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In 1999 the Project began publishing the Journal of Cold War Studies, which has been praised by authoritative outlets such as Library Journal and Foreign Policy. The latter said in its Summer 1999 issue that "the Journal of Cold War Studies promises to be a leading forum for path-breaking archival research" and that "the journal fills an important void for historians and political scientists studying the Cold War."

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Understanding the Cold War pp 55–79 Cite as

Studying the Cold War: Core Themes and Concepts—Is There a New International History of the Cold War?

• Elspeth O’Riordan 2  
• First Online: 30 September 2022

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This chapter provides an overview of the development of the academic study and historiography of the Cold War. The first part assesses developments in International History, starting with approaches written during the conflict (orthodox, revisionist and post-revisionist), before turning to developments since the end of the Cold War, particularly the focus on global and transnational turns. In the second part, the International History of the Cold War is positioned within a wider framework of interdisciplinary scholarship, focussing on the interface between International History and International Relations. It charts the development of IR theory and argues that Cold War scholarship can only be understood in the context of a triangular paradigm of interdependence between International History, International Relations and the Cold War dynamic itself.

• Historiography
• International history
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O’Riordan, E. (2023). Studying the Cold War: Core Themes and Concepts—Is There a New International History of the Cold War?. In: Understanding the Cold War. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06075-5_4

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World History Project - Origins to the Present

Course: world history project - origins to the present   >   unit 7.

• READ: Devastation of Old Markets
• READ: Connecting Decolonization and the Cold War
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• What does this author identify as the three main features of the Cold War?
• Why did Stalin want to expand Soviet influence in Eastern Europe?
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• The Cold War was a conflict that was all about methods of production and distribution that divided communities across the world along communist and capitalist lines. How would you describe the Cold War through each course frame?

Cold War: An Overview

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COLD WAR. A CURRENT ISSUE? A BRIEF ESSAY.

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Background to the Study The Cold War was essentially a period of time that was characterized by political, military and economic tensions between the major powers of the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc following the end of World War II. The Eastern powers were the Soviet Union and other powers in the Warsaw Pact. The Western Bloc, on the other hand, consisted of the United States of America (US) and its NATO allies (Fousek, 2000). It is not clearly known when the Cold War officially started; and different dates have been given. However, the most commonly cited date for the commencement of the Cold War is 1947. The War ended in 1991. This happened following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The Cold War was simply a period of intense political and military tensions between the world’s major powers; but did not involve any direct military confrontations. Instead, the confrontations often took place in the form of proxy wars fought in other countries and places. The Vietnam War, the Korean War, and the first Afghanistan War are notable proxy wars between these two sides. The Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc supported different sides in these wars; and this was the closest that they came to confronting each other (Gaddis, 1989). The Cold War, therefore, can be said to have been a supremacy and hegemonic battle to determine the greatest power in the world after the end of World War II and the devastating defeat of Japan and East Germany (Gaddis, 1997). Although the US and the Soviet Union had been allies against Nazi Germany during World War II, they were split by the Cold War. This split would prove to be quite disastrous for both sides both economically and politically. The major differences were that the Soviet Union pursued a Marxist-Leninist political ideology while the US and its allies pursued a capitalist ideology (Fousek, 2000). Although there was no full-scale armed combat between the two superpowers, they nonetheless armed themselves heavily in anticipation for a possible real war. With both sides owning nuclear and other lethal weapons, there was an expectation that a worldwide nuclear war might erupt (Grenville, 2005; Nalebuff, 1988). However, it was largely because of their possession of nuclear weapons that each side was able to deter the other. Both the US and the Soviet Union were not willing to initiate a direct nuclear confrontation for fear that the nuclear weapons held by the other would be used. The state of tension between two continued until 1991 when the Soviet Union disintegrated (Freedman, 2004).

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https://www.ijrrjournal.com/IJRR_Vol.8_Issue.4_April2021/IJRR-Abstract048.html

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This article examines the theoretical framework of the cold war as the basis for comprehending the genesis of the Cold War. This author gave emphasizes to events which clearly elaborate the end of the war known as the superpowers struggle from 1945-1991 by focusing on factors which have speed up the collapse of the Cold War resulting into the new World Order. In this paper, the author argued that, the Cold War and World War II are inseparable because conflict among the Allies surfaced at the end of the World War II. This paper set out how World War II shaped the beginning of the Cold War through engaging with the major schools of thoughts that are considered as the cause of Cold War. Therefore, the blame for the escalation of the Cold war should be attributed to both the United States and the Soviet Union as both of them were serving their national interest.

The state of the post-war international economy strongly influenced the formation of the two Cold War camps in two respects: firstly, it placed the two emergent superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, on a profoundly unequal economic footing. Secondly, the collapse of the old economic international order created fundamental imbalance of power, both in Europe itself and abroad. Collectively, these two factors significantly reduced the possibility of mutual cooperation by imbuing the United States with considerably more economic agency than the Soviet Union, and providing the former with incentives to exercise its economic influence. Faced with this profound asymmetry of economic power, the Soviet Union had more incentive to engage in defensive, protectionist policy rather than engage productively with the United States and the West.

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The Cold War (1945-1989) essay

The Cold War is considered to be a significant event in Modern World History. The Cold War dominated a rather long time period: between 1945, or the end of the World War II, and 1990, the collapse of the USSR. This period involved the relationships between two superpowers: the United States and the USSR. The Cold War began in Eastern Europe and Germany, according to the researchers of the Institute of Contemporary British History (Warner 15).  Researchers state that “the USSR and the United States of America held the trump cards, nuclear bombs and missiles” (Daniel 489). In other words, during the Cold War, two nations took the fate of the world under their control. The progression of the Cold War influenced the development of society, which became aware of the threat of nuclear war. After the World War II, the world experienced technological progress, which provided “the Space Race, computer development, superhighway construction, jet airliner development, the creation of international phone system, the advent of television, enormous progress in medicine, and the creation of mass consumerism, and many other achievements” (Daniel 489). Although the larger part of the world lived in poverty and lacked technological progress, the United States and other countries of Western world succeeded in economic development. The Cold War, which began in 1945, reflected the increased role of technological progress in the establishment of economic relationships between two superpowers.   The Cold War involved internal and external conflicts between two superpowers, the United States and the USSR, leading to eventual breakdown of the USSR.

• The Cold War: background information

The Cold War consisted of several confrontations between the United States and the USSR, supported by their allies. According to researchers, the Cold War was marked by a number of events, including “the escalating arms race, a competition to conquer space, a dangerously belligerent for of diplomacy known as brinkmanship, and a series of small wars, sometimes called “police actions” by the United States and sometimes excused as defense measures by the Soviets” (Gottfried 9). The Cold War had different influences on the United States and the USSR. For the USSR, the Cold War provided massive opportunities for the spread of communism across the world, Moscow’s control over the development of other nations and the increased role of the Soviet Communist party.

In fact, the Cold War could split the wartime alliance formed to oppose the plans of Nazi Germany, leaving the USSR and the United States as two superpowers with considerable economic and political differences. The USSR was based on a single-party Marxist–Leninist system, while the United States was a capitalist state with democratic governance based on free elections.

The key figure in the Cold War was the Soviet leader Gorbachev, who was elected in 1985. He managed to change the direction of the USSR, making the economies of communist ruled states independent. The major reasons for changing in the course were poor technological development of the USSR (Gottfried 115). Gorbachev believed that radical changes in political power could improve the Communist system. At the same time, he wanted to stop the Cold War and tensions with the United States. The cost of nuclear arms race had negative impact on the economy of the USSR. The leaders of the United States accepted the proposed relationships, based on cooperation and mutual trust. The end of the Cold War was marked by signing the INF treaty in 1987 (Gottfried 115).

• The origins of the Cold War

Many American historians state that the Cold War began in 1945. However, according to Russian researchers, historians and analysts “the Cold War began with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, for this was when the capitalist world began its systematic opposition to and effort to undermine the world’s first socialist state and society” (Warner13). For Russians, the Cold War was hot in 1918-1922, when the Allied Intervention policy implemented in Russia during the Russian Civil War. According to John W. Long, “the U.S. intervention in North Russia was a policy formulated by President Wilson during the first half of 1918 at the urgent insistence of Britain, France and Italy, the chief World War I allies” (380).

Nevertheless, there are some other opinions regarding the origins of the Cold War. For example, Geoffrey Barraclough, an outstanding English historian, states that the events in the Far East at the end of the century contributed to the origins of the Cold War. He argues that “during the previous hundred years, Russia and the United States has tended to support each other against England; but now, as England’s power passed its zenith, they came face to face across the Pacific” (Warner 13). According to Barraclough, the Cold War is associated with the conflict of interests, which involved European countries, the Middle East and South East Asia. Finally, this conflict divided the world into two camps. Thus, the Cold War origins are connected with the spread of ideological conflict caused by the emergence of the new power in the early 20-th century (Warner 14). The Cold War outbreak was associated with the spread of propaganda on the United States by the USSR. The propagandistic attacks involved the criticism of the U.S. leaders and their policies. These attacked were harmful to the interests of American nation (Whitton 151).

• The major causes of the Cold War

The United States and the USSR were regarded as two superpowers during the Cold War, each having its own sphere of influence, its power and forces. The Cold War had been the continuing conflict, caused by tensions, misunderstandings and competitions that existed between the United States and the USSR, as well as their allies from 1945 to the early 1990s (Gottfried 10). Throughout this long period, there was the so-called rivalry between the United States and the USSR, which was expressed through various transformations, including military buildup, the spread of propaganda, the growth of espionage, weapons development, considerable industrial advances, and competitive technological developments in different spheres of human activity, such as medicine, education, space exploration, etc.

There four major causes of the Cold War, which include:

• Ideological differences (communism v. capitalism);
• Mutual distrust and misperception;
• The fear of the United State regarding the spread of communism;
• The nuclear arms race (Gottfried 10).

The major causes of the Cold War point out to the fact that the USSR was focused on the spread of communist ideas worldwide. The United States followed democratic ideas and opposed the spread of communism. At the same time, the acquisition of atomic weapons by the United States caused fear in the USSR. The use of atomic weapons could become the major reason of fear of both the United States and the USSR. In other words, both countries were anxious about possible attacks from each other; therefore, they were following the production of mass destruction weapons. In addition, the USSR was focused on taking control over Eastern Europe and Central Asia. According to researchers, the USSR used various strategies to gain control over Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the years 1945-1980. Some of these strategies included “encouraging the communist takeover of governments in Eastern Europe, the setting up of Comecon, the Warsaw Pact, the presence of the Red Army in Eastern Europe, and the Brezhnev Doctrine” (Phillips 118). These actions were the major factors for the suspicions and concerns of the United States. In addition, the U.S. President had a personal dislike of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his policies. In general, the United States was concerned by the Soviet Union’s actions regarding the occupied territory of Germany, while the USSR feared that the United States would use Western Europe as the major tool for attack.

• The consequences of the Cold War

The consequences of the Cold War include both positive and negative effects for both the United States and the USSR.

