Primary Sources: Wars & Conflicts: Cold War

"These documents focus on aerial intelligence operations during the Eisenhower Administration. The documents date from November 1954 to September 1960 and provide an overview of the nature of the cold war atmosphere which existed during Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidential years. A glossary, chronology and list of key individuals follows the document list for reference. A select bibliography is included for further reading on the subject matter." From the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home

"For over forty years, Studs explored a variety of themes, from architecture to rock music, from poetry to the intricacies of the labor movement. Explore the archive by topic, people, date, or keyword."

Collection of Cold War related documents provided by the Yale Avalon Project.

Defense Treaties of the United States

"South Asia was one of the most important regions in China's international relations and foreign policy. Drawn largely from the Chinese Foreign Ministry Archives, this collection sheds light on China's relations with India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in particular. In the absence of similar sources from South Asia, these documents, moreover, are also invaluable to the study of South Asia in context of the Cold War."

"In the 1980s, the Cold War was going strong and was made worse by events such as the death of three Soviet leaders in a span of three years, the Soviet shootdown of a Korean airliner, and the USSR's support for Communist governments and movements in Afghanistan and Central America. This collection of declassified documents and other material highlights what the CIA provided President Reagan and other top members of his national security team on key issues affecting US-Soviet relations. The collection--made up of intelligence assessments, National Intelligence Estimates, high-level memos, and DCI talking points--consists of over 200 documents, some 60 of which are either being made available to the public for the first time or are being re-released with new material. To help put this material in perspective, we are also including non-CIA documents from the archives of the Reagan Library to fill out the collection on the policy end."

Materials relating to the Cold War available from the Kennedy Library's Digital Archives.

This site was developed by the National Archives. It was designed as a teaching resource, but also provides links to related documents.

"Though the term “veteran” is often uttered in the same breath as “war,” many of America’s veterans served during times of peace. This includes over 10,000 veterans in the Veterans History Project archive who served during the period known as the Cold War era. While the Cold War may not have involved a formal declaration of war or clearly delineated front lines, it was anything but peaceful. Stretching from the immediate post-World War II years until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cold War was marked by escalating struggles between the United States and its allies and the Soviet bloc. During this time period, the United States drew on the talents of a willing cadre of men and women who chose to join the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard. Motivated not only by love of country and family tradition by also by the opportunities for education and travel offered by the military, these individuals served in a wide variety of non-combat roles. Here, we present stories of the Cold War, told by veterans in their own words. "

"Documents on the political and diplomatic aspects of international hockey during the Cold War."

"This collection of primary source documents discusses international relations during World War II and the years shortly after. It begins with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed in 1939 and ends with documents from the 1950’s. The collection contains a wide variety of documents including agreements, memorandums, meeting minutes, cables, letters, diary entries, and military reports from WWII. The documents mainly come from Russian and Bulgarian archives."

"The Harvard Project on Cold War Studies promotes archival research in former East-bloc countries and seeks to expand and enrich what is known about Cold War events and themes. "
The Links section of the page provides links to a variety of documents and other materials.

Includes documents related to MacArthur, the Korean War, etc. from during the Presidency of Harry S. Truman.

"Washington, DC, May 26, 2009 - Today the National Security Archive publishes its fourth installment of the diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, the man who was behind some of the most momentous transformations in Soviet foreign policy at the end of the 1980s in his role as Mikhail Gorbachev's main foreign policy aide. In addition to his contributions to perestroika and new thinking, Anatoly Sergeevich was and remains a paragon of openness and transparency, providing his diaries and notes to historians who are trying to understand the end of the Cold War. This section of the diary, covering 1989—the year of miracles—is published here in English for the first time."

"This is a loosely related collection of primary source documents that discuss economic issues during the Cold War period. These documents are all varied in topic and geographical coverage, ranging from the 1950s to the 1980s, and coming from Russian, Bulgarian, and Romanian archives. Topics broadly covered include issues of economic growth and dearth, requests for aid in light of shortages, and international trade issues."

