Cold War — Bunk History

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Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signing the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Reduction Treaty in Washington, D.C., in December 1987.

The Myth of Reagan’s Cold War Toughness Haunts American Foreign Policy

Hawks may claim that uncompromising defense policies won the Cold War. But his pursuit of peace was more important.

by Sean T. Byrnes via The New Republic on July 6, 2023

Franz Kafka

How Franz Kafka Achieved Cult Status in Cold War America

And the origins of the term “Kafkaesque.”

by Brian K. Goodman via Literary Hub on July 5, 2023

Illustrated portrait of Don DeLillo against a firey background.

Secret Histories

Don DeLillo's Cold Wars.

by Siddhartha Deb via The Nation on June 26, 2023

Daniel Ellsberg speaking to the press.

Daniel Ellsberg’s Life Beyond the Pentagon Papers

After revealing the government’s lies about Vietnam, Ellsberg spent six decades as an anti-nuclear activist, getting arrested in civil-disobedience protests.

by Ben Bradlee Jr. via The New Yorker on June 16, 2023

Mexican president José López Portillo at a press conference on May 19, 1980.

Declassified Documents Uncover Yet Another Mexican President’s CIA Ties

Recently declassified documents have exposed former Mexican president José López Portillo as a CIA asset.

by Fernando Herrera Calderón via Jacobin on June 13, 2023

Shredded "Don't Tread On Me" flag.

The Long Afterlife of Libertarianism

As a movement, it has imploded. As a credo, it’s here to stay.

by Benjamin Wallace-Wells via The New Yorker on May 29, 2023

Miles Davis, Howard McGhee, and unknown pianist. NYC, September 1947.

On Menand’s "The Free World" and Dinerstein’s "The Origins of Cool in Postwar America"

Two differing explorations of post-WWII culture, politics, and ideals.

by Michael J. Kramer via Society for U.S. Intellectual History on May 21, 2023

The Liberal Discontents of Francis Fukuyama

“The End of History?” was an announcement of victory. But a quarter-century later, its author remains unsure if liberalism truly won.

by Daniel Bessner via The Nation on April 17, 2023

Illustration by Cristina Spano, picturing rulers and colorful shapes and designs coming out of the neck of a collared shirt

The Origins of Creativity

The concept was devised in postwar America, in response to the cultural and commercial demands of the era. Now we’re stuck with it.

by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on April 17, 2023

Collage of Putin, Khruschev, a missile, and a fighter jet.

Blundering on the Brink

The secret history and unlearned lessons of the Cuban missile crisis.

by Vladislav Zubok, Sergey Radchenko via Foreign Affairs on April 3, 2023

1970s commercial airplane flying over a mountain range

How 1970s California Created the Modern World

What happened in California in the 1970s played an outsized role in creating the world we live in today – both in the United States and globally.

by Francis J. Gavin via Engelsberg Ideas on April 3, 2023

Life Magazine Cover, August 25th 1967, featuring a U.S. Marine and an Injured Child in Vietnam.

Life Goes to Vietnam

Debunking claims that news media fueled public disillusionment and cost the US victory.

by Gregory A. Daddis via Process: A Blog for American History on March 29, 2023

Richard Nixon discusses Vietnam with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Deputy National Security Advisor Al Haig at Camp David, 1972.

The "Madman Theory" Was Quintessential Nixon

The rash ruse was central to Nixon’s strategy to fight the Cold War, and can also tell us a good deal about the famously elusive ex-president himself.

by Zachary Jonathan Jacobson via HNN on March 26, 2023

President Jimmy Carter standing behind a podium.

Jimmy Carter's African Legacy: Peacemaker, Negotiator and Defender of Rights

Carter’s work in Zimbabwe forms a significant and underappreciated part of his legacy.

by Nancy Mitchell via The Conversation on March 9, 2023

1961 pamphlet for Florida's "Americanism vs. Communism" course.

