Publication Date
2017
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
Ava Chamberlain (Committee Member), Jacob Dorn (Committee Member), Nancy Garner (Committee Chair)
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
This study examines the integration of the Branch Davidians into the Waco, Texas community during the years immediately preceding the BATF siege of 1993. An examination of media and biographical sources indicates that the Branch Davidians were better integrated in the community than is commonly suggested. Survivor accounts describe the Branch Davidians working and relaxing in Waco, rather than hiding in their compound. A survey of local newspaper coverage reveals that the press in Waco had a positive view of Koresh and the Branch Davidians in the late 1980s. In particular, coverage of a 1988 trial involving David Koresh and his followers in the Waco Tribune Herald was markedly more positive than the later and more famous coverage of the group in 1993.
Page Count
86
Department or Program
Department of History
Year Degree Awarded
2017
Copyright
Copyright 2017, all rights reserved. My ETD will be available under the "Fair Use" terms of copyright law.