"This is a collection of primary source documents covering the collapse of the Soviet Union during the late 1980s. The collection contains documents from archives in most of the former Soviet bloc countries. They discuss the changes occurring in Eastern Europe and the Tiananmen Square events in China."

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 544

"The 57 documents (approximately 632 pages) in this research file highlight the ideals that formed the basis of American policy toward the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1952. Also included are oral histories, photographs, biographies, a chronology, and lesson plans. Supporting material available on www.trumanlibrary.org include research files on the Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine, and United Nations. "

Cold War International History Project Bulletin Issue 16 Fall 2007/Winter 2008

"This is a collection of primary source documents that discuss intelligence issues during the Cold War. The documents come from archives in many different Soviet bloc countries. They are mainly decision memorandums, descriptions, agreements, and reports. The collection includes mainly bilateral agreements for cooperation between Communist countries and domestic intelligence reports from Bulgaria."

Original Documents and Other Primary Sources related to McCarthyism, Korea, and the Cold War provided by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

This site from GWU's National Security Archive "includes all previous and forthcoming Archive Electronic Briefing Books on nuclear weapons policy, cross-referenced with an index. It also includes newly-declassified documents that may be of interest to novices and experts alike."

"The Overseas Chinese were often at the forefront of the People’s Republic of China’s relationships with the United States, Vietnam, Korea, and Indonesia, among other countries, during the Cold War, and were a major object of the struggle between the Communists on Mainland China and the Nationalists on Taiwan."

"In the 1980s, the Cold War was going strong and was made worse by events such as the death of three Soviet leaders in a span of three years, the Soviet shootdown of a Korean airliner, and the USSR's support for Communist governments and movements in Afghanistan and Central America. This collection of declassified documents and other material highlights what the CIA provided President Reagan and other top members of his national security team on key issues affecting US-Soviet relations. The collection--made up of intelligence assessments, National Intelligence Estimates, high-level memos, and DCI talking points--consists of over 200 documents, some 60 of which are either being made available to the public for the first time or are being re-released with new material. To help put this material in perspective, we are also including non-CIA documents from the archives of the Reagan Library to fill out the collection on the policy end."

"These documents provide an unprecedented inside look at the workings of one of the largest, most powerful and long-lived political machines of the modern era. As in any modern archive, there is more bureaucratic verbiage and fewer instant revelations than one might hope for. But the documents that the Library of Congress has here chosen from the 500 made available from the Russian archives cover the entire range of Soviet history from the October Revolution of 1917 to the failed coup of August 1991. They include material from archives that had been key working files of the Communist rulers until August 1991: the archives of the Central Committee, the Presidential archive, and the KGB. "

Rutgers University alumni and/or New Jersey residents who served on the home front and overseas during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold War

"The People's Republic of China and the United States squared off against one another from 1949 through 1971."

"This is a collection of primary source documents that discuss the Soviet-Chinese relationship during the Cold War. Composed largely of cables, memos, and telegrams, this collection spans the 1930s through 1959, or the period prior to the split."

"Leader of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953, this collection contain Stalin's own writings, conversations, and legacy. The documents come mostly from the 1950s, and from Russian archives. Topics discussed include Stalin's economic opinions and his views on the situation in East Germany. The final items discuss Stalin's death and the fate of some of his ministers."

"In this oral history website Brookyn College students narrate two historical episodes: their experiences of working on farms during World War II, and the events surrounding the suspension of the Vanguard, the student newspaper in a postwar McCarthy era climate. The edited testimony is accompanied by audio excerpts. These case studies add another dimension to our understanding of life on the American homefront during World War II and the domestic Cold War."
A collaborative effort by Adina Back, the City University of New York's Brooklyn College, John Jay College, and The Center for Media and Learning/American Social History Project at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Funded by the Research Foundation of the City University of New York, CUNY Collaborative Incentive Grant.

"Documents on the often adversarial relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The majority of the documents are reports, telegrams, and memorandums that come from Russian archives. Many topics are covered, including the "German Question," the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Ethiopian Civil War, Jimmy Carter's presidency, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan."

