{"id":45,"date":"2019-10-09T15:50:45","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T15:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/?p=45"},"modified":"2019-10-21T16:04:24","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T16:04:24","slug":"documentary-tracks-pershings-adventurous-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/documentary-tracks-pershings-adventurous-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Documentary Tracks Pershing\u2019s Adventurous Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nebraska\u2019s Barney McCoy had only the vaguest idea of who John J. Pershing was before making a documentary about the distinguished World War I military commander. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a call from a Pershing fan suggesting one was long overdue sent McCoy on a six-year journey into Pershing\u2019s adventurous life and Nebraska ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The documentary, \u201cBlack Jack Pershing: Love and War,\u201d premiered on NET Nebraska and is available\non Amazon Prime Video. It won the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists\nand several awards of excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pershing\u2019s military career began after graduating from West Point in 1886. It included climbing San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War, fighting in the Philippine-American War and pursuing Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. The documentary explores Pershing\u2019s successes \u2013 and heartbreaks \u2013 commanding the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a critical war in our country\u2019s history, what many people consider the forgotten war,\u201d said McCoy, Hitchcock Professor in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. \u201cThe sacrifices America made really put us on a global stage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nebraska played an important role in Pershing\u2019s life. In the early 1890s, as the university\u2019s professor of military science and tactics, he formed a highly regarded university drill company, today\u2019s Pershing Rifles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pershing contemplated leaving the military, but his years in Lincoln, Nebraska, reinforced his career choice, McCoy said. He maintained a Lincoln home for his sisters and visited often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As McCoy dug into the archives, Pershing\u2019s letters to love interests over the years revealed the strict general\u2019s soft side. For McCoy, finding photos and flower petals inside deeply romantic love letters was a research highlight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnlike many military biographies, we dug more deeply into Pershing\u2019s personal life. We felt it would make this documentary unique by adding more context to his life,\u201d McCoy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just a history lesson. There\u2019s an emotional connection that hopefully captures the audience\u2019s attention.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCoy directed and produced the documentary in partnership with NET Nebraska. Humanities Nebraska, the Gilbert M. and Martha H. Hitchcock Foundation, the university and private donations provided funding. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nebraska\u2019s Barney McCoy had only the vaguest idea of who John J. Pershing was before making a documentary about the distinguished World War I military commander. But a call from a Pershing fan suggesting one was long overdue sent McCoy on a six-year journey into Pershing\u2019s adventurous life and Nebraska ties. The documentary, \u201cBlack Jack […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[24,29,14,28,25,26,27],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-barney-mccoy","tag-gilbert-m-and-martha-h-hitchcock-foundation","tag-history","tag-humanities-nebraska","tag-john-j-pershing","tag-journalism-and-mass-communications","tag-net-nebraska","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}