cold war research paper

Foreign Affairs

The Cold War

The National Archives and Records Administration holds and makes available for research a significant quantity of federal records and presidential materials that document Cold War era activities and concerns of the United States Government. This web page provides links and citations to NARA-prepared or NARA-sponsored sources of information about this Cold War documentation.

Holdings Information

• Bibliographies and Conference Papers

Educational Materials

Reference Information Paper 107, "An Introduction to National Archives Records Relating to the Cold War" This paper provides a brief overview of the holdings of the National Archives relating to the Cold War.

Cold War Related Records

National Archives Catalog The National Archives Catalog can be used to search a significant subset of NARA's holdings by media type and by subject.

Bibliographies, Conferences, and Papers

Conference: " From Vienna to Checkpoint Charlie: The Berlin Crisis of 1961 ", held October 27, 2011

The Cold War: An Eyewitness Perspective . Keynote address by Harlan Cleveland, at the Cold War Symposium held on October 21, 2006, at the National Archives in Washington, DC.

Proceedings of the Conference on "The Power of Free Inquiry and Cold War International History" These proceedings resulted from a conference jointly sponsored by the National Archives and Records Administration and the University of Maryland on September 25th and 26th, 1998.

A Select Bibliography: The Cold War This list, compiled by staff members at the Eisenhower Presidential Library, features resources that are based on presidential materials in the custody of the library facility in Abilene, KS.

Holocaust-Era Assets Bibliography: Cold War This list, compiled by members of the staff of NARA's Archives Library Information Center, features books about Cold War era efforts to recover Holocaust assets.

Bibliography of the John E. Taylor Collection This list features books about espionage and intelligence activities.

The Constitution Community The Constitution Community is a partnership between classroom teachers and education specialists from the National Archives and Records Administration. Some of the lesson plans resulting from this partnership relate to Cold War events.

Online Exhibit of "American Originals" The postwar segment of this exhibit features significant Cold-War-era documents, such as the speech cards that prompted President John F. Kennedy when he made his remarks in Berlin on June 26, 1963.

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Cold War Studies Project

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Cold War History Journal

The cold war studies project at the department of international history houses the journal cold war history, co-edited with other centres of excellence in europe and published by routledge, part of the taylor & francis group, four times a year., about the journal.

Cold War History  publishes the very best research and emerging scholarship on all aspects of the global Cold War and its legacies. The journal’s editorial board is open to manuscripts written from any historical approach based on empirical historical research. Articles must draw on primary sources such as those from official archives, non-state archives, private collections, cultural outputs, or oral histories. The journal encourages all histories of the Cold War including cultural, diplomatic, political, social and transnational histories. It is particularly interested in research that attempts to de-centre the era and pays special attention to the role of Europe and the Global South.

Submissions which use sources and secondary literature in multiple languages are especially welcome, as are those written by scholars whose first language is not English. To that end,  Cold War History  is seeking to increase the representation of scholars for whom English is not their first language and offers enhanced editing services for promising submissions from such scholars.

In addition to research articles,  Cold War History  also publishes book reviews and other short form pieces: archival guides and reflections on documents and methods, under ‘  Research Notes ’; and roundtables and essays on the state of the field, under ‘  Conversations on Cold War History ’.

Cold War History  is based in the Department of International History at the London School of Economics. For further information, please contact the Managing Editors at   [email protected] . Please note however that all submissions should be made online at the  Cold War History  Scholar One Manuscripts site. All research articles published in the journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and refereeing by at least two anonymous referees.

Special subject collections - free to read

Cold War History  takes pride in the excellent research presented in the journal to illuminate new aspects of the history of the Cold War. These special subject collections are being brought out to highlight this work and make it available to new audiences.

The articles have been published over the life of the journal, and have been selected to emphasise the different approaches presented in the journal. They are now freely available and in electronic form.

