"Cold War" Resource Path Finder
This is a civil defense film produced for children in the 1950s. "Duck and Cover was a suggested method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear detonation which the United States government taught to generations of United States school children from the late 1940s into the 1980s. This was supposed to protect them in the event of an unexpected nuclear attack which, they were told, could come at any time without warning. "
Subscription Databases Sponsored by BHS Library (For home login information, please use the password "Panther."
- GALE Student Research Center
- Issues and Controversies in American History (For home login information, please use the username: smuhsd and Password: facts)
- Britannica Annals of American History (For home login information, please use the username: burlingame, Password: panthers
General Cold War and American History Links (Web Based Resources
Spartacus: The Cold War
Written and produced by historian and teacher John Simpkin as part of the Sparticus Educational Website, this section includes information on key personalities and significant events of the Cold War, such as the Berlin Airlift, Marshall Plan, Berlin Wall, Military Coup in Chile, Bay of Pigs, McCarthyism, Nicaragua, Cultural Revolution, Nuclear Arms Race, October War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Detente, Perestroika, Domino Theory, Rosenberg Case, Six-Day War, Suez Canal, Truman Doctrine, U-2 Crisis, Hollywood Ten, Hungarian Uprising, Vietnam War, Warsaw Pact, and Korea. Provides documentation with short excerpts from primary source documents.
Atom Central: Atomic Bomb History
"[A] website dedicated to documenting the history of Atomic Bomb testing in the 50’s and 60’s," Atom Central provides articles and timelines on the history of nuclear weapons, including Cold War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Missile Defense Timeline, Test Ban Treaties, ICBM missiles, Tsar Bomba and H-Bomb.
Global History: Change & Turning Points: Cold War
"[D]esigned to aid students in reviewing major periods of change and significant turning points in human history... in preparation for the New York State Regents Exam...," this site presents an overview of Cold War history, with focus on the contrast between market and command economies, the growth of global economic interdependence and the emergence of the Pacific Rim in the global economy.
The Cold War Museum
Smithsonian: Submarines in the Cold War - Timeline
Cold War International History Project: Wilson Center Digital Archive: Cold War History
Published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Washington, D.C.), this site focus is "to disseminate new findings, views, and activities pertaining to Cold War history" as documents are released by governments on all sides.
Also see, Wilson Center Digital Archive: Nuclear History.
US Department of State's Office of the Historian: Historical Documents
"The Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity." Documents are organized by Presidential administration or by topical and chronological volumes.
National Security Archive at George Washington University: Electronic Briefing Books (EBBs)
"The National Security Archive's continually growing collection of Electronic Briefing Books (EBBs) provide timely online access to critical declassified records on issues including U.S. national security, foreign policy, diplomatic and military history, intelligence policy, and much more."(NSA) Includes EBBs on Europe, Latin America, Nuclear History, China and East Asia, U.S. Intelligence Community, Middle East and South Asia and Government Secrecy.
Also see: • National Security Archive: The Cuban Missile Crisis- 50 Years
• National Security Archive: CIA and Assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 Documents
• National Security Archive: CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup
• The Nuclear Vault: Resources from the National Security Archive's Nuclear Documentation Project
History Wiz: Cold War Primary Source Documents
A collection of significant Cold War speeches and policy papers.
Library of Congress: American Memory
Contains a huge collection of digitalized "historical documents, moving images, sound recordings, and print and photographic media." Search by topic; be sure to put multiple word topics in quotes (e.g., "Berlin Airlift").
CIA: The CAESAR, POLO, and ESAU Papers (1953-1973)
From the Central Intelligence Agency, this collection of 147 declassified documents "highlights the CIA's efforts from the 1950s through the mid-1970s to pursue in-depth research on Soviet and Chinese internal politics and Sino-Soviet relations."
Also see: • Guatemala "This collection -- 5,120 documents -- chronicles CIA involvement in the 1954 coup in Guatemala."(CIA)
• Bay of Pigs Release
• The Berlin Wall Collection
• Baptism by Fire: CIA Analysis of the Korean War Overview
The Avalon Project: The Cold War Sponsored by Yale Law School's Library, the Avalon Project offers primary source legal, historical and diplomatic documents. Includes Cold War documents in the following categories: Basic American Foreign Policy (1941-49); Cold War Diplomacy: US Defense Treaties; Cuban Missile Crisis; Soviet-American Diplomacy, U2 Incident; Other Airplane Incidents (1950-60); Warsaw Security Pact; J. Robert Oppenheimer; and United States, SE Asia and the Pacific Area 1950 -1999.
Also see The Avalon Project: 20th Century Documents : 1900 - 1999
- National Archives Learning Curve: The Cold War P
- Sponsored by Great Britain's National Archives, Learning Curve Cold War provides case studies and primary documents, investigating such questions as the following:
- • Did the Cold War really start in 1919-1939?
- • Who caused the Cold War?
- • How did the Cold War work?
- • The nuclear game -- how close was it?
- • Was Vietnam a turning point in the Cold War?
- The Cold War: From Yalta to Malta P
- The Internet companion for the CNN Perspectives series aired in 1999, this site explores Cold War events with articles, interactive maps, interviews, primary documents, biographies, timelines, and interactive activities. Included are episodes and supporting materials for the following topics: Iron Curtain, Marshall Plan, Berlin, Korea, Reds, Sputnik, Cuba, and Vietnam. Although now retired by CNN, the website can still be accessed through the Internet archive, "The Wayback Machine."
