Foreign Affairs

The Cold War

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

Holdings Information

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

Cold War Related Records

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

Bibliographies, Conferences, and Papers

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

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

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

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

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

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

Educational Materials

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

Exhibits

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

 

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