• The Cold War in Latin America
• The Cold War in Germany
• The Cold War in China
• The Cold War and John F. Kennedy

Special issues

Cold War History  publishes regular special issues with articles focusing on a single theme.

Browse previous special issues:

• 2020 -  Nuclear History
• 2018 -  Beyond the Kremlin’s Reach? Eastern Europe and China in the Cold War Era
• 2017 -  Socialism, Capitalism and Sino-European relations in the Deng Xiaoping era
• 2016 -  Environmental Histories of the Cold War
• 2015 -  Nuclear History and the Cold War: Trajectories of Research
• 2014 -  The Cold War in retrospect: 25 years after its end
• 2013 -  Radio Wars: Broadcasting during the Cold War
• 2011 -  Europe Americanized? Popular reception of Western Cold War propaganda in Europe
• 2009 -  The Cold War in Film
• 2008 -  Détente and its legacy

Submissions

The journal welcomes contributions from historians and representatives of other disciplines on all aspects of the global Cold War and its present repercussions.

Please read the  instructions for authors  to ensure we have everything required so your paper can move through peer review, production and publication smoothly and note that articles  must  be submitted online via  Manuscript Central .

For further queries, you can contact the managing editors at  [email protected] .

Editorial Board

Roham Alvandi  -  London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Michael Cox  -  London School of Economics and Political Science, UK James Ellison -   Queen Mary, University of London, UK Jussi M. Hanhimäki  -  Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland Tanya Harmer -    London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Elizabeth Ingleson  -  London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Matthew Jones -    London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Sara Lorenzini   - University of Trento, Italy N. Piers Ludlow  -  London School of Economics and Political Science, UK  Lori Maguire -   University of Reims, France Olav Njølstad  -  The Norwegian Nobel Institute, Norway Leopoldo Nuti -    Roma Tre University, Italy Sue Onslow -   School of Advanced Study, University of London, UK Christian F. Ostermann  -  Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson Center, USA Svetozar Rajak  -  London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Jayita Sarkar  -  University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK Candace Clare Sobers  -  Carleton University, Canada Odd Arne Westad  -  Elihu Professor of History, Yale University, USA Qingfei Yin  -  London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Vladislav Zubok -   London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Book Review Editors

Molly Pucci  - Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Lindsay Aqui  - University of Westminster, UK

Managing Editors

Chloë Mayoux - London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Marral Shamshiri-Fard - London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Advisory Board

Csaba Békés  - Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary

Alexander Chubarian  - Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Richard Crockatt  - University of East Anglia, UK

Anne Deighton  - University of Oxford, UK

Jonathan Fenby  - Trusted Sources, UK

Lawrence Freedman  - King’s College, London (co-chair), UK

Jonathan Haslam  - University of Cambridge, UK

Evanthis Hatzivassiliou  -  University of Athens, Greece

James G. Hershberg  - George Washington University, USA

Wilfried Loth  - University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Vojtech Mastny  - Woodrow Wilson Institute, Washington DC, USA

Timothy Naftali  - University of Virginia, USA

Niu Jun  - Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, PRC China

Andrzej Paczkowski  - Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland

Georges-Henri Soutou  - Sorbonne, France

Maurice Vaïsse  - Centre for Studies of Defense History, Paris, France

Antonio Varsori  - University of Florence, Italy

Natalia Yegorova  - Institute of General History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Former Members

• John Lewis Gaddis
• Seppo Hentilä
• David Holloway
• Mikhail Narinsky
• Ronald Pruessen
• David Reynolds
• Eirini Karamouzi
• Beatrice Heuser
• Linda Risso 

The new history of the Cold War, the global Cold War, and its continuing modern day impact.

International Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War

An IDEAS - University of California - George Washington University collaboration.

European Summer School on Cold War History

A unique conference specifically for PhD students & early career researchers.

LSE-Sciences Po Seminar in Contemporary International History

Held in London & Paris. Outside participants welcome.