• Both the United States and the USSR managed to build up huge arsenals of atomic weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.
• The Cold War provided opportunities for the establishment of the military blocs, NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
• The Cold War led to the emergence of the destructive military conflicts, like the Vietnam War and the Korean War, which took the lives of millions of people (Gottfried13).
• The USSR collapsed because of considerable economic, political and social challenges.
• The Cold War led to the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the unification of the two German nations.
• The Cold War led to the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact (Gottfried 136).
• The Cold war provided the opportunities for achieving independence of the Baltic States and some former Soviet Republics.
• The Cold War made the United States the sole superpower of the world because of the collapse of the USSR in 1990.
• The Cold War led to the collapse of Communism and the rise of globalization worldwide (Phillips 119).

The impact of the Cold War on the development of many countries was enormous. The consequences of the Cold War were derived from numerous internal problems of the countries, which were connected with the USSR, especially developing countries (India, Africa, etc.). This fact means that foreign policies of many states were transformed (Gottfried 115).

The Cold War (1945-1989) essay part 2

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Home — Essay Samples — War — Cold War

Essays on Cold War

Hook examples for cold war essays, the tension-building anecdote hook.

Start your essay with a gripping anecdote from the Cold War era, such as a close encounter between opposing forces, a spy's daring mission, or a pivotal diplomatic negotiation.

The Iron Curtain Metaphor Hook

Draw parallels between the Iron Curtain that divided Europe during the Cold War and modern-day geopolitical divisions. Explore how historical lessons can inform contemporary politics.

The Cuban Missile Crisis Revelation Hook

Begin with a revelation about the Cuban Missile Crisis, a pivotal event during the Cold War. Discuss the world's reaction to this crisis and its implications for global peace.

The Space Race Innovation Hook

Highlight the innovative aspects of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Discuss the technological advancements and the impact on science and society.

The Proxy Wars Connection Hook

Start by exploring the concept of proxy wars during the Cold War. Discuss how these conflicts shaped the global political landscape and their relevance in today's world.

The Nuclear Arms Race Factoid Hook

Begin with startling facts about the nuclear arms race between superpowers. Discuss the fear of nuclear annihilation and its lasting effects on international relations.

The Espionage and Spy Games Hook

Introduce your essay by delving into the world of espionage during the Cold War. Discuss famous spies, intelligence agencies, and the intrigue of espionage operations.

The Cultural Cold War Reference Hook

Start with references to the cultural aspects of the Cold War, including the influence of literature, music, and art. Discuss how cultural diplomacy played a role in the conflict.

The End of the Cold War Paradox Hook

Begin with the paradox of the peaceful end of the Cold War. Explore the factors that contributed to its conclusion and the subsequent geopolitical shifts.

The Lessons from History Hook

Start by reflecting on the lessons that can be learned from the Cold War. Discuss how understanding this historical period can inform contemporary foreign policy and global relations.

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Understanding The Effects of The Cold War

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Beginning of The Cuban Missile Crisis

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12 March 1947 – 26 December 1991 (44 years and 9 months)

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Soviet Union, United States, Warsaw Treaty Organization.

Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nikita Khrushchev, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan

Cuban missile crisis, Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, Berlin crisis of 1961, collapse of the Soviet Union

The Cold War was a period of political tension and military rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the early 1990s. It emerged in the aftermath of World War II when ideological differences and geopolitical interests between the two superpowers intensified. The historical context of the Cold War can be traced back to the division of Europe after World War II, with the United States championing democratic principles and capitalism, while the Soviet Union sought to spread communism and establish spheres of influence. This ideological divide led to a series of confrontations and proxy wars fought between the two powers and their respective allies. The development of nuclear weapons added a dangerous dimension to the conflict, as both sides engaged in an arms race to gain a strategic advantage. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, a standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union over the placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba, brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

The division of the world into two ideological blocs: The capitalist bloc led by the United States and the communist bloc led by the Soviet Union. The arms race and nuclear proliferation, leading to the stockpiling of nuclear weapons by both superpowers and the development of advanced military technology. The establishment of military alliances such as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the Warsaw Pact, which solidified the division between the Western and Eastern blocs. Proxy wars and conflicts fought between the United States and the Soviet Union or their respective allies, such as the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and various conflicts in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The spread of communism to several countries, including Eastern European nations that became part of the Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc. The Cuban Missile Crisis, a tense standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, marking the end of the Cold War and the transition to a unipolar world with the United States as the dominant superpower.

One of the major effects of the Cold War was the division of the world into two competing blocs, the United States-led capitalist bloc and the Soviet Union-led communist bloc. This ideological divide created a bipolar world order and fueled numerous proxy wars and conflicts around the world, such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union was another significant consequence of the Cold War. Both superpowers invested heavily in the development and stockpiling of nuclear weapons, leading to an unprecedented level of global military buildup. The fear of nuclear annihilation and the doctrine of mutually assured destruction shaped military strategies and had a lasting impact on international security policies. The Cold War also had economic ramifications. The United States and the Soviet Union competed for influence and sought to spread their respective economic systems, capitalism and communism, across the globe. This led to the creation of economic alliances and aid programs, such as the Marshall Plan, as well as the establishment of the Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc and the NATO alliance. Furthermore, the Cold War influenced the course of decolonization and independence movements in many countries. The superpowers often supported or opposed regimes based on their alignment with capitalist or communist ideologies, leading to political instability and conflicts in various regions. In addition, the Cold War had cultural and social effects. It fostered a climate of suspicion and fear, which manifested in widespread political repression, surveillance, and the suppression of civil liberties. The ideological struggle between capitalism and communism influenced cultural productions, including literature, art, and film.

Studying and writing essays on the topic of the Cold War is essential for students due to its multidimensional significance. Firstly, exploring the Cold War provides students with a deeper understanding of the complexities of international relations, diplomacy, and ideological conflicts. It offers insights into the strategies, policies, and motivations of the superpowers involved, such as the United States and the Soviet Union. Secondly, writing essays on the Cold War promotes critical thinking and analytical skills. Students are encouraged to examine primary and secondary sources, analyze different perspectives, and evaluate the long-term consequences of historical events. This process enhances their ability to form well-reasoned arguments and develop a nuanced understanding of complex historical phenomena. Additionally, the Cold War has left a lasting impact on society, culture, and global dynamics. By exploring this topic, students can gain insights into the origins of the arms race, the nuclear age, the space race, and the proliferation of proxy wars. They can also examine the impact of the Cold War on civil rights, technological advancements, popular culture, and the formation of alliances.

1. The term "Cold War" was coined by the American financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch in a speech in 1947. It referred to the absence of direct military confrontation between the superpowers, but the ongoing ideological and political struggle between them. 2. The Cold War was characterized by a state of non-military confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. 3. The space race played a significant role during the Cold War, prompting the establishment of NASA and fueling competition between the superpowers. 4. The proxy wars fought between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War resulted in the loss of numerous lives, with casualties reaching millions. 5. Notable "hot" conflicts of the Cold War period included the Korean War, the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, and the Vietnam War. These conflicts involved direct military engagement or support from the superpowers, leading to significant human suffering and loss.

1. Gaddis, J. L. (2005). The Cold War: A new history. Penguin Books. 2. Westad, O. A. (2012). The Cold War: A world history. Basic Books. 3. Leffler, M. P. (2008). For the soul of mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War. Hill and Wang. 4. Beschloss, M. R. (1997). Mayday: Eisenhower, Khrushchev, and the U-2 affair. HarperCollins. 5. Zubok, V. M., & Pleshakov, C. (2007). Inside the Kremlin's cold war: From Stalin to Khrushchev. Harvard University Press. 6. Hogan, M. J. (Ed.). (2015). The Cold War in retrospect: The formative years. Oxford University Press. 7. LaFeber, W. (2002). America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-2000. McGraw-Hill. 8. Lynch, T. (2010). The Cold War: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. 9. Matlock, J. F. (1995). Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War ended. Random House. 10. McMahon, R. J. (2003). The Cold War: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.

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• Check the footnotes, endnotes and bibliography of a good academic book on your topic.
• Search the library catalog for the topic you're researching.  Add the word "sources", "diaries," "correspondence," or "personal narratives" to find primary sources that are published as books
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window Coverage depends on the newspaper. American Hebrew and Jewish Messenger (1857-1922); American Israelite (1854-2000); Arizona Republican (1890-1922); Atlanta Constitution (1868-1984); Atlanta Daily World (1931-2010); Austin American Statesman (1871-1980); Baltimore Afro-American (1893-2010); Baltimore Sun (1837-1998); Barron's (1921-2010); Boston Globe (1872-1993); Calgary Herald (1883-2010), Call and Post (Cleveland) (1934-1991); Chicago Defender (1909-2010); Chicago Tribune (1849-2014); Christian Science Monitor (1908-2011); Cincinnati Enquirer (1841-1922);Cleveland Call & Post (1934-2010); Dayton Daily News (1898-1922); Detroit Free Press (1831-1999); Edmonton Journal (1903-2010), Globe & Mail (1844-2020); Guardian and the Observer (1791-2003); Hartford Courant (1764-1998); Hindustan Times (1924-2010); Indianapolis Star (1903-1922); Irish Times (1859-2022); Jerusalem Post (1932-2008); Jewish Advocate (1905-1990); Jewish Exponent (1887-1990); Korea Times (1956-2016); Le Monde (1944-December 30, 2000); Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan) (1883-2010), Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005); Los Angeles Times (1881-2015); Louisville Courier Journal (1830-2000); Michigan Chronicle (1936-2010); Minneapolis Star Tribune (1867-2001); Montreal Gazette (1857-2010), Nashville Tennessean (1812-1922); New York Amsterdam News (1922-2010); New York Times (1851-2020); New York Tribune (1841-1962); Newsday (1940-1995); Norfolk Journal and Guide (1916-2003); Ottawa Citizen (1845-2010); Philadelphia Inquirer (1860-2001); Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001); Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002); Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (1786-2003); Province (1898-2010); San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922); St. Louis Dispatch (1874-2003); St. Petersburg/Tampa Bay Times (1886-2009); Saskatoon Star Phoenix (1902-2009); Scotsman (1817-1950); South China Morning Post (1903-2001); Times-Colonist (Victoria) (1884-2010); Times of India (1838-2011); Toronto Star (1894-2021); Vancouver Sun (1912-2010), Wall Street Journal (1889-2011); Washington Post (1877-2007); Windsor Star (1883-2010). Also includes a Chinese Newspapers Collection (1832-1953) and a collection of American and British Communist papers (1917-2013).
• America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window Searchable full-text of historical newspapers including titles from all 50 states. Now includes select coverage of some major papers after 1922 through the mid 1990s.
• News, Policy and Politics Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window Consists of the backfile of 15 major magazines (including the Newsweek archive), spanning areas including current events, international relations, and public policy. Covers history, political science, law and economics. 1918-2015

• Documentary History of the Harry S. Truman Presidency
• Documentary History of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidency

• Proquest Congressional This link opens in a new window Indexes publications of the U.S. Congress such as hearings 1824+ (including previously unpublished hearings: Senate 1824-1992 and House 1833-1982), committee reports, documents and prints. Material is available in microfiche and/or electronic. Essential tool for doing legislative history research. Includes Congressional Research Reports from 1916+, Bills & Laws 1789+, U.S. Serial Set from 1789+, Annals of Congress from 1789-1824, Register of Debates from 1824-1837, Congressional Globe from 1833-1873, and Congressional Record from 1873+. Also includes Executive Branch Documents 1789-1948 and Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations 1789+.

• Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new window Access to a wealth of significant primary documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945. Divided into various core collections; each contains a diverse range of policy documents including presidential directives, memos, diplomatic dispatches, meeting notes, independent reports, briefing papers, White House communications, email, confidential letters, and other secret material.
• National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books This link opens in a new window Library and archive of declassifed United States documents received through the Freedom of Information Act.
• U.S. Declassified Documents Online This link opens in a new window Indexing and full-text access to a rich collection of declassified documents from various government agencies, including the White House, the CIA, the FBI, the State Department, and others covering events following Word War II. Some specialized collection is contained in Archives Unbound . 1914+ more... less... For items declassified prior to this index, see The Declassified Documents Reference System - Retrospective Collection (Firestone) Z1223.Z7D36.
• Weapons of Mass Destruction Documents from the United States military, Atomic Energy Commission, Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency, White House, and other agencies detailing the development of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons for use by American forces, from 1942-present.
• Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports This link opens in a new window Translation service of the U.S. Government, usually attributed to the Central Intelligence Agency. It covered political, military, economic, environmental and sociological news and commentary, as well as scientific and technical information. more... less... For later years see World News Connection.
• Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961 This link opens in a new window Reproduces records relating to Canada, the Caribbean and the US from the British Foreign and Colonial Offices in the UK National Archives.
• Communist Historical Newspaper Collection (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window Collection of Communist American and British papers: The Daily Worker (1936-1958); The Ohio Socialist (1917-1919); People's Daily World (1986-1990); People's Weekly World (1990-2013); Sunday Worker (1936-1958); The Toiler (1919-1922); The Worker (1922-1924); New York; and The Worker (1958-1968); London.
• Left of Liberalism: Marxist-Socialist Newspapers, 1900-2015
• Mary Ferrell Foundation This link opens in a new window Searchable archive of documents related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, the Watergate scandal, and post-Watergate investigations into abuses of the CIA and other intelligence agencies.
• U.S. and U.N. Government Documents For assistance with government and United Nations documents, contact David Hollander ([email protected])
• Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window Includes collections on "Cold War Voices" and files from presidential administrations from Johnson through Carter
• History Vault This link opens in a new window Includes State Department files from the 1960s and 1970s, and files from presidential administrations from Truman through Nixon
• Truman Presidential Library
• Eisenhower Presidential Library
• Kennedy Presidential Library
• Johnson Presidential Library
• Ford Presidential Library
• Carter Presidential Library
• Reagan Presidential Library
• Bush Presidential Library
• AM explorer This link opens in a new window Contains files from the UK Foreign Office
• Foreign Relations of the United States Official diplomatic correspondence
• History of the Cold War: Selected Resources at the Mudd Manuscript Library
• Princeton University Library Finding Aids This link opens in a new window Provides access to finding aids or descriptive inventories for archival records and manuscript collections held within the University Library. Approximately 1,300 finding aids from the Department of Special Collections are now available online and include the Manuscripts Division , Public Policy Papers , and University Archives .
• Archive Finder This link opens in a new window Contains the entire holdings in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC). Current directory of thousands of repositories and over 220,000 collections of primary source materials across the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland. 1959+
• ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window Index to finding aids and other descriptive information about the holdings of manuscript and archival collections in libraries and research institutions throughout the world.
• << Previous: Finding out what other historians think
• Next: Footnotes made easy >>
• Last Updated: Feb 14, 2024 12:53 PM
• URL: https://libguides.princeton.edu/FRS130

Cold War Era

• Finding Magazines
• Primary Source Digital Collections
• Secondary Sources
• History Research Guide This link opens in a new window

Your Liaison Librarian

Below are scholarly journals that specifically focus on the Cold War.

• Cold War History Academic Journal; Issues from 2005-Current
• Journal of Cold War Studies Academic Journal; Issues from 2005-Current
• Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window Covers world history from the 15th century to the present (excluding the United States and Canada). Coverage extends to related disciplines such as archaeology, anthropology and sociology. Includes the full text of more than 530 journals and 140 books.
• Military & Government Collection This link opens in a new window Designed to offer current news pertaining to all branches of the military and government, this database offers a thorough collection of periodicals, academic journals, and other content pertinent to the increasing needs of those sites.
• Peace Research Abstracts This link opens in a new window Peace Research Abstracts includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to peace research, including conflict resolution, international affairs, peace psychology, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. EBSCO has digitized the full archive of this index, including coverage dating back to 1964.
• Race Relations Abstracts This link opens in a new window Race Relations Abstracts includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to race relations, including ethnic studies, discrimination, immigration studies, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline.
• JSTOR - All Content This link opens in a new window Searches indexed content, as well as full text content, on the JSTOR interface. Provides indexing for more than 12 million journal articles, books, and other content from a wide variety publishers on the well-known JSTOR interface.

Books at Waterfield Library

Likely Library of Congress Call Number Ranges

• DK1-949.5 History of Russia, Soviet Union, Former Soviet Republics
• DK266-292 Soviet regime, 1918-1991
• E740-837.7 Twentieth Century American History
• E838-889 Later Twentieth Century (1961-2000) American History

Some books to get you started:

• << Previous: Primary Source Digital Collections
• Next: Websites >>
• Last Updated: Jan 31, 2024 8:28 AM
• URL: https://lib.murraystate.edu/coldwar

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29 Race and the Cold War

Brenda Gayle Plummer is Professor of History and Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

• Published: 28 January 2013
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This chapter examines the issue of race during the Cold War. It contends that racism was part of a Cold War framework in which states marshaled ideological and political resources against the threat of dissolution and subversion from within as well as from without. The chapter suggests that racial consciousness served a dual purpose during the Cold War years. It explains that proponents of racial equality used democratic ideology to argue for the abandonment of all forms of discrimination while proponents of segregation used the Cold War to argue that altering time-honored usages endangered national security.

US foreign affairs have always included a racial dimension that even today remains masked in many historical accounts. How leaders thought about racial difference, and the practices they enacted because of their perceptions, characterized policy making from colonial times to the present. Racial thought was not always entirely conscious, but it influenced how Americans conceived their place in the world even before the War of Independence. This history includes the cold war, which took place against the backdrop of a global society in which racism helped to construct frameworks of domination and resistance. The alarm with which US authorities viewed Soviet expansionism in Europe in the late 1940s had a racial component. Washington policy makers perceived the Soviets as not only the captives of an alien totalitarian ideology, but also as racial aliens. The perspective predated cold war hostilities and derived from longstanding western European notions about “Asiatic hordes.” Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal thus mistrusted the Soviets because he saw them as “essentially Oriental in their thinking.” For Secretary of State Dean Acheson, “the threat they posed to Europe” was comparable to “that which Islam had posed centuries before.” 1 These views rehearsed a very old Orientalist trope. George F. Kennan, author of the containment doctrine that underlay much of US cold war policy, shared this perspective. He believed that some nations and peoples would always be subordinate. Improvements in status, where possible, should come only gradually. Kennan endorsed white rule in South Africa and believed that anticolonial insurgencies normatively derived from outside interference. He favored reform in US race relations so as to assure American leadership of the world's democratic forces, but believed it impolitic to “frighten the South.” The opinions of these officials on race suggest the limits of their ability to remove it as a cold war obstacle for the United States. 2

Racism became part of a cold war framework in which states marshaled ideological and political resources against the threat of dissolution and subversion from within as well as from without. The cold war inherited centuries-old rationales for imperialist rule and led to an early British and American postwar discourse that championed racial domination. When Winston Churchill delivered his “Iron Curtain” speech in Fulton, Missouri in February 1946, he appealed to the racial as well as cultural solidarity of Anglo-Saxons. When the United States developed the Marshall Plan in 1948 to shore up the faltering economies of war-devastated Europe, it yielded to the European insistence that recovery would not be possible without empire, which brought in its train the concomitant ideological and political burden of racism and colonialism. In fashioning a global security blanket for the postwar world, US military officials relied on perpetuating American control of Pacific islands formerly held by the Japanese. Independence for Italy's former colonies in Africa, now UN mandates, was similarly postponed. Cold war priorities led Washington to abstain from challenging Portuguese colonialism in Africa because of American reliance on the strategic military base in the Azores.

One of the seminal cold war documents was the 1947 Truman Doctrine; it warned of “armed minorities” poised to seize power and impose communist rule on embattled fledgling democracies. 3 The white settler regimes in southern Africa, however, did not figure into this caveat. South Africa, the most prosperous of these societies, in 1950 had passed the Suppression of Communism Act, a law it used to ban black South African political activity. The timing of the legislation echoed similar anti-communist initiatives in the United States. South Africa continued to occupy Southwest Africa, now Namibia, a United Nations (UN) trust territory.

Yet the coupling of security with racial domination could not be sustained. African Americans, critical of Churchill's appeal to Anglo-Saxonism, and others, still adhering to the wartime alliance with the Soviets, rejected Churchill's speech. Even President Harry S. Truman at first expressed ambivalence, leading to speculation that he wanted to revive Soviet-American amity. 4 The desire for national sovereignty in Asian and African territories during the war set in motion an unstoppable drive for independence that led most policy makers to acknowledge that colonialism's days were numbered and that any endorsement of it could not be easily squared with the United States’ own history of anticolonial revolt. 5

By 1946, policy elites were challenging white supremacist beliefs. Some members of the US policy elite, defined here as including both elected and appointed officials and selected members of the military and the intelligentsia, proved susceptible to arguments for the reform of race relations. Yet the decentralized nature of the federal system created a situation in which certain initiatives, such as President Truman's desegregation of the armed forces, were coupled with actual increases in segregation in government-sponsored housing and urban development. 6 Real change was at best incremental throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with resistance to racial equality expressed on all levels of government.