"The Digital Archive contains once-secret documents from governments all across the globe, uncovering new sources and providing fresh insights into the history of international relations and diplomacy. "

"In the following excerpt from a letter dated July 23, 1946, Wallace urged Truman to build “mutual trust and confidence” in order to achieve “an enduring international order.” Truman asked Wallace to resign. In March 1947, Truman asked Congress for money “to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” Thus articulated, the “Truman Doctrine” of containment served as the rationale for future American Cold War foreign policy initiatives."

Source: Congress, House, Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding the Communist Infiltration of the Motion Picture Industry, 80th Congress, 1st Session, in William Bruce Wheeler and Susan D. Becker Discovering the American Past: A Look at the Evidence, Volume II: Since 1865, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990), 280–83.

"Although Cold War-era fears often focused on Communism and atomic warfare, the following 1949 editorial in the popular magazine Collier’s showed concern about a broader threat to core American values posed by extremism, terrorism, and indoctrination of the country’s youth."
Source: "And These Are the Children of God," Collier’s, 6 August 1949, 74.

"Wisconsin Republican Joseph R. McCarthy first won election to the Senate in 1946 during a campaign marked by much anticommunist Red-baiting. Partially in response to Republican Party victories, President Harry S. Truman tried to demonstrate his own concern about the threat of Communism by setting up a loyalty program for federal employees. He also asked the Justice Department to compile an official list of 78 subversive organizations. As the midterm election year got underway, former State Department official Alger Hiss, suspected of espionage, was convicted of perjury. McCarthy, in a speech at Wheeling, West Virginia, mounted an attack on Truman’s foreign policy agenda by charging that the State Department and its Secretary, Dean Acheson, harbored “traitorous” Communists. There is some dispute about the number of Communists McCarthy claimed to have known about. Though advance copies of this speech distributed to the press record the number as 205, McCarthy quickly revised this claim. Both in a letter he wrote to President Truman the next day and in an “official” transcript of the speech that McCarthy submitted to the Congressional Record ten days later he uses the number 57. Although McCarthy displayed this list of names both in Wheeling and then later on the Senate floor, he never made the list public."

Source: "The Army-McCarthy Hearings, 1954," in Robert D. Marcus and Anthony Marcus, eds., On Trail [sic]: American History Through Court Proceedings and Hearings, vol. II, (St. James, New York: Brandywine Press, 1998), 136–51.

Source: Congress, House, Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding Communist Infiltration of the Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry, 82d Congress, May 21, 1952, in Ellen Schrecker, The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 1994), 201–2.

Source: Congress, House, Committee on Un-American Activities, Investigation of Communist Activities, New York Area (Entertainment): Hearings, 84th Congress, August 18, 1955

" In 1954, as France was losing its battle to regain control of its prewar colony of Indochina—a war funded substantially with U.S. dollars—Congressional leaders refused to support an Eisenhower-Dulles resolution to intervene militarily. In the following opinion piece published just after the French defeat, correspondent Edgar Ansel Mowrer, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1933 for reporting on the rise of Hitler, offered a critique of containment and an analysis of U.S. options for fighting the Cold War. A great admirer of Dulles, Mowrer believed hopes for peaceful coexistence to be “the opium of the West.” " GMU History Matters

Source: Congress, House, Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding the Communist Infiltration of the Motion Picture Industry, 80th Congress, 1st Session, October 20, 1947 in William Bruce Wheeler and Susan D. Becker, Discovering the American Past: A Look at the Evidence, Volume II: Since 1865, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990), 249–52, 254–56.

Source: Congress, House, Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding the Communist Infiltration of the Motion Picture Industry, 80th Congress, 1st Session, October 1947 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1947); “A Statement by John Howard Lawson,” published in Gordon Kahn, Hollywood on Trial (New York, 1948); quoted in Thirty Years of Treason: Excerpts from Hearings before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1938–1968, Eric Bentley, ed. (New York: Viking Press, 1971), 161–65.

Source: Congress, House, Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding the Communist Infiltration of the Motion Picture Industry, 80th Congress, 1st Session, October 23–24, 1947 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1947).

Paul Robeson Appears Before HUAC