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LSE Department of International History, Sardinia House, 52 Sardinia St, London, WC2A 3LZ

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The Journal of Cold War Studies

Selected Articles

" 'I Am Afraid Americans Cannot Understand': The Congress for Cultural Freedom in France and Italy, 1950–1957 " (Volume 22, Issue 1) by Andrea Scionti

" Editor's Note " (Volume 22, Issue 1) by Mark Kramer

" Operation 'Denver': The East German Ministry of State Security and the KGB's AIDS Disinformation Campaign, 1985–1986 (Part 1) " (Volume 21, Issue 4) by Douglas Selvage

" In the Service of World Revolution: Vietnamese Communists’ Radical Ambitions through the Three Indochina Wars " (Volume 21, Issue 4) by Tuong Vu

" Editor's Note " (Volume 21, Issue 4) by Mark Kramer

" U.S. Perceptions of the Communist Threat in Iran during the Mossadegh Era " (Volume 21, Issue 3) by Mark J. Gasiorowski " Chinese Society amid Mao's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: The Roots and Nature of the Tragedy " (Volume 21, Issue 2) by Sergey Radchenko, Joseph Torigian, Radoslav Yordanov and Frank Dikötter

" U.S. Policy to Curb Western European Nuclear Exports, 1974-1978 " (Volume 21, Issue 2) by Jayita Sarkar

" Editor's Note " (Volume 21, Issue 2) by Mark Kramer

" Independence, Intervention, and Internationalism: Angola and the International System, 1974–1975 " (Volume 21, Issue 1) by Candace Sobers

" Editor's Note " (Volume 21, Issue 1) by Mark Kramer "Between Business Interests and Ideological Marketing: The USSR and the Cold War in Fiat Corporate Strategy, 1957–1972 " (Volume 20, Issue 4) by Valentina Fava " RFE/RL Broadcasting and West German Society: Caught between Nature Protection Activism and Anti-Americanism " (Volume 20, Issue 3) by Yuliya Komska

“ Soviet Inturist and Foreign Travel to the Latvian SSR in the Post-Stalin Era: A Case of Ethnic Tourism ” (Volume 20, Issue 2) by Ieva Zake

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 20, Issue 2) by Mark Kramer

“ China’s ‘People’s Diplomacy’ and the Pugwash Conferences, 1957-1964 ” (Volume 20, Issue 1) by Gordon Barrett

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 20, Issue 1) by Mark Kramer “ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 19, Issue 4) by Mark Kramer

“ The First Cold War Spy Novel: The Origins and Afterlife of Humphrey Slater’s Conspirator ” (Volume 19, Issue 3) by Anton Fedyashin

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 19, Issue 3) by Mark Kramer

“ To ‘Keep the Genie Bottled Up’: U.S. Diplomacy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Gas Centrifuge Technology, 1962-1972 ” (Volume 19, Issue 2) by William Burr

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 19, Issue 2) by Mark Kramer

“ Cold War Sport, Film, and Propaganda: A Comparative Analysis of the Superpowers ” (Volume 19, Issue 1) by Tony Shaw and Denise J. Youngblood

“ The Limits of Compensation: Swiss Neutrality Policy in the Cold War ” (Volume 18, Issue 4) by Thomas Fischer and Daniel Möckli

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 18, Issue 4) by Mark Kramer

“ The Establishment of Bulgarian-West German Diplomatic Relations within the Coordinating Framework of the Warsaw Pact ” (Volume 18, Issue 3) by Jordan Baev

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 18, Issue 3) by Mark Kramer

“ Land Reform in South Korea under the U.S. Military Occupation, 1945-1948 ” (Volume 18, Issue 2) by Inhan Kim

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 18, Issue 2) by Mark Kramer

“ The Role of Norman Cousins and Track II Diplomacy in the Breakthrough to the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty ” (Volume 18, Issue 1) by Allen Pietrobon

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 18, Issue 1) by Mark Kramer