The horrific results of Nazi race doctrine had demonstrated the consequences of racist thought. Worldwide revulsion abetted a continuing trend in the social sciences to displace previous biological explanations of human inequality. The older social science had accompanied and rationalized colonialism and racial discrimination, however, which entailed a host of practices that were difficult to abandon. The UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities faced obstacles when such countries as the United States and the Soviet Union refused to permit international oversight of their treatment of national minorities. Cold war competition led the respective powers to exploit instances of oppression perpetrated by the other. 7

In the United States black Americans used the United Nations as a forum to air grievances and court world opinion, in spite of federal efforts to condemn such tactics as unpatriotic. In 1946 the National Negro Congress (NNC), with the endorsement of fraternal organizations, veterans’ groups, and trade unions, petitioned the UN on behalf of beleaguered African Americans, then experiencing a postwar increase in lynching and other violent crimes. The NNC presented its petition during a period when numerous groups appealed to the UN. Indonesians addressed the body in their effort to shed Dutch colonialism. The Ewe-speaking peoples of Togo, a mandate under joint British and French authority, asked the Trusteeship Council to clarify their status. Other petitions came from western European Jews, now largely in diaspora; Somalis, and residents of the British Caribbean colonies. In 1946 the UN General Assembly condemned South African abuse of East Indian residents in that country. 8

Heartened by these developments, the National Association of Colored People (NAACP) drafted its own petition in 1947. The document, compiled largely by W. E. B. Du Bois, called for an investigation of American racial practices by the UN Commission on Human Rights. The NAACP was more conservative than the NNC, which was increasingly condemned by conventional opinion because of the communist affiliations of some of its members. Its petition attracted the support of many African American organizations, political leaders and groups in Africa and the Caribbean, and foreign labor federations. The NAACP also secured cautious endorsements from Belgium, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Norway, and Pakistan, although UN rules did not permit nongovernmental organizations to formally bring petitions. The NNC effort had been largely symbolic, but it was noticed. This time, the NAACP document, enjoying as it did the prestige of its originating group, found a sponsor. The Soviet Union introduced the petition in October 1947. While the appeal had wide support, the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities tabled it to prevent alienating the United States, on whom UN fortunes rested. Washington officials applied pressure to NAACP leaders, who were eager to avoid the opprobrium that Soviet endorsement implied. 9

The belief that African American agitation for civil rights was prompted by outsiders rather than stemming from their own aspirations fed into cold war discourse about subversives. Watchdogs of political orthodoxy cast a wide net in linking those who maintained interracial friendships with un-Americanism. Racists were further aided by the tendency of leading American politicians to present foreign affairs as a contest between good and evil and to portray communism as a force determined to upset the natural order of things, which for white supremacists was continued black subordination. In corresponding fashion, the habit of linking black political objectives with communism engendered considerable skepticism about the cold war among African Americans who did not believe that loyalty was inconsistent with equal rights. This sentiment produced some black support for the most left-leaning presidential candidate in 1948, former Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace, who campaigned on the Progressive Party ticket. Wallace took a forthright stand against Jim Crow and would not address segregated southern audiences. While Progressive ranks undoubtedly embraced many communists, Wallace backers also included those whose radicalism had been shaped by independent labor and civil rights struggles. These individuals opposed the growing international tension between Washington and Moscow, and espoused a continuation of wartime Alliance policy. Black leaders who did not support Wallace nevertheless expressed doubts about such key aspects of US foreign policy as the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. Howard University president Mordecai Johnson believed funds allocated to save Greece and Turkey from communist takeover could be better spent promoting democracy in the American South. The Marshall Plan, the Courier asserted, was a program whose unintended effect was to further strengthen the colonial powers’ ability to retain their control of territory in Africa and Asia. 10

As cold war tensions mounted in the late 1940s, the African American electorate as a whole assumed a pragmatic stance toward East-West issues. Truman had broken through the impasse that had situated civil rights advocacy and anti-communism against each other. Seizing the anti-communist initiative from Republicans, the White House instituted a loyalty program for federal employees and endorsed internal security investigative procedures. It simultaneously made important gestures toward racial equality through the integration of the armed forces and through such executive actions as support for fair employment practices. The administration drafted a document, “To Secure These Rights,” which came to be seen as a milestone in federal support for civil rights. The promise of equality and the threat of punishment helped turn black voters toward Truman, the incumbent, in 1948. Thereafter conventional African American organizations distanced themselves from the Soviets and from communism, but continued to pointedly hold US race relations up to global scrutiny. Activists created an agenda of international political work to this end as well as for the purposes of eradicating colonialism and its racist manifestations. 11

The collapse of the European and Japanese economies during World War II and revolutionary conditions in China had propelled the United States into global political and economic leadership and pitted it against the Soviet system. Racial violence was not only a threat to the role Americans felt called upon to play in world affairs, but also a potential source of internal instability. Increasingly, policy makers and the policy-aware public began taking racial reform seriously. Representatives from the media, State Department representatives, US politicians, educators, and United Nations officials participated in a conference called by the NAACP in September 1950 to deliberate the problems racism posed for US cold war aims. Many began to understand that minority oppression hampered efforts to extend American interests and values. In June 1951 the solicitor general of the United States, Philip Perlman, filed an amicus curiae brief in an appellate court case that concerned segregation in public accommodations. The solicitor general connected racial reform to the national interest in his claim that Jim Crow damaged the American image abroad. 12

The fear of subversion provided powerful motivation for the United States to keep dissidents, including civil rights activists, in line. Surveillance of African Americans, ostensibly for communist affiliations, long predates the cold war and appears in intelligence community records as early as the 1910s. During World War II, the FBI sought to uncover pro-Japanese activity among blacks in the United States. Scrutiny of African Americans dates to the era of the slave trade regardless of contemporaneous ideology. Black resistance to oppression had always been perceived as inherently subversive. 13 In the late 1940s President Truman proved an innovator by coupling the racial reform necessary to ensure US credibility abroad with the repression of communists, thus separating civil rights from radicalism. Those working for civil rights could now enjoy legitimacy as long as they divorced themselves from association with the left.

Those who would not disavow their beliefs, such as the author of the NAACP's 1947 petition, scholar W. E. B. Du Bois, became the subjects of congressional investigation and legal prosecution. Liberals who had accepted Truman's formula purged them from organizations. Persons who had belonged to leftist organizations or espoused radical views, including academics, entertainers, and political activists, were threatened with the loss of jobs, passports, and, in some cases, freedom. 14 Fears exacerbated by the Korean conflict (1950–3) provided even greater incentives to crack down on dissidents.

Black troops stationed in Korea bore the brunt of residual resentment of Truman's armed forces desegregation order. Military brass blamed black soldiers for the consequences of the United States’ poorly thought out political and military tactics and lack of preparation. The 24th Infantry Regiment, still intact as an all-black outfit in 1950, achieved the first victory in the Korean War at Yechon on July 20. 15 This did not spare the unit from relentless criticism, mass court-martial, and disbandment in October 1951. The presence of large numbers of African Americans in the armed forces in the early 1950s attested to lack of opportunity in the civilian economy.

Congress failed to pass proposed fair employment practices legislation which Dixiecrats and red baiters succeeded in labeling as communist-inspired. Korea led Truman to de-emphasize civil rights initiatives as the nation proceeded to war. Authorities renewed their attacks on dissent. Presidential advisor Clark Clifford believed that the public had to accept the “stern policies which Soviet activities make imperative and which the US government must adopt.” 16 Even Americans living abroad, like writer Richard Wright, were under surveillance by US authorities. Actor and singer Paul Robeson was the first American subjected to television censorship when the National Broadcasting Company refused to air a program on which he had appeared. The revision of history through the banning of books by African American authors in US libraries overseas also characterized the period. In the southern states, governments took the Internal Security Act of 1950 as a model for laws to repress civil rights organizations, forcing them to reveal membership lists and persecuting their leaders. Regulations allowed local governments to fire public employees who belonged to civil rights organizations, which legislatures had decided were communist organizations. 17

As a result, many African Americans remained unconvinced when two of the most widely and tragically condemned spies of the era went on trial for their lives in 1953. Support among blacks for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg came from black trade unionists, newspapers, and fraternal organizations, not all of them on the left. 18 The same year, black trade unionist A. Philip Randolph introduced a resolution at an American Federation of Labor national convention that condemned McCarthyism and its author by name. Union officials, fearful of the consequences, blocked its passage. 19 Resentment of anti-communist politics did not necessarily mean that blacks endorsed the US Communist Party or Soviet politics. Out of 15 million African Americans in 1950, only 4,000 belonged to the Communist Party. The Soviets were remembered for their sale of oil to fascist Italy during Mussolini's war against Ethiopia. American communists, while claiming to represent an indigenous grassroots movement, had also demonstrated their dependence on the vicissitudes of Soviet foreign policy in the political reversals they made during the interwar period. Much African American coolness toward anti-communist zeal was instead prompted by recognition of how closely linked the red smear was to maintaining the racial status quo.

The Truman era reformulation of liberalism made it possible for officials to talk of colonialism as part of an international order which supported the ultimate welfare of subjugated populations. Early Africa policy linked the prevention of communism on the continent with facilitating economic development. US policy makers understood that American racism had made a bad impression on Africans and that Africans resented US assistance to the colonial powers as propping up an imperial domination they hoped to escape. Colonized peoples also recognized the easy access to strategic minerals and other natural resources that American enterprise derived through European contacts. The colonial powers tried hard to persuade Americans that independence should not be extended to colonial subjects across the board. Some were not ready for freedom, colonialists maintained, and were susceptible to communist influence. 20

During the early cold war years of 1946–53, US policy makers largely accepted these claims. They reconciled an historical predisposition against colonialism with European arguments by invoking the desirability of gradual change. There was accordingly no need to move colonized people along the path to independence quickly, especially at the expense of orderly transition. Order and stability had more immediate importance than democracy. The United States ultimately washed its hands of direct responsibility for African affairs. Instead, it saw its role as cooperating with the colonial powers to advance the future African trade and investment that would result from the restoration of European economies. Prosperity would trickle down to African peoples while some assistance from the United States was available through the Economic Cooperation Agency, the UN, and various exchange programs. In line with this program of inaction, Washington advocated peaceful coexistence between Africans and white settlers in parts of Africa where white minority regimes had installed themselves. No concern for the civil or human rights of Africans in these territories disturbed the relationships between the United States and the colonial powers. 21

A somewhat different dynamic operated with regard to sovereign states outside Africa that peoples of color governed. For generations, stereotypes had dominated US perceptions of Latin America and the Caribbean on both the popular and policy making levels. From the days of the early republic, racial mixture in societies south of the US border troubled Washington officials, who often portrayed these populations as irrational, childlike, incompetent, and intemperate. Such representations helped justify exploitative economic relationships and armed interventions. Racism was soft-pedaled after 1945, when communism appeared to present an ideological threat in the region. Official diplomatic correspondence nonetheless indicated that certain key officials still thought of Latin Americans in disparaging terms. 22

If US hegemony remained fundamentally unchallenged in the western hemisphere for the first half of the 20th century, in Asia and the Middle East, American dominance was less assured. Areas that occupied the prime nexus of Soviet-American conflict also provided strategic minerals for the industries and war machines of the great powers. Asian and Middle Eastern countries had nevertheless experienced racial domination as an accompaniment to colonized or dependent status. Orientalist preconceptions warped understanding of these diverse societies, and dark-skinned Asian visitors to the United States sometimes experienced bias first-hand when denied service at “whites-only” facilities. 23

It became necessary for the State Department to dispatch an officer to help African, Caribbean, and Asian envoys cope with prejudice and shield them from common racial customs, such as denial of service in public accommodations and housing discrimination in northern as well as southern states. Such incidents that occurred could damage fragile relations with emerging countries. In August 1961, the White House created a commission consisting of federal and state government representatives from the Washington, DC metropolitan area to address the issue of racial discrimination in the region. The State Department had hoped at first to keep foreign blacks from sharing the negative experiences common to African Americans. It became clear, however, that businesses were unable or unwilling to distinguish between African Americans and foreign blacks. Consequently, international imperatives required the desegregation at least of public facilities in the District of Columbia and Maryland. The arrival of African diplomats in Washington also occasioned alterations in capital society. The State Department's chief of protocol felt compelled to resign in 1961 from an elite social club with no black members. In the wake of decolonization, the club had furthermore suspended its erstwhile practice of automatically accepting foreign envoys. 24