The Long History of Conservative Indoctrination in Florida Schools

The top educational priorities in the Sunshine State were apparently reading, writing, and anti-communism.

by Tera W. Hunter via The Nation on February 27, 2023

President John F. Kennedy meets with William Fitzjohn, Sierra Leone's charge d’affairs in Washington, in the Oval Office on April 27, 1961.

The African Diplomats Who Protested Segregation in the U.S.

Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy publicly apologized after restaurants refused to serve Black representatives of newly independent nations.

by Francine Uenuma via Smithsonian Magazine on February 24, 2023

Ngango of Cameroon speaks to a crowd gathered at D.C.'s MLK Memorial.

We’ve Erased Black Immigrants From Our Story, Obscuring a Racist System

We see our history of racism against Black Americans as distinct from our immigration policy, but the two are actually deeply intertwined.

by Carly Goodman via Made By History on February 23, 2023

Castro and Kruschev.

Putin’s Nuclear Threats Evoke Cold War Tensions of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Russia’s recent nuclear threats have revived Cold War animosity with roots in the Cuban missile crisis.

via Retro Report on February 23, 2023

Sailors recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Feb. 5.

Spy Balloons Evoke Bad Cold War Memories for China

Covert U.S. intrusions into Chinese airspace were common for decades.

by John Delury via Foreign Policy on February 13, 2023

A balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina on Feb. 4, shortly before it was shot down.

Panic Over Spy Balloon Echoes Misguided Alarm Over Sputnik

In this case, freaking out makes even less sense because spy balloons are historically a sign of weakness.

by Kenneth Osgood via Made By History on February 13, 2023

President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at the Group of 20 summit.

Diplomacy Defused Cold War Crises. It Can Help Again Today.

The type of quiet, personal, informed diplomacy advocated by George Kennan can reduce tensions with China and Russia.

by Frank Costigliola via Made By History on February 10, 2023

Photos of UFO and the Chinese Spy Balloon.

Why Americans Are So Unsettled by the Chinese Spy Balloon

China’s balloon, whatever its purpose, became a physical and observable reminder of the often-invisible work nations do to keep tabs on one another.

by Kelsey D. Atherton via Slate on February 10, 2023

The door and interior tunnel of the Nantucket fallout shelter.

Inside JFK's Secret Doomsday Bunker

The president's Nantucket nuclear fallout shelter could become a National Historic Landmark—but efforts to preserve its history have stalled.

by Jenn Morson via Smithsonian Magazine on February 6, 2023

Image from book cover of "Petroleum and Progress in Iran."

There Will Be War

U.S.-Iranian relations, the interrelationship between Iranian development and the global oil market, and the future of economic warfare.

by Michael Brenes, Gregory Brew via Warfare And Welfare on February 1, 2023

Lee Harvey Oswald in Police Custody

Decades Later, The JFK Assassination Still Keeps Some Secrets

A helpful way to think about the JFK assassination, and political assassinations more generally, is to be more Dragnet about it than discursive.

by Noah Kulwin via Defector on January 25, 2023

Bill Clinton presenting the V-chip, 1996.

Cold Controls

“National security” and the history of US export controls.

by Ella Coon via Phenomenal World on January 18, 2023

President Truman in the Oval Office after presenting three Korean War veterans with the Medal of Honor.

When History Becomes Precedent in the OLC

Official decisions about military intervention and executive power are often based on outdated historical interpretations.

by Mary L. Dudziak via Balkinization on January 16, 2023

George Kennan.

George Kennan’s False Moves

The great grand strategist of the Cold War believed he failed in his most important task.

by Patrick Iber via The New Republic on January 12, 2023

Collage of George Kennan and the Pentagon.

The Ghosts of Kennan

Lessons from the start of the Cold War.

by Fredrik Logevall via Foreign Affairs on December 20, 2022

Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole standing alongside an elephant on Capitol Hill, 1995.

Myths of Doom

Can the origins of today’s right be traced to the 1990s?

by John Ganz via The Nation on November 29, 2022

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