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International
Wilson Center Digital Archive
The Digital Archive contains once-secret documents from governments all across the globe, uncovering new sources and providing fresh insights into the history of international relations and diplomacy. It collects the research of three Wilson Center projects which focus on the interrelated histories of the Cold War, Korea, and Nuclear Proliferation.
Foreign Relations of the United States post-1960
Documents to 1976 are available in full online.
Some documents from the Jimmy Carter administration (1977-1980) are still under declassification review.
Many documents from the Ronald Reagan administration (1981-1988) are under declassification review or currently being prepared.
Documents from the George H.W. Bush (1989-1992) and William J. Clinton (1993-2000) administrations are currently being researched or planned; no documents are published.
Wikileaks - Public Library of US Diplomacy
The WIKILEAKS Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD) holds the world's largest searchable collection of United States confidential, or formerly confidential, diplomatic communications. As of April 8, 2013 it holds 2 million records comprising approximately 1 billion words. The collection covers US involvements in, and diplomatic or intelligence reporting on, every country on earth. It is the single most significant body of geopolitical material ever published.
CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room (Historical Collections)
CIA's Historical Review Program, with the exception of several statutorily mandated requirements, is a voluntary declassification program that focuses on records of historical value. The program's managers rely on the advice and guidance of the Agency's History Staff, the DCI's Historical Review Panel, and the general public in selecting topics for review. Under guidelines laid out for the program, historical records are released except in instances where disclosure would damage national security-that is, for example, where it would reveal sensitive foreign government information or identify intelligence sources and methods that are currently in use and that are subject to denial and/or deception. The Historical Review Program coordinates the review of the documents with CIA components and other US Government entities before final declassification action is taken and the documents are transferred to the National Archives.
Presidential Recordings
Between 1940 and 1973, six American presidents from both political parties secretly recorded just under 5,000 hours of their meetings and telephone conversations.
Through a combination of historical research and annotated transcripts the Presidential Recordings Program aims to make these remarkable historical sources more accessible to scholars, teachers, students, and the public.
Cold War: Voices of Confrontation and Conciliation
This collection will provide a unique opportunity to read the recollections of many of the players in the Cold War. These transcripts of oral recollections will assist scholars in understanding the motivations for conflict and conciliation.
JFK’s Foreign Affairs and International Crises, 1961-1963
This collection provides insights into President Kennedy’s views on foreign affairs, U.S. leadership of the "West," and various worldwide crises. There are more than just documents on the Bay of Pigs, Berlin, and Cuba. There are documents that highlight American efforts to support Third World countries, balance of payments and foreign trade, Alliance for Progress and relations with Latin America, nuclear weapons and testing, NATO and the Multilateral Force in Europe, Southeast Asia and regional security, foreign aid and military assistance, and the international space race.
Digital National Security Archive (ProQuest)
From the National Security Archive, this resource consists of expertly curated, and indexed, declassified government documents covering U.S. policy toward critical world events – including their military, intelligence, diplomatic and human rights dimensions – from 1945 to the present.
Collections include:
-CIA Covert Operations
-Cuban Missile Crisis
-IRan-Contra Affair
-Kissinger Conversations and Kissinger Transcripts
-President's Daily Brief: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and the CIA
-Presidential Directives on National Security from Truman to George W. Bush
-The Soviet Estimate: U.S. Analysis of the Soviet Union, 1947-1991
-U.S. Espionage and Intelligence, 1947-1996
-U.S. Foreign Policy in the Carter Years
Commercial and Trade Relations Between Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union and the U.S., 1910-1963
This collection of U.S. State Department Central Classified Files relates to commercial and trade relations beginning in the Tsarist Russia period and extending through Khrushchev period in Soviet history. It contains a wide range of materials from U.S. diplomats including materials on treaties, general conditions affecting trade, imports and exports, laws and regulations, customs administration, tariffs, and ports of entry activities.
Europe
East Germany from Stalinization to the New Economic Policy, 1950-1963
This digital collection provides an in-depth look into the creation of the East German state, living conditions, and its people. Documents included in this collection are predominantly instructions to and despatches from U.S. diplomatic, and consular personnel regarding political, military, economic, social, industrial, and other internal conditions and events in East Germany.