Given racist logic, difference contributed to cold war anxieties about national security and provided a rationale for perpetuating patterns of exclusion. The arms race constituted a major aspect of preparations for possible conflict, whether it was the capacity for apocalyptic nuclear destruction or the streamlined, mobile military of Eisenhower's choice. Soviet-American competition involved heavy investment in atomic research. This accelerated in 1953 after the Soviet test of its first hydrogen bomb. New infrastructure and the ingress of new populations consequently transformed nuclear facilities in rural areas. In rural Georgia and Tennessee African Americans were uprooted by the weapons labs and nuclear power plants but received few benefits from the modernization of their communities. The NAACP and the National Urban League pursued cold war arguments in urging the desegregation of employment in nuclear facilities. Ending bias in defense employment, they claimed, neutralized disaffection and ultimately strengthened national security. Others used the argument to other ends. The Atomic Energy Commission, the Pentagon, and such government contractors as the Du Pont Corporation paid lip service to desegregation, but claimed that national security concerns tied their hands. African Americans who did secure jobs were generally relegated to janitorial posts or those that exposed them to excessive radiation. In its Hanford, Washington, atomic facility, defense contractor Du Pont faced a labor shortage but would not recruit Mexican American workers, claiming it would require a third set of separate eating and toilet facilities, for Mexicans were neither black nor white. 25

The Bomb also invoked race with regard to civil defense, a major conundrum in the early 1950s when experts still based ideas about the best civil defense practices on World War II era constructs. Historians have suggested that postwar suburbanization was occasioned in part by the desire to disperse population in order to minimize deaths in the case of an atomic explosion. African Americans were clearly at a disadvantage in the event of an attack as residents of thickly populated urban neighborhoods that lacked suitable air raid shelters. 26

The paucity of black personnel in foreign affairs-related government employment had concerned civil rights activists as early as World War II. Any campaign to present the United States as a racial democracy foundered on the absence of an integrated foreign service. Critics called on federal agencies to address the problems of employment discrimination and American self- representation overseas simultaneously. While African Americans had held unimportant political appointments as consuls and ministers to minor countries under Republican administrations before World War II, the numbers of career black foreign service officers and consular officials remained negligible. The State Department had imbibed the culture of Washington, DC, until the 1960s a segregated southern city. Calls for the integration of the department and, more generally, the appointment of a cadre of officials that more closely mirrored the actual demographics of a changing America, did not yield immediate results. According to Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, one problem the State Department had with blacks in 1953 was FBI security clearance. Few African Americans could pass through the bureau's exacting filter because reds had supposedly infiltrated all black organizations. 27

Other ethnic-racial US minorities did not share this particular problem because the crowning feature of their experience with American racism was the denial of citizenship. Many of their civil rights struggles focused on this issue. Chinese and Japanese exclusion laws, Supreme Court decisions denying landownership rights to Asians, and policies of segregating Mexican Americans and disputing their racial identity as well as their nationality meant that the full participation of these groups in US politics, including national office-holding, was delayed. While they engaged in civil rights struggles, their populations were heavily concentrated in specific areas, such as Texas and the West Coast, which gave a regional cast to their activism. After the Chinese Revolution of 1949, which coincided with heightening cold war tensions, the loyalties of Chinese Americans came under suspicion, making them unlikely candidates for diplomatic appointments. By the late 1960s many Latinos and Asian Americans had begun challenging prevailing models of passive assimilation and projected their struggle for equality and inclusion beyond local boundaries. 28

The end of the Korean War and the death of Stalin in 1953 resuscitated postponed concerns about racial justice. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, like his predecessor, realized that American cold war victory necessitated amelioration on the racial front. While Ike personally opposed coerced public school desegregation, 29 he upheld the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education , and endorsed the limited civil rights act of 1957. 30 During both Eisenhower administrations, US policy gradually continued to retreat from overt racism but remained both ambivalent and ambiguous about forthright endorsement of desegregation in all aspects of American life. There were exceptions to this changing picture. One of them was South Africa, where US representatives continued a comfortable friendship with the apartheid regime. While uranium, diamonds, and other precious ores shielded South Africa from strong criticism, mounting protest among black Americans and global shifts in attitudes toward racial difference made support for discrimination increasingly difficult to sustain. Officials found themselves giving lip service to democratic ideals while continuing to court the Pretoria regime. US authorities tried to mitigate the deleterious effect of the mixed messages they were communicating by sending black American artists to perform in South Africa. This practice later became controversial when pressure against the apartheid regime accelerated in the 1980s. 31

Ambivalence also characterized the policy of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Dulles appeared to think in racial stereotypes, having once notoriously remarked to a Chinese ambassador that “the Oriental mind, particularly that of the Japanese, was always more devious than the Occidental mind.” 32 While he supported decolonization as a matter of principle, he doubted the capacity of emerging nations to maintain democratic regimes. In April 1955 a group of ostensibly nonaligned states convened in Bandung, Indonesia, to discuss issues that affected them as neutrals in a world increasingly divided by bilateralism. The Afro-Asian Conference delegates expressed concern about the problems of development, colonialism, nuclear deterrence, and the pressure placed on them to declare allegiance to one or the other party in the cold war. Washington policy makers viewed the Bandung conference with alarm because of their difficulty in separating the nationalist aims of the participants from anti-white racism and a call to arms for worldwide revolution. The People's Republic of China (PRC) used the Afro-Asian Conference to carve out its own position on race. Adopting a stance that the Japanese had used in the run-up to World War II, the PRC simultaneously and advantageously represented itself as independent of the Soviet Union, as a leader of the Asian peoples, a friend of those still struggling against colonial domination, and a foe of all forms of racial discrimination. 33

The United States found itself unwilling and unable to clearly distinguish between communism and nationalism in the Third World. In a November 1958 speech in Cleveland, Dulles warned of the “danger that newly granted independence may turn out to be but a brief interlude between the rule of colonialism and the harsh dictatorship of international communism.” 34 This was not the only possible perspective on the relationship between decolonization and the “red menace.” The NAACP's position, articulated years before, maintained that “independence is the best answer to communist intrigue.” Suppressing the aspirations of colonized peoples drained the energies needed for the real fight for freedom, the Association asserted. 35

In spite of his narrow perspective on racial domination in the context of colonialism, Dulles proved unequivocal in his consternation over the international fallout from the Little Rock crisis in 1957 when Eisenhower sent troops to integrate a high school in defiance of the segregationist governor of Arkansas. The secretary of state regarded it as a public relations disaster that the Soviets and other critics readily exploited. He impressed the gravity of the situation upon Eisenhower and other key officials. 36 When employees of a Delaware restaurant refused to serve the Ghanaian finance minister, President Eisenhower invited the official to breakfast at the White House, and he received an apology from Vice President Richard Nixon. 37

In other respects, Eisenhower administration policy toward Africa did little to remove the fear that the newly independent states would veer toward the Soviet bloc. Washington's practices did not model its democratic rhetoric. US racial minorities had no significant employment in the State Department, or other agencies responsible for foreign affairs. Protocol officers evaded the question of segregation and discrimination by limiting contacts between African visitors and African Americans prepared to brief them in detail on US racial customs. Curious breaches of protocol when Africans made state visits increased the level of suspicion among those African states inclined to shape their own foreign policies independently of East-West ideological quarrels. Eisenhower named a black ambassador to Guinea, a country with which the United States had prickly relations. Ambassador John H. Morrow found himself undermined by his own subordinates in Conakry and by the skepticism surrounding his appointment. 38

Just as the focus on communism at home tended to derail other objectives, including the achievement of civil rights for all and the creation of a representative foreign service, it threatened peace abroad. While nonaligned countries pursued their specific interests as individual states, they acted as a group in trying to persuade the United States and the Soviet Union to enter talks. Late in September 1960, Ghana, India, Yugoslavia, Egypt, and Indonesia submitted a resolution to the General Assembly calling for a meeting between Eisenhower and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. They viewed defusing cold war tensions as in the interests of their own development and prosperity. Ike rejected the move, characterizing it as “at best . . . totally illogical; at worst . . . an act of effrontery.” 39 US pressure led to the resolution's defeat, especially as the USSR had its own reasons for rejecting talks with the Americans. The maneuver nevertheless alienated the states that had proposed it.

President John F. Kennedy, who assumed office in 1961, had campaigned on a promise of a foreign policy that would take account of changes in the global environment. Kennedy and liberals initially close to him in the first months of his administration endorsed Algerian independence and better relations with India. They advanced the view that promoting the American way of life to foreigners depended on achieving progress in inter-group relations at home. New communications technology meant that adverse news about the United States, including reports of murders, race riots, and brutal treatment of civil rights demonstrators, would reach international audiences. The press in Warsaw Pact countries played up negative stories. Even audiences generally in tune with the American worldview questioned the continuing pattern of violence and discrimination. Bad press dogged American news from Copenhagen to Delhi. Even opinion in Portugal, which still retained its African territories, denounced US hypocrisy for claiming to oppose colonialism while featuring a racial system the Portuguese considered more oppressive than their own. Decolonization increased disapproving voices. It became clear that the color bar was out of date in a diverse world that now contained sovereign Asian and African states. In ironic contrast to the widespread condemnation of racial segregation and discrimination, South Africa's media approvingly reported stories of white resistance to black civil rights. 40

The desegregation of official Washington proceeded only in tandem with heightened criticism. Presidential initiative and continued pressure from African American leaders prompted most of the desultory changes that did occur. These included eliminating the practice of confining black diplomats to Africa and Caribbean countries or remote posts elsewhere. The Kennedy administration responded creatively to the desire to court black opinion on foreign policy matters. Officials discovered that through invitations for White House visits by African heads of state, they could create the illusion of receptiveness to black demands. This combined effectively with a few well-advertised diplomatic appointments for African Americans. Washington hoped through gestures of friendship to persuade neutral African countries to orient themselves more closely to the United States and distance themselves from the Soviet Union and its allies. 41

Government action against negative racial publicity became part of an expanded cold war cultural outreach program mounted by the State Department and the United States Information Agency (USIA). Carefully managed news for dissemination abroad, information libraries that contained optimistic material about African American life, and tours by black lecturers, artists, and entertainers who delivered upbeat presentations about US racial difficulties played important roles in this effort, even at the risk of overstating both the changes that had taken place and the national will involved in making them. International expositions and fairs provided another venue for the dissemination of an alternative discourse to the bleak one of Jim Crow. The government's official position did not contradict the realities of a racism that all could see. Instead, propagandists stressed the gradual improvements made to date through peaceful evolution. 42

