Term paper on Cold War Begins

Cold War Begins

term paper RESOURCE GUIDE

Allied against a common foe during World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union put aside the differences that had divided them since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The Yalta Conference and questions regarding the future of Germany and the organization of the United Nations brought renewed controversy, however, and in the years immediately following the war, differences hardened into a firm opposition that has been labeled the ‘‘cold war.” Traditional historians blamed the Soviet Union for the cold war; revisionists either blamed the United States or claimed that both nations shared responsibility.
Suggestions for Term Papers

1. Who was to blame for the cold war: the United States or the Soviet Union ?

2. Was the cold war avoidable?

3. Analyze President Truman’s cold war policies.

4. Discuss the U.S. containment policy and its consequences.

5. Discuss the cold war as a 1948 presidential election issue.

Suggested Sources : See entries 48, 54, and 56–58 for related items.

REFERENCE SOURCES

The Cold War Encyclopedia . Thomas Parrish. New York : Facts on File, 1994. Over 700 entries, more than 100 photos, and a chronology of forty-five years of history.

The Cold War Reference Guide: A General History and Annotated Chronology, with Selected Biographies . Richard Alan Schwartz. Jefferson , NC : McFarland, 1997. Documents the cold war with chronology and biographies.

Events That Changed America in the Twentieth Century . John E. Findling and Frank W. Thackeray, eds. Westport , CT : Greenwood , 1996. Entries covered include the cold war.

GENERAL SOURCES

Baker, Robert H. Hollow Victory: The Cold War and Its Aftermath . New York : St. Martin ‘s, 1998. Traces the history of the cold war, focusing on politics and international imperatives from the final months of World War II to June 1996.

Beschloss, Michael R., et al. At the Highest Levels: The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War . Boston : Little, Brown, 1994. Interesting and revealing narrative providing insight into the real story behind the end of the cold war; based on classified documents, transcripts, records, and other material.

Brinkley, Douglas. Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years, 1953–71 . New Haven , CT : Yale University Press, 1992. Interesting and informative study of the former secretary of state and his operations in diplomacy during the cold war.

Chace, James. Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World . NY: Simon&Schuster, 1988. The book’s subtitle underscores the importance the author attributes to his subject.

Fuigiello, Philip J. American-Soviet Trade in the Cold War . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988. Exposition of the application of economic sanctions against the Soviet Union in order to achieve foreign policy objectives.

Ginsburgs, George, et al., eds. Russia and America : From Rivalry to Reconciliation . Armonk , NY : Sharpe, 1993. An analysis of relations between the United States and Soviet Union from the advent of the cold war to the present.

Johnson, Robert H. Improbable Dangers: U.S. Conceptions of Threat in the Cold War and After . New York : St. Martin ‘s, 1994. Questions why U.S. policymakers regularly exaggerated the Soviet threat during the cold war by examining psychological and political analysis.

Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline. Stalin’s Cold War: Soviet Strategies in Europe . Manchester , England : Manchester University Press, 1995. Details Stalin’s strategies for keeping Eastern Europe under his control while maintaining diplomatic relations with the United States .

Kunz, Diane B. Butter and Guns: America’s Cold War Diplomacy . New York : Free Press, 1997. Examines the cold war from an economic perspective in terms of the political and diplomatic events.

Kutler, Stanley I. The American Inquisition: Justice and Injustice in the Cold War . New York : Hill and Wang, 1984. Informative examination of various incidents regarding the suppression of civil rights with the idea of protecting the national security.

Lindey, Christine. Art in the Cold War: From Vladivostok to Kalamazoo , 1945–1962 . New York : New Amsterdam , 1991. Interesting comparison of art forms between the West and the Soviet Union; looks at social dissent in the United States and conservative and conformist art in the Soviet Union.

McCormick, Thomas J. America’s Half-Century: United States Foreign Policy in the Cold War and After . Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995. Examines the development of American leadership in world affairs with increasing militarization and pursuit of goals.

May, Ernest, ed. American Cold War Strategy . New York: St. Martin’s, 1993. Describes and interprets National Security Council policy in the cold war.

Murphy, David E., et al. Battleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997. Provides insight into strategies and espionage tactics employed by both the United States and the Soviet Union in German politics.

Schwartz, Richard A. Cold War Culture: Media and the Arts . New York: Facts on File, 1997. Describes the influence of the cold war, including books and writers, movies, the press, and television and radio.

Warren, James A. Cold War: The American Crusade against World Communism 1945–1991 . New York: Facts on File, 1996. Documents the nearly fifty-year crusade with commentary and examination of personalities and issues.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Borstelmann, Thomas. Apartheid’s Reluctant Uncle: The United States and Southern Africa in the Early Cold War . New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Behind-the-scenes account of U.S. relations with the apartheid government of South Africa.

Herken, Gregg. The Winning Weapon: The Atomic Bomb in the Cold War, 1945–1950 . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988. Examination of diplomatic history and foreign relations with respect to the atomic bomb.

Senarclens, Pierre de. From Yalta to the Iron Curtain: The Great Powers and the Origins of the Cold War . Washington, DC: Berg Publications, 1995. Thorough examination focused on the beginnings of the cold war. Translated from the French.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Clarridge, Duane R. A Spy for All Seasons: My Life in the CIA . New York: Scribner, 1997. Interesting account of a CIA spy whose early career was shaped by his participation in the cold war.

Kalugin, Oleg. The First Directorate: My 32 Years in Intelligence and Espionage against the West . New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994. A personal narrative of a key spymaster for the other side.

McCullough, David. Truman . New York: Simon&Schuster, 1992. An excellent and detailed biography of Harry S. Truman. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

American Foreign Policy: Eisenhower and the Cold War . Chicago: Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1981. Videocassette. Details U.S. cold war diplomacy during international crises. 16 minutes.

American Foreign Policy: Truman and Containment . Chicago: Encyclopedia Brittannica, 1981. Videocassette. Examines the origin of the cold war and containment in postwar years. 16 minutes.

WORLD WIDE WEB

‘‘Revelations from the Russian Archives.” Library of Congress Exhibits . January 1996. http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/intro.html Collection of images and narratives relating to the Soviet Union. Several segments deal with the cold war; see the ‘‘Soviet Union and the United States” section.