Occupation and Independence: The Austrian Second Republic, 1945-1963
The experience of the Anschluss and Nazi rule deepened the commitment of Austrians to parliamentary democracy and Austrian statehood. The electorate remained divided into three political camps—socialist/Marxist, Catholic, and nationalist/liberal—but cooperation replaced extreme political polarization. Through Allied occupation, slow economic growth, dependency on Marshall Plan, the Second Republic became a stable democracy. The major political parties strove towards ending Allied occupation and restoring a fully independent Austria. Upon the termination of Allied occupation, Austria was proclaimed a neutral country, and "everlasting" neutrality was incorporated into the Constitution on October 26, 1955.
Indochina, France, and the Viet Minh War, 1945-1954: Records of the U.S. State Department, Part 1: 1945-1949
Comprising records of the State Department’s Central Classified Files, this collection contains records relating to the internal affairs of Indochina, during the period 1945-49. The records include instructions sent to and correspondence received by the State Department; the State Department’s internal documentation, as well as correspondence between the Department and other federal departments and agencies, Congress, and private individuals and organizations; telegrams, airgrams, instructions, inquiries, studies, memoranda, situation reports, translations, special reports, plans, and official and unofficial correspondence.
The Soviet Estimate: U.S. Analysis of the Soviet Union, 1947-1991
These documents represent the product of U.S. intelligence analysis of Soviet foreign policy, military capabilities, the economy, Soviet science and technology, and the internal situation - including both leadership politics and the situation within the country as a whole. In addition, the set includes a number of additional documents produced by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies that address similar topics.
Cold War: Voices of Confrontation and Conciliation (Archives Unbound)
At the end of World War II, English author and journalist George Orwell used the term cold war in his essay "You and the Atomic Bomb", published October 19, 1945, in the British newspaper Tribune. Contemplating a world living in the shadow of the threat of nuclear warfare, he warned of a "peace that is no peace", which he called a permanent "cold war", Orwell directly referred to that war as the ideological confrontation between the Soviet Union and the Western powers. The first use of the term to describe the post-World War II geopolitical tensions between the USSR and its satellites and the United States and its western European allies is attributed to Bernard Baruch. In a speech delivered on April 16, 1947, he stated, "Let us not be deceived: we are today in the midst of a cold war." This collection will provide a unique opportunity to read the recollections of many of the players in the Cold War. These transcripts of oral recollections will assist scholars in understanding the motivations for conflict and conciliation.
Poland: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1945-1963 (Archives Unbound)
After the Second World War Stalin's highest priority in Eastern Europe was the domination of Poland. The rigged elections in January 1947 followed by the merger of the Communist and Socialist parties in December 1948 assured the complete Communist takeover of the country. The new regime exercised near total control over society and established a command economy. Hence, for example, documents on internal security force activities in 1949 note "intensified attacks by Anglo-American imperialism." The documents here are sourced from the Central Files of the General Records of the Department of State. The records are under the jurisdiction of the Legislative and Diplomatic Branch of the Civil Archives, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
Soviet-U.S. Relations: The End of the Cold War, 1985-1991
This rare collection documents every formal exchange between U.S., Soviet, and Russian presidents from 1985-1991, leading to the peaceful ending of the Cold War. Summit transcripts and private correspondence from both Soviet and U.S. sources provide an intimate view of the bonds that developed between leaders and offer a window into superpower discussions on arms control, German reunification, regional conflicts, and human rights. Memoranda from presidential aides and intelligence analyses on a wide range of topics supplement the collection.
Asia
Afghanistan and the U.S., 1945-1963: Records of the U.S. State Department Central Classified Files
In much of the twentieth century, Afghanistan remained neutral. It was not a participant in World War II, nor aligned with either power bloc in the Cold War. However, it was a beneficiary of the latter rivalry as both the Soviet Union and the U.S. vied for influence by building such infrastructure works as roads, airports, water and sewer systems, and hospitals.
The U.S. State Department Central Classified Files are the definitive source of American diplomatic reporting on political, military, social, and economic developments throughout the world in the twentieth century.
This collection of U.S. State Department Central Classified Files relating to internal and foreign affairs contain a wide range of materials from U.S. diplomats.
Chinese Civil War and U.S.-China Relations: Records of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955
The U.S. State Department’s Office of Chinese Affairs, charged with operational control of American policy toward China, amassed information on virtually all aspects of life there immediately before, during, and after the revolution. Declassified by the State Department, the Records of the Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955, provide valuable insight into numerous domestic issues in Communist and Nationalist China, U.S. containment policy as it was extended to Asia, and Sino-American relations during the post-war period.