The Congo crisis disrupted the pattern of US responses to racial challenges during the cold war. The cold war penetrated Africa as the United States and the Soviet Union took different sides in the Congolese civil war that began shortly after that country's independence in 1960. Worldwide anti-western demonstrations followed upon the 1961 assassination of Congolese premier Patrice Lumumba. The subsequent Kennedy administration stance toward the Congo resulted from the conflicting views of foreign policy analysts who were divided between “Europeanists,” who believed that the United States should make its relationships with its strategic European partners paramount, and “Africanists,” who placed greater emphasis on decolonization, opposing racism, and courting the new republics. The “Europeanists” prevailed and the United States remained a weak opponent of colonialism and apartheid. 43

The beginning of Cuban military support for African revolutionaries and the endorsement of Marxism by national liberation fronts in southern Africa shook the United States out of its complacency and quickened its impulse to quell leftist revolts. Independently of the Soviets, Cubans had shouldered the responsibility of a worldwide struggle against imperialism, which they based partly on their own national history, and the perceived affinities of many Cubans with Africa. 44 In 1964, planes piloted by anti-Castro Cuban refugees and financed by the Central Intelligence Agency flew missions against Congolese insurgents in an operation aided also by Belgium. Mirroring views in some western circles, Time magazine on December 4, 1964 described a revolt in the Congo's Shaba province as led by “a rabble of dazed ignorant savages.” 45 Erstwhile secessionist leader Moïse Tshombe had become prime minister of the Congo. His regime was marked by his distrust of other Congolese and his habit of surrounding himself with white foreigners. Until deposed in late 1965, Tshombe secured mercenary support and the approval of US conservative politicians and Dixie segregationists. 46

Racialism proved challenging for US policy throughout Africa. In another development, the stirrings of nationalism had troubled white settlers in Rhodesia. Determined to prevent black majority rule, they declared their independence in 1965 and abandoned the British Commonwealth. The Johnson administration worried that American civil rights activists, who were increasingly addressing foreign policy issues, would develop an interest in Rhodesia. Johnson's advisors did not want their hands tied in southern Africa by the domestic electoral constituencies. The White House was, moreover, increasingly involved in Vietnam and hoped to rely on Europeans to suppress African radicalism. 47

Vietnam was not the only hotspot in US military activities during the Johnson years. In 1964 US troops fired on a Panamanian demonstration and killed two people, whereupon Panama suspended diplomatic relations with the United States. Relations were resumed within the week upon a US promise to review the Canal Zone treaties. The following year, US forces toppled a popular government in the Dominican Republic because of fears of communist infiltration and popular radicalism. Neither the Panamanian nor the Dominican incidents were racial conflicts per se, even though they involved the engagement of US forces against people of color. Instead, they reflected a deep-seated pattern of cultural and racial arrogance that could mask itself as cold war-driven.

The Vietnam War originated in a colonial conflict between a white power and subjugated Asians. US plans for the modernization of Vietnam contained discourse that implied that Americans were on a civilizing mission to improve the backward Vietnamese. The violent and racist manner of prosecuting the war evoked international protest. The United States had failed to adequately address racial oppression within its own borders and now deployed disproportionate numbers of front-line black troops. In the southern states draft boards frequently conscripted civil rights activists. Outspoken comment on the racial implications of the Vietnam War emanated from liberals who no longer felt beholden to President Johnson. Some major figures were reluctant to voice their criticisms for fear of being accused of communist sympathies, and concern about squandering the civil rights movement's political capital by alienating the president. Others believed it inappropriate for civil rights leaders to take stands on foreign issues.

By the mid-1960s, unwillingness to oppose the war was breaking down, even as the Johnson administration struggled to contain the emergence of an African American foreign policy audience. Johnson held to a universalist approach to US citizenship, in which all groups belonged to a national society with shared goals at home and abroad. Anti-war statements nevertheless issued from such organizations as the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee. In 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr., privately an anti-war critic for some time, formally announced his dissidence in a sermon at a New York church. King condemned “the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism” that characterized a war he deemed “dishonorable and unjust.” 48 The assassination of King in April 1968 was the capstone to a period of domestic disorder that favored presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon's claims that he could restore law and order to the fractious nation. Following his accession to the presidency in 1969, Nixon created a massive intelligence and police system aimed at identifying and repressing domestic radicals and uncovering any networks they had established abroad. The administration and the intelligence agencies were especially concerned with identifing Cuban influence on the Black Power movement in the United States. In spite of their best efforts, FBI and CIA investigators ultimately could not prove that American unrest had any cause except local opposition to the war in Vietnam and to racial injustice. 49

When Nixon came to power, he ordered the National Security Council to produce an overall review of Africa policy by December 1969. At the NSC meeting, Vice President Spiro Agnew echoed right-wing opinion in comparing the Rhodesian white settlers’ Unilateral Declaration of Independence to the US Declaration of Independence and calling for an end to the ban on importing Rhodesian chrome. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger counseled less activism for the United States at the UN and retrenchment in any effort to abolish apartheid and Portuguese colonialism. These conservative positions could be offset, Kissinger believed, by a modest increase in aid to black African nations. In the end, the United States continued to follow an Africa policy blueprint from which it had not substantially departed since the early days of the Kennedy administration. Nixon and his closest advisors put African issues on the backburner, to be handled by Secretary of State William Rogers, an outsider in the administration, as they focused on Europe and Asia. “We’ll leave the niggers to Bill,” the president notoriously recommended. 50

A counterpoint to White House policy was located in Congress. Michigan Democrat Charles C. Diggs, an African American, became chair of the House Subcommittee on Africa and vigorously used it as a platform to air opinion on African issues that differed from those of the White House and State Department. 51 The subcommittee gave voice to numerous opponents of apartheid, advocates of continued sanctions against the minority white regimes, and critics of US investment in southern Africa. Diggs called for testimony from human rights advocates, academic Africanists, and representatives of liberation organizations. As a congressional representative, he led his own fact-finding missions. If policy critics lacked clout with the administration, they gained influence with the public as opposition to colonialism and racism continued to mount during the decade.

Popular energies that had originated in the civil rights movement found new expression in protests against the minority regimes in Africa and US policy toward them. A handful of workers at the Polaroid plant in Massachusetts objected to the use of the company's equipment in the manufacture of passbooks in South Africa and launched a campaign to force the company to divest its holdings in that country. 52 While civil rights activists had linked US racism to apartheid by the 1960s, the emergence in 1972 of the short-lived African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC), a mass mobilization organization, newly publicized African issues to students, church societies, and black community groups through demonstrations and marches. Certain trade unionists took the initiative in organizing waterfront actions in which dockworkers refused to unload Rhodesian chrome or South African exports. These gestures were more symbolic than effective, but they demonstrated how the roots of domestic opposition to colonial domination lay entwined in struggles for reform in the United States. In 1976, strengthened by the growing numbers of blacks elected to Congress and other offices, a set of activists interested in international issues founded the African American lobby TransAfrica to influence federal policy regarding Africa. 53

Just as the Cuban démarche in 1964 had led the Johnson administration to pay more attention to events in Africa, the gains made by Marxist-oriented national liberation forces in the Africa of the 1970s and their supporters outside the continent forced modifications in the agendas of Nixon and his successor. Following the death of Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar in 1970, the Portuguese army withdrew from Angola without designating a successor government from among the three national liberation organizations that strove for power. The Marxist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) seized the initiative, taking control of the capital city in the summer of 1975 and expelling adversaries. The other organizations mounted attacks on the capital but could not withstand the victors and Cuban forces sent to defend MPLA holdings even though they called on South Africa for support.

Stunned by these developments, Kissinger, who had become secretary of state in 1973 and now served in that capacity under President Gerald Ford, approached Congress to unblock funds for the CIA to assist the non-Marxist liberation fronts. The Senate refused. Kissinger found that the inertia bred of racism had backfired and set back the anti-communist cause in Africa.

American voters elected Democrat Jimmy Carter to the presidency in 1976. Carter was a Georgian who owed his victory to substantial support from minority voters but would enact conservative economic policies that did not favor most of them. Carter revised Kissinger's stance on Africa. His secretary of state, Cyrus Vance, was more attuned to the aspirations of developing countries than Kissinger had been. 54 Soon after the inauguration, Congress passed White House-sponsored legislation, to repeal a law permitting the import of Rhodesian chrome, the Byrd Amendment. Carter did little about apartheid, choosing to concentrate instead on Rhodesia. Secretary Vance instructed UN ambassador Andrew Young to veto UN resolutions that would ban foreign investment and nuclear cooperation with South Africa or prevent it from developing a domestic arms industry. In spring 1978 Carter made the first visit to sub-Saharan Africa by any US president, traveling to Liberia and Nigeria and making known his opposition to anything but unconditional independence for the black majority in Rhodesia. 55

In spite of these departures, the Carter administration continued to tolerate repressive government in the Congo, now called Zaire and led by Sese Seko Mobutu. Congressional conservatives also attacked Carter's foreign policy. The segregationist Jesse Helms and Senator Robert Dole invited Rhodesian leader Ian Smith to the United States. Carter refused to see Smith and withstood GOP pressures to lift sanctions against Rhodesia. Right-wing orientations toward African issues soon resurfaced, however, as conservatives gathered electoral strength and were poised to win significant political victories in the 1980s. The brand of conservatism associated with Helms, Ronald Reagan, and others had deep roots in the Jim Crow South, a reality reflected in the policies Reagan pursued as president. 56

The Reagan administration planned to help the minority regime in South Africa achieve international respectability without forcing it to abandon apartheid. The quid pro quo was South African help in extinguishing communism in southern Africa and coming to an agreement on the future of Southwest Africa, now Namibia. Assistant Secretary of State Chester Crocker was the author of this policy, called “constructive engagement.” 57 The breach between professed American ideals and the desire to leave South Africa intact to preserve the strategic and economic advantages that apartheid bestowed on elites enlivened rather than destroyed the anti-apartheid movement. The Congressional Black Caucus in March 1981 issued a statement calling for a US foreign policy that recognized multilateral interests in the modern world. “We reject as unrealistic and potentially disastrous to American global interests,” the representatives wrote, “the Reagan Administration's notion that foreign policy issues, especially in the developing world, must be seen primarily in the context of a purely East-West confrontation.” 58 The Caucus opposed efforts to destabilize and overthrow the governments of developing states and inhibit reform in the name of ideological orthodoxy.

The studied hostility of Reagan officials to the aims of both civil rights activism in the United States and national liberation in Africa pushed TransAfrica away from its staid preoccupation with lobbying and into the direct action campaigns that had characterized the ALSC. Anti-apartheid activism in the 1980s became more militant and focused on such programs as divestment and exposure of the flaws in such dilatory solutions as constructive engagement. They launched campaigns to isolate South Africa, planning boycotts of entertainers who performed there. Activist pressure contributed to the passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, a package of sanctions that withstood Reagan's veto.

While racism persisted in American life, by the late 1980s it could not be as readily espoused as in the past. As immigration from Asia, Africa, and Latin America to Europe as well as North America grew substantially in the late 20th century, racism was revealed as a problem in countries other than the United States. In Warsaw Pact states and China, violence against African students and visitors demonstrated that parts of the local population had not absorbed the official message of tolerance. Those communist regimes began to experience intense pressures for liberalization during the era. Lessened restrictions in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, and the dramatic breach of the Berlin Wall foreshadowed the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Advocates of the status quo in southern Africa had used the Soviet threat as a rationale to delay change. With that state disintegrating, in February 1990, South African President F. W. de Klerk at last bowed to world opinion and released the African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela from his twenty-seven-year imprisonment.

