The Cold War

Edward Segel
History 303; Spring Semester, 2004

Bookstore List (in approximate order of use):

Walter LaFeber, America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-2002. Updated 9th ed., 2004. McGraw-Hill, $38.75. (This is essentially the same as the 9th ed. of 2002. The 8th ed. of 1997 can be used, but the later chapters have been revised.)

Michael J. Hogan, Hiroshima in History and Memory. Cambridge, 1996, $22.00.

Melvyn P. Leffler and David S. Painter (eds.), Origins of the Cold War: An International History. Routledge, 1994, $28.95.

Melvyn P. Leffler, The Specter of Communism: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1917-1953. Hill and Wang, 1994, $11.00.

Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev. Harvard, 1997, $19.95.

Kenneth M. Jensen (ed.), Origins of the Cold War: The Novikov, Kennan, and Roberts "Long Telegrams" of 1946. Rev. ed., 1993. U. S. Institute of Peace, $10.95.

Ernest May (ed.), American Cold War Strategy: Interpreting NSC-68. St. Martin/Holtzbrinck, 1993, $13.00. [also listed as NSC-68: Blueprint for American Strategy]

Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, "One Hell of a Gamble": Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958-1964. Norton, 1998, $15.95.

George Herring, America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975. 4th ed., 2001. McGraw-Hill, $30.31.

Stephen J. Whitfield, The Culture of the Cold War. 2nd ed., 1996. Johns Hopkins, $18.95.

David Holloway, The Soviet Union and the Arms Race. 2nd ed., 1984. Yale, $16.00.

Michael J. Hogan (ed.), The End of the Cold War: Its Meaning and Implications. Cambridge, 1992, $23.00.

Recommended: Any good historical atlas, like Hammond's Atlas of World History. For Europe and the Mediterranean, the Centennia historical map program is directly available on Macintosh computers in the IRCs (Academic Software folder), and on the campus network via Key Access (Commercial Software folder-unix login and password needed). (Our site license limits the number of simultaneous network users to eight.)

NB: The Web page of History 303, The Cold War, includes a long list of links to useful academic resources, from very general (for all disciplines) to specifically Cold War and Vietnam-related sites. Click here for the URL.

McGraw-Hill publishers now have a website for the LaFeber book, where there are primary documents available for each chapter. Click here for the URL. Hit the Student Center link to get to the documents and the map gallery.

For general familiarity with the history of Europe in this period, consult the appropriate sections of any good textbook. Particularly recommended: R. R. Palmer and Joel Colton, A History of the Modern World (the second paperback volume, Since 1815)-many copies on Library Reserve for Humanities 220; or Robert Paxton, Europe in the Twentieth Century.

Books available only on Library Reserve:

Michael Howard, The Causes of Wars.

Peter G. Boyle, American-Soviet Relations: From the Russian Revolution to the Fall of Communism.

Gordon Craig and Alexander George, Force and Statecraft: Diplomatic Problems of Our Time.

Odd Arne Westad, Reviewing the Cold War: Approaches, Interpretations, Theory.

Melvyn P. Leffler, A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War.

Thomas G. Paterson and Robert McMahon (eds.), The Origins of the Cold War. (1970 and 1991 eds.)

Ronald Powaski, March to Armageddon: The United States and the Nuclear Arms Race, 1939 to the Present.

Ronald Powaski, Return to Armageddon: The United States and the Nuclear Arms Race, 1981-1999.

Martin Sherwin, A World Destroyed: The Atomic Bomb and the Grand Alliance. (1977 ed.)

Martin Sherwin, A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and the Origins of the Arms Race. (1987 ed.)

Gar Alperovitz, Atomic Diplomacy. (1985 and 1995 eds.)

Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: and the Architecture of an American Myth.

Gabriel Gorodetsky (ed.), Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917-1991: A Retrospective.

Vojtech Mastny, The Cold War and Soviet Insecurity: The Stalin Years.

George Kennan, American Diplomacy, 1900-1950.

George Kennan, Russia and the West under Lenin and Stalin.

Adam Ulam, Expansion and Coexistence: The History of Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917-1973.

James A. Nathan (ed.), The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited.

Laurence Chang and Peter Kornbluh (eds.), The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. (A National Security Archive Documents Reader)

Stephen Ambrose, Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy since 1938 (1988 ed.)

John L. Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History.

John Lewis Gaddis, The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947.

Thomas McCormick, America's Half-Century: U. S. Foreign Policy in the Cold War and After. (1989 and 1995 eds.)

William Appleman Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy. (1972 ed.)

Lloyd C. Gardner, Architects of Illusion: Men and Ideas in American Foreign Policy, 1941-1949.

Marc Trachtenberg, History and Strategy.