General George C. Marshall’s Mission to China, 1945-1947
The mission of General George C. Marshall to prevent the renewal of the Chinese civil war and, as a consequence, prevent the growth of Soviet influence in both Manchuria and China proper must be viewed in the context of the emerging Cold War as well as the context of American perceptions of China that go back, at least, to the days of John Hay and the Open Door. This collection comprises the full set of records held by the National Archives in the State Department’s Lot File 54 D 270 and is subdivided into six parts: War Department records; Records of the Marshall Mission relating to Political Affairs; Records of the Marshall Mission relating to Military Affairs; Records of the Division of Chinese Affairs; Records of John Carter Vincent; and, Marshall’s Report.
U.S. Relations and Policies in Southeast Asia, 1944-1958: Records of the Office of Southeast Asian Affairs
This collection identifies the key issues, individuals, and events in the history of U.S.-Southeast Asia relations between 1944 and 1958, and places them in the context of the complex and dynamic regional strategic, political, and economic processes that have fashioned the American role in Southeast Asia.
Intelligence Reports from the National Security Council’s Vietnam Information Group, 1967-1975
Primarily Department of State cables and CIA intelligence information cables concerning South and North Vietnam. Topics include the Vietnam War, U.S.-South Vietnam relations, South Vietnam’s political climate, opposition groups, religious sects, ethnic groups, labor unions, corruption, press censorship, the North Vietnam’s military and economy, peace negotiations, and events in Cambodia and Laos.
Ambassador Graham Martin and the Saigon Embassy’s Back Channel Communication Files, 1963-1975
Consists of State Department telegrams and White House backchannel messages between U.S. ambassadors in Saigon and White House national security advisers, talking points for meetings with South Vietnamese officials, intelligence reports, drafts of peace agreements, and military status reports. Subjects include the Diem coup, the Paris peace negotiations, the fall of South Vietnam, and other U.S./South Vietnam relations topics, 1963 to 1975.
The U.S. Civilian Advisory Effort in Vietnam: U.S. Operations Mission, 1950-1954
The United States decision to provide military assistance to France and the Associated States of Indochina was reached informally in February/March 1950, funded by the President on May 1, 1950, and was announced on May 8, 1950. The decision was taken in spite of the U.S. desire to avoid direct involvement in a colonial war, and in spite of a sensing that France’s political-military situation in Indochina was deteriorating. This collection consists of unique records of U.S. agencies established to intervene in Vietnam-the country U.S. foreign policy deemed a lynchpin in the free world’s fight against communism. The Subject Files from the Office of the Director, U.S. Operations Missions, document the myriad concerns and rationales that went into the control and direction of U.S. economic and technical assistance programs, as well as the coordination of mutual security activities, with respect to Vietnam.
Middle East
Middle East Online: Arab-Israeli Relations, 1917-1970
Arab-Israeli Relations 1917-1970—offers the widest range of original source material from the British Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office and Cabinet Papers from the 1917 Balfour Declaration through to the Black September war of 1970-1.
One of the topics covered include the Cold War in the Middle East.
Middle East Online: Iraq, 1914-1974
Iraq 1914-1974 offers the widest range of original source material from the Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office and Cabinet Papers from the Anglo-Indian landing in Basra in 1914 through the British Mandate in Iraq of 1920-32 to the rise of Saddam Hussein in 1974. Here major policy statements are set out in their fullest context, the minor documents and marginalia revealing the workings of the mandate administration, diplomacy, treaties, oil and arms dealing. Topics covered include: The Siege of Kut-al-Amara, The War in Mesapotamia and the capture of Baghdad in 1917, Introduction of the British Mandate, and the installation of King Faisal in 1921, The British administration in Baghdad, Gertrude Bell, advisor to the British administration, in both reports and memos, The Arab Uprising of 1920, Independence, and Iraq’s membership of the League of Nations in 1932, Coups d’etat in the 1930s and 1940s, The Baghdad Pact of 1955 and the military coup of 1958 leading to the establishment of a republic, The Cold War and Soviet intervention in Iraq, Kurdish unrest and the war in Kurdistan, Oil concessions and oil exploration, The Rise of Ba’athism and Saddam Hussein, The USSR-Iraq Treaty of Friendship in 1972, Iran-Iraq relations.