Racial consciousness served a dual purpose during the cold war years. Those who advocated racial equality used democratic ideology to argue that all forms of discrimination should be abandoned in order to bring US practices in harmony with American ideals and aspirations to global leadership. Proponents of segregation used the cold war to argue that altering time-honored usages was inherently subversive, degraded civil society, and endangered national security.

These contrasting positions persisted after the cold war, as discourse about race increasingly entered the realm of cultural and symbolic politics. 59 Those wishing to enlarge the participation of people of color in national life and those who were skeptical about change continued to disagree about the meaning and extent of democracy. While the election of Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States seemed to signal a watershed in race relations, Obama received only 43 percent of the white Christian vote, in spite of a gravely troubled economy and the ideological incoherence associated with the incumbent party. At the turn of the 21st century, race continued to figure in US conflicts at home and abroad, including wars in the Middle East, the status of undocumented immigrants, and the nitty-gritty of partisan politics. The cold war had provided race with one of its most trenchant national expressions, but the end of hostilities did not eliminate it as a major factor in American life.

1. Forrestal and Acheson quoted in Matthew Connelly, “Taking Off the Cold War Lens: Visions of North-South Conflict during the Algerian War for Independence,” American Historical Review 105/3 (June 2000): 753 . See also Dean Rusk, As I Saw It (New York: W. W. Norton, 1990), 422 .

2. Thomas Borstelmann, “Jim Crow's Coming Out: Race Relations and American Foreign Policy in the Truman Years,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 29/3 (September 1999): 552.

President Harry S. Truman's Address before a Joint Session of Congress, March 12, 1947, published by the Yale University Law School Avalon Project, < http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/trudoc.asp >.

4.   Borstelmann, “Jim Crow's Coming Out,” 550 ; Wilson D. Miscamble, From Roosevelt to Truman: Potsdam, Hiroshima, and the Cold War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 282 ; Lynn Boyd Hinds and Theodore Otto Windt, Jr., The Cold War as Rhetoric: The Beginnings, 1945–50 (New York: Praeger, 1991), 91 .

5. Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 112–13.

6. Michael Omi and Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States , 2nd ed. (London and New York: Routledge, 1994), 79–82.

7. See, for example, UN ambassador Harlan Cleveland's remarks on managing international opinion as transcribed in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–63 , vol. XXV: Organization of Foreign Policy; Information Policy; United Nations; Scientific Matters (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 2001), 347, 663, 625 .

Report by the Chairman of the Sub-Committee Appointed to Study the Question of These Communications, January 24, 1946, pp. 51, 52, in UN General Assembly, Official Records, Committees, 1st sess., 1st pt., January 13–February 14, 1946.

9. Gerald Horne, Black and Red: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Afro-American Response to the Cold War (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1986), passim.

10. Mark Solomon, “Black Critics of Colonialism and the Cold War,” in Thomas G. Paterson, ed., Cold War Critics (New York: Quadrangle Books, 1971), 219–20 . See also Penny Von Eschen, Race against Empire: Black Americans and Anticolonialism, 1937–1957 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997), 107–8 .

11. Donald R. McCoy and Richard T. Ruetten, Quest and Response: Minority Rights and the Truman Administration (Lawrence, KS: The University Press of Kansas, 1973).

12. Mary L. Dudziak, “Desegregation as a Cold War Imperative,” Stanford Law Review 41/1 (November 1988): 61–120.

13. Theodore Kornweibel, Seeing Red: Federal Campaigns Against Black Militancy, 1919–1925 (Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press, 1998) ; Mark Ellis, Race, War, and Surveillance: African Americans and the United States (Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press, 2001) .

14. Carole Boyce Davies, “Deportable Subjects: US Immigration Laws and the Criminalizing of Communism,” The South Atlantic Quarterly 100/4 (Fall 2001): 949–66.

“Colored Troops Win First Victory for US in Korea,” Baltimore Afro-American (July 29, 1950): 1–2.

16. Quoted in Arthur Krock, Memoirs (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1968), 582 .

17. Martin B. Duberman, Paul Robeson (New York: Ballantine, 1990), 385.

18. Duberman, Robeson , 390.

19. David M. Oshinsky, Senator Joseph McCarthy and the American Labor Movement (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1976), 128–9.

20. George C. McGhee, “United States Interests in Africa,” Department of State Bulletin 22 (June 19, 1950): 1003 ; Memorandum of Discussion at the 456th Meeting of the National Security Council, August 18, 1960, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960 , vol. XIV: Africa (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1992); Cary Fraser, “Understanding American Policy toward the Decolonization of European Empires, 1945–64,” Diplomacy & Statecraft 3/1 (March 1992): 105–25 .

21. George C. McGhee, “United States Interests in Africa,” Department of State Bulletin 22 (June 19, 1950): 1000–3.

22. See, for example, George Kennan's memorandum, “Latin America as a Problem in US Foreign Policy,” Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950 , 2 ( March 20, 1950): 600–1 . Transcript, Thomas C. Mann interviewed by Joe B. Frantz, November 4, 1968, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, p. 9.

23. For the Asian experience with western racism, see Gerald Horne, Race War! White Supremacy and the Japanese Attack on the British Empire (New York: New York University Press, 2004) ; Horne, The End of Empires: African Americans and India (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2008) ; Melani McAlister, Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and US Interests in the Middle East, 1945–2000 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2001) ; Robert G. Lee, Orientals: Asian Americans in Popular Culture (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1999) .

24. Renée Romano, “No Diplomatic Immunity: African Diplomats, the State Department, and Civil Rights, 1961–1964,” Journal of American History 87/2 (September 2000): 546–79.

Deborah J. Holland, “Steward of World Peace, Keeper of Fair Play: The American Hydrogen Bomb and Civil Rights, 1945–1954,” Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., 2002, pp. 5, 25, 217, 259.

26. Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003), 177.

27. Michael L. Krenn, Black Diplomacy: African Americans and the State Department, 1945–1969 (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1999), 126.

28. Angelo N. Ancheta, Race, Rights, and the Asian American Experience , 2nd ed. (Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006) ; Lorena Oropeza, Raza si!, Guerra No!: Chicano Protest and Patriotism during the Viet Nam War Era (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005) ; Lee, Orientals ; Linda K. Kerber. “The Meanings of Citizenship,” The Journal of American History 84/3 (December 1997): 833–54 .

29. Stephen E. Ambrose, Eisenhower: Soldier and President (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), 367 ; but see David A. Nichols, A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 104 .

30. Steven F. Lawson, “Debating the Civil Rights Movement: The View from the Nation,” in Steven F. Lawson, Charles M. Payne, and James T. Patterson, eds., Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945–1968 (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), 14.

31. Thomas Borstelmann, Apartheid's Reluctant Uncle: The United States and Southern Africa in the Early Cold War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 24, 94, 51 .

32. Borstelmann, “Jim Crow's Coming Out,” 553.

33. Amitav Acharya, Whose Ideas Matter?: Agency and Power in Asian Regionalism (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009) ; George McTurnan Kahin, The Asian-African Conference, Bandung, Indonesia, April 1955 (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1972) ; Richard Wright, The Color Curtain: A Report on the Bandung Conference (New York: World, 1956) .

State Department Bulletin (December 8, 1958): 897.

John N. Popham, “N.A.A.C.P. Demands Curb on Red Aims; Convention Calls for Wide Action in World and Assails Communist-Ruled Unions,” New York Times (July 4, 1954): 16.

36. Mary Dudziak, “The Little Rock Crisis and Foreign Affairs: Race, Resistance, and the Image of American Democracy,” Southern California Law Review 70/6 (September 1997): 1641–716.

37. William Sutherland and Matt Meyer, Guns and Gandhi in Africa (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2000), 42–4.

38. Krenn, Black Diplomacy , passim ; Romano, “No Diplomatic Immunity, 546–79 ; John H. Morrow interview, Phelps-Stokes Fund Oral History Project on Black Chiefs of Mission, New York Public Library; John H. Morrow, First American Ambassador to Guinea (Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1968), 45–7, 77, 82–3 .

39. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Waging Peace, 1956–1961: The White House Years (New York: Doubleday, 1965), 586.

40. Michael Curtin, Redeeming the Wasteland: Television Documentary and Cold War Politics (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995), 52–4.

41. Krenn, Black Diplomacy , 126.

42. Penny Von Eschen, Satchmo Blows up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004) ; Michael L. Krenn, “‘Unfinished Business’: Segregation and US Diplomacy at the 1958 World's Fair,” Diplomatic History 20/4 (October 1996): 591–612 .

Lise A. Namikas, “Battleground Africa: The Cold War and the Congo Crisis, 1960–1965,” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 2002, 306.

44. Piero Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959–1976 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 29.

“The Congo Massacre,” Time (December 4, 1964): 28–32.

46. David N. Gibbs, The Political Economy of Third World Intervention: Mines, Money, and US Policy in the Congo Crisis (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 122.

47. Memorandum from Ulrich Haynes to Walt Rostow, April 18, 1966, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968 , vol. 26: Africa (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1999), 902 .

48. Adam Fairclough, “Martin Luther King, Jr. and the War in Vietnam,” Phylon 45/1 (Spring 1984): 19–39.

49. US Department of State memorandum, Summary of data collected on Cuban and Chinese involvement in the promotion of anti-goverment violence and demonstrations by African-Americans, July 26, 1967, Declassified Documents Reference System, online; US Congress, House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), Subversive Influences in Riots, Looting, and Burning (Washington, DC.: Government Printing Office, 1968), pt. 4 ; Jeff Woods, Black Struggle, Red Scare (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2003), 252 .

50. Quoted in Seymour M. Hersh, Kissinger: The Price of Power (New York: Summit Books, 1983), 111 .

51. Francis Njubi Nesbitt, Race for Sanctions: African Americans against Apartheid, 1946–1994 (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004), 35.

52. William Minter, Gail Hovey, and Charles E. Cobb, No Easy Victories: African Liberation and American Activists over a Half Century, 1950–2000 (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2007), 25.

53. Cedric Johnson, “From Popular Anti-Imperialism to Sectarianism: The African Liberation Support Committee and Black Power Radicals,” New Political Science 25/4 (December 2003): 477–507 ; on TransAfrica, Randall Robinson, Defending the Spirit: A Black Life in America (New York: Dutton, 1998) .

54. David F. Schmitz and Vanessa Walker, “Jimmy Carter and the Foreign Policy of Human Rights: The Development of a Post-Cold War Foreign Policy,” Diplomatic History 28/1 (January 2004): 113–43 ; Robert A. Strong, Working in the World: Jimmy Carter and the Making of American Foreign Policy (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press 2000) ; Douglas Brinkley, “The Rising Stock of Jimmy Carter: The ‘Hands on’ Legacy of Our Thirty-Ninth President,” Diplomatic History 20/4 (October 1996): 505–29 .

