HISTORICAL CRISIS COMMITTEES

Up to 16-20 delegates

Fast paced crisis committees with full crisis elements based on historical events. They may contain special procedures, or slightly deviate from history for creative reasons or due to the historical records available.

No Power to the Soviets: The Soviet August Coup of 1991

Crisis Director: ETHAN Kellogg (ejk244@cornell.edu)

CHAIR: Derrick Bobb (dcb287@cornell.edu)

After half a decade of liberal reforms throughout the country, the Soviet Union is teetering on the edge of collapse. Communist hardliners think that any reform at all is a betrayal of Marxist principles orchestrated by President Mikhail Gorbachev and his Western-sympathetic allies. Simultaneously, nationalists and liberals seem to think that the reforms are nowhere near enough, with some even arguing for the country’s dissolution. As a final attempt to save the Soviet Union, the constituent republics of the country agree to form a new confederation of socialist states, but they are stopped during a coup led by Vice President Gennady Yanayev and other anti-liberalization politicians. The outcome of this coup and the very existence of the Soviet Union is now in your hands.

Hate, Suspicion, and Fear: Standard Oil and the United States Government (Joint Crisis Committee)

Grand Crisis Director: pETER hALL (psh67@cornell.edu)

Standard Oil Board of Directors

Crisis Director: Eddie Elliott (eme58@cornell.edu)

CHAIR: Linnea Nordman (ljn36@cornell.edu)

United States Government

Crisis Director: JT Yin (jy785@cornell.edu)

CHAIR: Megan Cheng (mc2857@cornell.edu)

The year is 1906. Since its inception in 1870, the Standard Oil Company, led by John D. Rockefeller, has spread its tentacles so deep into the American economy that it controls roughly 90% of the American oil refining industry, and it has not stopped there. Standard Oil has expanded to control pipelines, railroad cars, barrel manufacturing, and many other oil-adjacent industries, giving it ultimate control over any semblance of competition remaining. On November 15th, however, the US government entered the fray, petitioning in the Eastern District of Missouri Circuit Court that the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and its 70 affiliated corporations conspired to monopolize interstate commerce in the petroleum industry and other adjacent industries. Delegates from the juggernaut that is the Standard Oil Company will face off against a committee of US government officials in a heavy-weight bout that will shape American commerce for decades to come.