“ Office of Strategic Services versus Special Operations Executive: Competition for the Italian Resistance, 1943-1945 ” (Volume 17, Issue 4) by Tommaso Piffer

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 17, Issue 4) by Mark Kramer

“ Exposing ‘Red Colonialism’: U.S. Propaganda at the United Nations, 1953-1963 ” (Bolume 17, Issue 3) by Mary Ann Heiss

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 17, Issue 3) by Mark Kramer

“ Accepting Regional Zero: Nuclear Weapon Free Zones, U.S. Nonproliferation Policy and Global Security, 1957-1968 ” (Volume 17, Issue 2) by James Stocker

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 17, Issue 2) by Mark Kramer

“ The Challenge of Peace: Ronald Reagan, John Paul II, and the American Bishops ” (Volume 17, Issue 1) by Jared McBrady

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 17, Issue 1) by Mark Kramer

“ ’Thunder without Rain’: ARCI, the Far East Refugee Program, and the U.S. Response to Hong Kong Refugees ” (Volume 16, Issue 4) by Meredith Oyen

“ Editor’s Note ” (Volume 16, Issue 4) by Mark Kramer

“ The ‘Vietnam Legion’: West German Psychological Warfare against East German Propaganda in the 1960s ” (Volume 16, Issue 3) by Peter Busch

“ Editors Note ” (Volume 16, Issue 3) by Mark Kramer

“ East German Military Aid to the Sandinista Government of Nicaragua, 1979-1990 ” (Volume 16, Issue 2) by Klaus Storkmann

“ Editors Note ” (Volume 16, Issue 2) by Mark Kramer

“ The Other Battleground of the Cold War: the UN and the Struggle against International Terrorism in the 1970s ” (Volume 16, Issue 1) by Bernhard Blumenau

“ Errata ” (Volume 16, Issue 1) by Mark Kramer

“ Editors Note ” (Volume 16, Issue 1) by Mark Kramer

"Broadening the Cultural History of the Cold War: The Emergence of Polish Workers' Defense Committee and the Rise of Human Rights " (Volume 15, Issue 4) by Robert Brier

" Editor's Note " (Volume 15, Issue 4) by Mark Kramer

“ The Real Years of Europe? U.S.-West European Relations during the Ford Administration ” (Volume 15, Issue 3) by N. Piers Ludlow

“ Editors Note ” (Volume 15, Issue 3) by Mark Kramer

“ The Soviet Factor in U.S.-Japanese Defense Cooperation, 1978-1985 ” (Volume 15, Issue 2) by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa

" Editor's Note " (Volume 15, Issue 2) by Mark Kramer

" The Ground Observer Corps: Public Relations and the Cold War in the 1950s ” (Volume 15, Issue 1) by Kenton Clymer

" Editor's Note " (Volume 15, Issue 1) by Mark Kramer

“ Death to Spies! Austrian Informants for Western Intelligence Services and Soviet Capital Punishment during the Occupation of Austria ” (Volume 14, Issue 4) by Barbara Stelzl-Marx

“ In a Distorted Mirror: The Cold War and U.S.-Soviet Biomedical Cooperation and (Mis)understanding, 1956–1977 ” (Volume 14, Issue 3) by Anna Geltzer

“ Sweden, Europe, and the Cold War: A Reappraisal ” (Volume 14, Issue 2) by Aryo Makko

“ The deGaulle Problem ” (Volume 14, Issue 1) by Marc Trachtenberg

“ Recognition in Return for Détente? Brezhnev, the EEC, and the Moscow Treaty with West Germany, 1970–1973 ” (Volume 13, Issue 4) by Wolfgang Mueller

“ A ‘Common Appreciation’: Eisenhower, Canada, and Continental Air Defense, 1953–1954 " (Volume 13, Issue 3) by Alexander W. G. Herd

“Editor's Note ” (Volume 13, Issue 3) by Mark Kramer

“ SAC at Thule: Greenland in U.S. Polar Strategy ” (Volume 13, Issue 2) by Nikolaj Petersen