55.   Andrew DeRoche, Black, White, and Chrome: The United States and Zimbabwe, 1953–1998 (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, Inc., 2001), 244–64.

56. DeRoche, Black, White, and Chrome , 265, 271.

57. Chester Crocker, High Noon in Southern Africa: Making Peace in a Rough Neighborhood (New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1992), 255.

58. Quoted in Locksley Edmondson, “Black America as a Mobilizing Diaspora: Some International Implications,” in Gabriel Sheffer, ed., Modern Diaspora in International Politics (London and Sydney: Croom Helm, 1986), 164–211 .

59. Nikhil Pal Singh, “Culture/Wars: Recoding Empire in an Age of Democracy,” American Quarterly 50/3 (September 1998): 471–522.

Select Bibliography

Anderson, Carol . Eyes off the Prize: The United Nations and the African American Struggle for Human Rights, 1944–1955 . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003 .

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Borstelmann, Thomas . Apartheid's Reluctant Uncle : The United States and Southern Africa in the Early Cold War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993 .

Dudziak, Mary L.   Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000 .

Gleijeses, Piero . Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959–1976 . Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002 .

Horne, Gerald . Black and Red: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Afro-American Response to the Cold War . Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1986 .

Krenn, Michael L.   Black Diplomacy: African Americans and the State Department, 1945–1969 . New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1999 .

Minter, William , Gail Hovey , and Charles E. Cobb . No Easy Victories: African Liberation and American Activists over a Half Century, 1950–2000 . Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2007 .

Nesbitt, Francis Njubi . Race for Sanctions: African Americans against Apartheid, 1946–1964 . Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004 .

Oropeza, Lorena . Raza sí!, Guerra No!: Chicano Protest and Patriotism during the Viet Nam War Era . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005 .

Westad, Odd Arne . The Global Cold War : Third World Interventions and the making of Our Times. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006 .

Woods, Jeff . Black Struggle, Red Scare: Segregation and Anti-Communism in the South, 1948–1968 . Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2004 .

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Short Essay: Cold War

The Cold War, spanning from the end of World War II in 1945 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, remains one of the most significant events of the 20th century. Writing a short essay on such a broad topic can be challenging due to the complexity and the range of aspects it covers. This article will provide a structured approach to crafting a concise yet comprehensive short essay on the Cold War.

Table of Contents

Understanding the Essay Requirements

Before you begin writing, it is crucial to understand the requirements for your essay:

• Word Count : Short essays are typically around 500-800 words, but make sure to adhere to the specific word limit set by your assignment.
• Scope : Given the brevity required, it’s important to narrow the focus of your essay. Choose a specific aspect of the Cold War to discuss rather than attempting to cover everything.
• Purpose : Determine whether the essay should be expository, analytical, or argumentative.
• Sources : Identify how many and what types of sources are required for your essay.

Step 1: Selecting a Topic

Choose a topic that fits within the parameters of your essay. Some potential topics for a short essay on the Cold War could include:

• The origins of the Cold War.
• The role of nuclear arms in the Cold War.
• Key events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis or the Berlin Blockade.
• The Cold War in popular culture.
• The impact of the Cold War on a specific country or region.
• The end of the Cold War and its global consequences.

Step 2: Conducting Research

Gather information from credible sources such as academic journals, books, and reputable websites. Focus on collecting data that directly relates to your chosen topic. Keep track of your sources for citations and ensure you have enough material to support your thesis statement.

Step 3: Formulating a Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement will guide the direction of your essay. It should be clear, concise, and make a claim that your essay will support. For example, if you’re writing about the Cuban Missile Crisis, your thesis might be: “The Cuban Missile Crisis was a pivotal moment in the Cold War that demonstrated the potential for nuclear catastrophe and the importance of diplomatic channels in de-escalation.”

Step 4: Creating an Outline

A well-structured outline is crucial for a successful short essay. It helps organize thoughts and ensures that you cover all necessary points within the word limit. An example outline for a Cold War essay might look like this:

• Brief background on the Cold War.
• Thesis statement.
• Point one supporting the thesis.
• Evidence and examples.
• Point two supporting the thesis.
• Counter-argument or additional support for the thesis.
• Rebuttal or further evidence and examples.
• Restate the thesis in light of the evidence presented.
• Summarize key points.
• Closing thought or call to action (if appropriate).

Step 5: Writing the Introduction

Start with a hook to grab the reader’s attention. Provide context to the Cold War and introduce your specific topic. End the introduction with your thesis statement. Keep it brief and impactful.

Step 6: Crafting Body Paragraphs

Each body paragraph should focus on a single main idea that supports your thesis. Begin with a topic sentence, followed by evidence such as facts, quotes, and statistics. Analyze the evidence, explaining how it supports your argument. Transition smoothly between paragraphs to maintain flow.

Step 7: Writing the Conclusion

Your conclusion should restate your thesis and summarize the main points of your essay. It should also provide closure to the reader, which can be a reflective statement on the significance of the topic or suggestions for further research.

Step 8: Revising and Editing

Revise your essay for clarity and coherence. Make sure each sentence and paragraph contributes to the overall argument. Check for grammatical errors and proper citation of sources. Editing is key to a polished essay, so take the time to read through your work multiple times.

Step 9: Finalizing the Essay

After revisions and edits, read your essay once more to ensure it flows well and adheres to the word limit. Verify that all sources are cited correctly in the text and in the reference list.

Cold War Short Essay Example #1

The Cold War, a prolonged period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, was not characterized by direct military confrontation. Instead, it was marked by a series of proxy wars, nuclear arms races, espionage, and ideological battles that spanned over four decades. This essay will explore the profound impact of the Cold War on global politics, particularly through the lenses of the bipolar power structure it created, the spread of nuclear weapons, and the legacy it left on international relations.

Bipolar Power Structure

The end of World War II saw the emergence of the US and the USSR as the two dominant superpowers. The global political landscape was reshaped into a bipolar structure, with nations aligning with either the capitalist West led by the United States or the communist East under Soviet influence. This division led to a world where neutrality became increasingly difficult. The Non-Aligned Movement, an initiative led by countries that sought to remain independent of the Cold War’s influence, was a significant but challenging stand against this dichotomy.

Nuclear Arms Race

One of the most terrifying aspects of the Cold War was the nuclear arms race. The US and USSR engaged in a relentless pursuit of nuclear supremacy, amassing arsenals capable of destroying the planet several times over. The doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) emerged as a grim deterrent, predicated on the understanding that a nuclear attack by one superpower would lead to an immediate and devastating response from the other, ensuring mutual destruction. The proliferation of nuclear weapons during this period has left a lasting impact on global security and international policy.

Proxy Wars and Espionage

Unable to confront each other directly without risking nuclear annihilation, the superpowers turned to proxy wars as a means of extending their influence. Conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and various parts of Africa and Latin America became battlegrounds for this indirect form of warfare. Espionage and intelligence gathering became essential tools, with agencies like the CIA and KGB playing central roles in the execution of foreign policy and the attempt to gain the upper hand in the global arena.

Legacy on International Relations

The Cold War’s end with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 did not mark the conclusion of its influence on global politics. The ideological divide left a legacy of distrust and conflict in regions like Eastern Europe and Korea. The arms race had spurred technological advancements, but also a proliferation dilemma that the world continues to grapple with. The Cold War also gave birth to various international institutions and agreements aimed at promoting peace and cooperation, such as the United Nations and later, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START).

The Cold War was a defining period in the 20th century that shaped international relations in a way that is still felt today. The bipolar power structure it established, the nuclear arms race it spurred, and the proxy wars it fostered have had lasting implications for global politics. Understanding this period is crucial, as it not only contextualizes past conflicts but also informs current geopolitical strategies and the ongoing pursuit of a stable international order.

Cold War Short Essay Example #2

The Cold War was a conflict unlike any other that the world had ever seen. It was less about territorial disputes and more about ideological supremacy. Lasting from the end of World War II until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Cold War was a global standoff that pitted capitalism against communism, the West against the East. This essay will delve into how ideological differences shaped international alliances, influenced domestic policies across the globe, and triggered a series of proxy wars that defined the latter half of the 20th century.

Ideological Foundations

At the heart of the Cold War was a fundamental disagreement on how societies should be structured. The United States championed a capitalist democracy, emphasizing individual freedoms and a market-driven economy. In stark contrast, the Soviet Union advocated for a communist system, with state ownership of resources and a single-party state without the competitive nature of democratic elections. These opposing views were irreconcilable and became a catalyst for a global confrontation that extended beyond mere rhetoric.

Alliances and Spheres of Influence

The ideological battle led to the formation of military and political alliances. The US-led NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the Soviet-headed Warsaw Pact were established as collective defense arrangements that also served as clear demarcations of ideological spheres of influence. Countries around the world were often compelled to choose sides, aligning with the superpower that best represented their own political philosophies or offered the most significant economic or military support.

Domestic Policies and Propaganda

The Cold War had a profound impact on domestic policies in both blocs. In the United States, fear of communism led to the Red Scare and McCarthyism, where individuals suspected of communist sympathies were blacklisted or prosecuted. In the Soviet Union, the government exercised strict control over the media, education, and cultural expressions to promote communist ideology and suppress Western influences. Propaganda became a powerful tool, as each side aimed to prove the superiority of its way of life and governance.

Proxy Wars and International Incidents

The ideological conflict played out in various parts of the world as the superpowers sought to expand their influence without engaging in direct military conflict. In places like Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, and Angola, the US and USSR supported opposing sides, supplying them with military aid and advisors. The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, highlighting the dangers of the Cold War’s global reach.

Legacy of Ideological Divides

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the end of the Cold War, but the ideological divides had lasting effects. Post-Soviet states struggled with the transition to democracy and market economies, while the US grappled with its role as the world’s sole superpower. The ideological battle also left a legacy of mistrust and rivalry between Russia and the West, influencing international relations into the 21st century.

The Cold War was a global ideological divide that had far-reaching implications. It reshaped alliances, influenced domestic policies, and led to several proxy wars that left scars on the international community. The fear of the spread of communism or capitalism, depending on which side one was on, drove much of the 20th century’s geopolitical strategies. Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union, the ideological underpinnings of the Cold War continue to influence global politics, reminding us that ideas can be as powerful as armies in shaping the world’s destiny.

Final Thoughts

Writing a short essay on the Cold War involves careful topic selection, research, and structuring of your argument. By following these steps and ensuring that your thesis is supported by clear, concise evidence, you can effectively convey your understanding of the Cold War in a limited word count. Remember, a short essay requires precision and clarity above all else, so focus on delivering your argument in the most direct and compelling way possible.

About Mr. Greg

Mr. Greg is an English teacher from Edinburgh, Scotland, currently based in Hong Kong. He has over 5 years teaching experience and recently completed his PGCE at the University of Essex Online. In 2013, he graduated from Edinburgh Napier University with a BEng(Hons) in Computing, with a focus on social media.

Mr. Greg’s English Cloud was created in 2020 during the pandemic, aiming to provide students and parents with resources to help facilitate their learning at home.

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