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The signing of the Alaska Purchase Agreement on March 30, 1867.

Russia’s First Secret Influence Campaign: Convincing the U.S. to Buy Alaska

Russia has been peddling influence for a long time, using a playbook that it still uses today.
Two drawn caricatures of Ronald Reagan's face.

I’m a Historian of the ’80s. I Cannot Tell You How Bizarre the New Ronald Reagan Movie Is.

There’s hagiography, then there’s...whatever this is.
Still from the film 'Red Dawn" showing three men holding rifles and binoculars.
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Why 1984's 'Red Dawn' Still Matters

By framing the U.S. as a victim, 'Red Dawn' obscured U.S. aggression in Latin America and elsewhere.
Angela Davis standing at podium, speaking at Communist Party USA event.

How and Why American Communism Failed

Plus: One historian’s about-face on the Communist record.
Pope Francis.

Whatever Happened to the Language of Peace?

Pope Francis is the only world leader who seems prepared to denounce war.
Illustration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt among tanks.

The ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ Once More

In sending military aid to Ukraine, America’s values and security interests are aligned.

Henry Kissinger, Who Shaped World Affairs Under Two Presidents, Dies at 100

He was the only person ever to be national security adviser and secretary of state at the same time. He was also the target of relentless critics.
Israeli artillerymen plug their ears while laying down a barrage on Syrian positions.

The Arab-Israeli War 50 Years Ago Brought Us Close to Nuclear Armageddon

As world leaders scramble to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from escalating, it is often forgotten just how close the Yom Kippur War came to all-out nuclear war.
Closed fist with faces of Judith Shklar, Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, and Lionel Trilling

Cold War Liberalism Is Still With Us. Is That a Good Thing?

A scholarly roundtable on Samuel Moyn's new book.
The nuclear bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, August 9, 1945.

The Atomic Bombings of Japan Were Based on Lies

On the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japan, we should remember that deploying the bomb wasn’t necessary to win the war.
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.
President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at the Group of 20 summit.
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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.
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.
An image of George Kennan with some of his letters superimposed over his face.

Kennan’s Warning on Ukraine

Ambition, insecurity, and the perils of independence.
Collage of George Kennan and the Pentagon.

The Ghosts of Kennan

Lessons from the start of the Cold War.
Map of the western hemisphere, with red rings circling Cuba to show the range of the country's nuclear missiles.

The Cuban Missile Crisis at 60: An Imperfect Memory, but a Useful Warning

Viewed as public memory, the Crisis has an extraordinarily useful function today: a nuclear warning for the future.
Black and white photo of Fidel Castro giving a speech in front of the Cuban flag.

The 1962 Missile Crisis Was a Turning Point for the Cuban Revolution

The missile crisis led Cuba’s leaders to distrust their Soviet ally—an attitude that ultimately helped their revolutionary system to outlast the USSR’s.
Then-Sen. John F. Kennedy (left) met with Democratic Party rival Adlai Stevenson on the porch of Kennedy’s house in 1960.

How JFK Sacrificed Adlai Stevenson and the Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis

The standoff 60 years ago has newfound relevance for handling the Ukraine crisis today.
A still from "Ulitza Sezam" with the cast and puppet characters sitting around a table.

When the Muppets Moved to Moscow

A new book details the tangled tale of "Ulitsa Sezam," a "Sesame Street" spinoff that aired until visions of Russia's democratic future faltered.
A Coca-Cola billboard in Moscow in 1997.

Capitalism Triumphed in the Cold War, but Not by Making People Better Off

In the wake of economic crises, liberal democracies proved most adept at imposing austerity.
American politicians with supporters and German citizens in the background

1989-2001: America’s Long Lost Weekend

From the fall of the Berlin Wall to 9/11, we had relative peace and prosperity. We squandered it completely.
A tank on a city street.

U.S. Deliberation During Hungary’s 1956 Uprising Offers Lessons on Restraint

As the war in Ukraine worsens, there’s little debate about Western policy choices. This is a mistake.
Vladimir Putin with Bill Clinton

I Tried to Put Russia on Another Path

My policy was to work for the best, while expanding NATO to prepare for the worst.
Checkpoint Charlie, seen from West Berlin in 1960.

The Disastrous Return of Cold War Strategy

Hal Brands urges the U.S. to make China and Russia “pay exorbitantly” for their policies. History shows that has never worked.
Screen shots of PBS NewsHour anchors with title cards about conflicts in Angola, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Afghanistan.
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“Burning with a Deadly Heat”

PBS NewsHour coverage of the hot wars of the Cold War.
Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson visiting Soviet Jewish émigrés in Israel.

Henry "Scoop" Jackson and the Jewish Cold Warriors

An alliance between Jewish activists and congressional neocons made Soviet Jewry a key issue in superpower relations—and reshaped American Jewish politics.
Drawing of a CIA agent and a Judy sex doll.

Trickster, Traitor, Dummy, Doll

How the CIA tried to trick the Soviets with sex dolls (but ultimately got screwed).
The picture is a photo collage of three men against the background of an atomic bomb explosion. Pictured from left to right is Ed Hall, Ted Hall, and former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

One Brother Gave the Soviets the A-Bomb. The Other Got a Medal.

J. Edgar Hoover had both of them in his sights. Yet neither one was ever arrested. The untold story of how the Hall brothers beat the FBI.
President Harry Truman at a podium, giving a speech at NATO's inception in 1949.

Containment Can Work Against China, Too

There are important differences between Xi Jinping’s China and the Soviet Union, but the Cold War still offers clear strategic guidance for the U.S.
John F. Kennedy on a TV screen.

The Book That Stopped an Outbreak of Nuclear War

A new history of the Cuban missile crisis emphasizes how close the world came to destruction—and how severe a threat the weapons still pose.

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