“ Editor's Note ” (Volume 13, Issue 2) by Mark Kramer

“ The French Factor in U.S. Foreign Policy during the Nixon-Pompidou Period, 1969–1974 ” (Volume 13, Issue 1) by Marc Trachtenberg

“Engaging Southeast Asia? Labor's Regional Mythology and Australia's Military Withdrawal from Singapore and Malaysia, 1972–1973 ” (Volume 12, Issue 4) by Andrea Benvenuti and David Martin Jones

" Editor's Note ” (Volume 12, Issue 4) by Mark Kramer

" The Soviet Union's Partnership with India ” (Volume 12, Issue 3) by Vojtech Mastny  

“ Editor's Note ” (Volume 12, Issue 3) by Mark Kramer

“ Cultural Education as Containment of Communism: The Ambivalent Position of American NGOs in Hong Kong in the 1950s ” (Volume 12, Issue 2) by Grace Ai-Ling Chou

Thomas U. Berger, Mike M. Mochizuki, and Jistuo Tsuchiyama, eds., Japan in International Politics: The Foreign Policies of an Adaptive State  (Volume 12, Issue 1) reviewed by Hugo Dobson “ Decision-Making and the Soviet War in Afghanistan: From Intervention to Withdrawal ” (Volume 11, Issue 4) by Artemy Kalinovsky  

“ I. F. Stone: Encounters with Soviet Intelligence ” (Volume 11, Issue 3) by Max Holland  

“ Kennan, ‘Universalism,’ and the Truman Doctrine ” (Volume 11, Issue 2) by Robert Frazier

“ The Improbable Permanence of a Commitment: America's Troop Presence in Europe during the Cold War ” (Volume 11, Issue 1) by Hubert Zimmermann

“ Targeting China: U.S. Nuclear Planning and ‘Massive Retaliation’ in East Asia, 1953–1955 ” (Volume 10, Issue 4) by Matthew Jones

“ GATT and the Cold War: Accession Debates, Institutional Development, and the Western Alliance, 1947–1959 ” (Volume 10, Issue 3) by Francine McKenzie

“ Harold Wilson, the British Labour Party, and the War in Vietnam ” (Volume 10, Issue 2) by Rhiannon Vickers

“ The 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: A Missed Opportunity for Détente? ” (Volume 10, Issue 1) by Vojtech Mastny

" 'No Fixed Values': A Reinterpretation of the Influence of the Theory of Guerre Révolutionnaire and the Battle of Algiers, 1956–1957 ” (Volume 9, Issue 4) by Christopher Cradock and M.L.R. Smith 

“ 'Pearl Harbor in Reverse': Moral Analogies in the Cuban Missile Crisis ” (Volume 9, Issue 3) by Dominic Tierney 

" A Most Special Relationship: The Origins of Anglo-America Nuclear Strike Planning " (Volume 9, Issue 2) by Ken Young

" Malaya, 1948: Britain's Asian Cold War? " (Volume 9, Issue 1) by Philip Deery

" China's Elite Politics and Sino-American Rapprochement, January 1969–February 1972 " (Volume 8, Issue 4) by Yafeng Xia

" The Tibetan Rebellion of 1959 and China's Changing Relations with India and the Soviet Union " (Volume 8, Issue 3) by Chen Jian

" A Fusion Bomb over Andalucía: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident " (Volume 8, Issue 1) by David Stiles

" 'Reenacting the Story of Tantalus': Eisenhower, Dulles, and the Failed Rhetoric of Liberation " (Volume 7, Issue 4) by Chris Tudda

" The Nixon Administration, the 'Horror Strategy,' and the Search for Limited Nuclear Options, 1969-1972 " (Volume 7, Issue 3) by William Burr The   Journal   is edited by Mark Kramer, Harvard University, and published by The   MIT Press   for the Harvard Project on Cold War Studies.

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