- US Department of State: Office of the Historian: Milestones in the History of US Foreign Relations
- "Provides a general overview of the history of U.S. engagement with the world through short essays on important moments, or milestones, in the diplomatic history of the United States. "(OH)
- Milestones: 1945-1952: The Early Cold War Includes Truman Doctrine; Atomic Diplomacy; National Security Act of 1947; Kennan and Containment, 1947; Marshall Plan, 1948; Berlin Airlift; Korean War, 1950-1953.
- Milestones: 1953-1960: Entrenchment of a Bi-Polar Foreign Policy Includes Fall of French Indochina, 1954; Taiwan Straits Crises; Khrushchev and 20th Communist Congress; Suez Crisis; Sputnik; Eisenhower Doctrine; Berlin Crisis, 1958-61; U-2 Incident and Capture of F. Gary Powers, 1960.
- Milestones: 1961-1968: Presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Includes Laos Crisis; Bay of Pigs; Cuban Missile Crisis; Alliance for Progress and Peace Corps; Limited Test Ban Treaty, 1963; Vietnam War: Gulf of Tonkin and Escalation, 1964; Vietnam War: Tet Offensive, 1968; Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968; Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, 1968.
Spartacus: The Cold War
Written and produced by historian and teacher John Simpkin as part of the Sparticus Educational Website, this section includes information on key personalities and significant events of the Cold War, such as the Berlin Airlift, Marshall Plan, Berlin Wall, Military Coup in Chile, Bay of Pigs, McCarthyism, Nicaragua, Cultural Revolution, Nuclear Arms Race, October War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Detente, Perestroika, Domino Theory, Rosenberg Case, Six-Day War, Suez Canal, Truman Doctrine, U-2 Crisis, Hollywood Ten, Hungarian Uprising, Vietnam War, Warsaw Pact, and Korea. Provides documentation with short excerpts from primary source documents.
Atom Central: Atomic Bomb History
"[A] website dedicated to documenting the history of Atomic Bomb testing in the 50’s and 60’s," Atom Central provides articles and timelines on the history of nuclear weapons, including Cold War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Missile Defense Timeline, Test Ban Treaties, ICBM missiles, Tsar Bomba and H-Bomb.
Global History: Change & Turning Points: Cold War
"[D]esigned to aid students in reviewing major periods of change and significant turning points in human history... in preparation for the New York State Regents Exam...," this site presents an overview of Cold War history, with focus on the contrast between market and command economies, the growth of global economic interdependence and the emergence of the Pacific Rim in the global economy.
The Cold War Museum
Smithsonian: Submarines in the Cold War - Timeline
Cold War International History Project: Wilson Center Digital Archive: Cold War History
Published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Washington, D.C.), this site focus is "to disseminate new findings, views, and activities pertaining to Cold War history" as documents are released by governments on all sides.
Also see, Wilson Center Digital Archive: Nuclear History.
US Department of State's Office of the Historian: Historical Documents
"The Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity." Documents are organized by Presidential administration or by topical and chronological volumes.
National Security Archive at George Washington University: Electronic Briefing Books (EBBs)
"The National Security Archive's continually growing collection of Electronic Briefing Books (EBBs) provide timely online access to critical declassified records on issues including U.S. national security, foreign policy, diplomatic and military history, intelligence policy, and much more."(NSA) Includes EBBs on Europe, Latin America, Nuclear History, China and East Asia, U.S. Intelligence Community, Middle East and South Asia and Government Secrecy.
Also see: • National Security Archive: The Cuban Missile Crisis- 50 Years
• National Security Archive: CIA and Assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 Documents
• National Security Archive: CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup
• The Nuclear Vault: Resources from the National Security Archive's Nuclear Documentation Project
History Wiz: Cold War Primary Source Documents
A collection of significant Cold War speeches and policy papers.
Library of Congress: American Memory
Contains a huge collection of digitalized "historical documents, moving images, sound recordings, and print and photographic media." Search by topic; be sure to put multiple word topics in quotes (e.g., "Berlin Airlift").
CIA: The CAESAR, POLO, and ESAU Papers (1953-1973)
From the Central Intelligence Agency, this collection of 147 declassified documents "highlights the CIA's efforts from the 1950s through the mid-1970s to pursue in-depth research on Soviet and Chinese internal politics and Sino-Soviet relations."
Also see: • Guatemala "This collection -- 5,120 documents -- chronicles CIA involvement in the 1954 coup in Guatemala."(CIA)
• Bay of Pigs Release
• The Berlin Wall Collection
• Baptism by Fire: CIA Analysis of the Korean War Overview
The Avalon Project: The Cold War Sponsored by Yale Law School's Library, the Avalon Project offers primary source legal, historical and diplomatic documents. Includes Cold War documents in the following categories: Basic American Foreign Policy (1941-49); Cold War Diplomacy: US Defense Treaties; Cuban Missile Crisis; Soviet-American Diplomacy, U2 Incident; Other Airplane Incidents (1950-60); Warsaw Security Pact; J. Robert Oppenheimer; and United States, SE Asia and the Pacific Area 1950 -1999.
Also see The Avalon Project: 20th Century Documents : 1900 - 1999
