me stay on track with deadlines. Then I added in the deadlines from my other coursework. I had a regular course load for both semesters I was working on the thesis. I used the semester breaks to get a lot of my HITM writing done (especially Christmas Break). While waiting for my professors’ comments on sections I had sent them, I spent my time on other classes. This worked very well for me, as it made me step back from the thesis and work on other things, which allowed me to refresh my perspective on the HITM project every time I returned to it. My paper ended up being 84 pages long – excluding references.
What really surprised me was how much my research topic changed while I was working on the project. I had known I wanted to work on urban history, but in the beginning, I was concerned with investigating how Rudy Giuliani was able to turn things around in NYC so quickly. Then I discovered that things had already been changing before he was elected, and so my paper became a much more nuanced study of urban policing and welfare programs since the 1960s.
Once I started the HITM project properly, my committee was very helpful in suggesting books and articles. They suggested I use the bibliographies of books I had already read to look for further sources, and that’s how I found the material that is at the heart of my thesis. They also suggested I consult with History’s subject librarian to find more sources. My committee also helped me see my project in a more nuanced way. I am very indebted to my mentor and my committee for all their help and guidance.
Advice
My advice to others who want to start an HITM project is to take some time to work out what exactly you want to research, and what your research question will be. Reach out to your thesis director and your committee early and have them help you narrow down your area of research. I spent the last summer just reading around and all these ideas were flitting through my head, and I could not state specifically what I wanted to do. It was not until I discussed my ideas with my mentor and my committee that the specific focus of my thesis became clear to me.
Another thing I did not appreciate till later was – reach out to your subject librarian as soon as possible too. They can help with finding sources, both in the library stacks or online. I did not do that early enough, and it would have given me more time to research if I had consulted with Ms. Windham sooner.