Weekly Reading Assignments (about 200-250 pages a week):

1. Week of January 26: Introduction: Schools of Interpretation; Background to 1945

Peter G. Boyle, American-Soviet Relations: From the Russian Revolution to the Fall of Communism, Preface and chapter 5 (if possible, also chapters 1 and 4).
John Lewis Gaddis, "The Emerging Post-Revisionist Synthesis on the Origins of the Cold War," and Responses (Diplomatic History, vol. 7:3 [Summer 1983], pp. 171-204; E-Reserve and in Reserve files).
Walter LaFeber, America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-2004 (updated 9th ed.), Introduction, chapters 1 and 2.

Further useful reading:
Michael Howard, "The Causes of Wars" and "The Strategic Approach to International Relations," in The Causes of Wars, pp. 7-22, 36-48. (highly recommended, but there are only a few copies on Reserve)
Charles S. Maier, "Revisionism and the Interpretation of Cold War Origins" (reprinted in Charles S. Maier (ed.), The Origins of the Cold War and Contemporary Europe [originally published 1970]; available from instructor).
Robert Buzzanco, "What Happened to the New Left? Toward a Radical Reading of American Foreign Relations" (Diplomatic History, vol. 23:4 [Fall 1999], pp. 575-607; ECO and in Reserve files).
Gordon Craig and Alexander George, Force and Statecraft: Diplomatic Problems of Our Time, chapter 9, "The Cold War as International System."
Odd Arne Westad, Reviewing the Cold War: Approaches, Interpretations, Theory, especially Introduction and articles in Part I. (Library Reserve)

2. Week of February 2: Issues of the Bomb: Hiroshima; the Baruch Plan

Ronald Powaski, March to Armageddon: The United States and the Nuclear Arms Race, 1939 to the Present, chapters 1-3 (especially the material on the decision to use the A-bomb, and the Baruch Plan).
Melvyn Leffler and David S. Painter (eds.), Origins of the Cold War: An International History, chapter 3 (article by Martin Sherwin; the Introduction is recommended).
Martin J. Sherwin, A World Destroyed, Introductions to the 1st ed. and to the 2nd ed. (both in the 2nd ed.). (Also relevant is Sherwin's brief preface to the 3rd ed., 2003.)
Gar Alperovitz, "Hiroshima: Historians Reassess" (Foreign Policy, no. 99 [Summer 1995], pp. 15-34; E-Reserve and in Reserve files).
Michael J. Hogan, Hiroshima in History and Memory, chapters 1-4, 8-9 (Hogan, Walker, Bernstein, Bix, Walker, Hogan). (The remaining chapters are also useful.)

3. Week of February 9: Hiroshima (cont.); Emerging Hostility-Documents of 1946

(Hiroshima readings, cont.)
Melvyn P. Leffler, The Specter of Communism: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1917-1953, Preface and chapters 1-2.
Melvyn P. Leffler, A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War, Introduction and chapter 1 (chapter 3 is recommended).
Kenneth M. Jensen (ed.), Origins of the Cold War: The Novikov, Kennan, and Roberts "Long Telegrams" of 1946 (rev. ed.) (all).
George Kennan, "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" (the "Mr. X" article, Foreign Affairs, July 1947), reprinted in George Kennan, American Diplomacy, 1900-1950, pp. 89-106. The article can also be found on the Web. Please click here to visit the article.

Further useful reading:
George Kennan, Memoirs, 1925-1950, chapters 1, 11-15.
Lloyd Gardner, Architects of Illusion, chapter 10.
Robert L. Beisner, "The Secretary, the Spy, and the Sage: Dean Acheson, Alger Hiss, and George Kennan" (SHAFR Presidential Address, January 2003, Diplomatic History, vol. 27:1 [January 2003], pp. 1-14; ECO and in Reserve files)

4. Week of February 16: The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan

LaFeber, chapters 3-4.
Leffler, Preponderance, in chapter 4, pp. 141-151, 157-164.
Arnold Offner, "'Another Such Victory': President Truman, American Foreign Policy, and the Cold War" (SHAFR Presidential Address, January 1999, Diplomatic History, vol. 23:2 [Spring 1999], pp. 127-155; ECO and in Reserve files)
Leffler and Painter, chapters 2, 6-10 (articles by MccGwire, Reynolds, Kent, Maier, Gati, Wood).

5. Week of February 23: Soviet Policy under Stalin

Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev, Preface, chapters 1-4.
(Review the Novikov telegram in Jensen.)
Gabriel Gorodetsky (ed.), Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917-1991: A Retrospective, chapters 3, 5, 10 (Gorodetsky, Haslam, Narinsky).
Vojtech Mastny, The Cold War and Soviet Insecurity: The Stalin Years, Introduction, chapter 1, Conclusion.

Further useful reading:
George Kennan, Russia and the West under Lenin and Stalin, chapter 17 ("Stalin as a Statesman").

6. Week of March 1: The Cold War Gets Colder; NSC-68

Leffler, Specter, chapter 3.
Leffler, Preponderance, in chapter 8, pp. 323-360.
Ernest R. May (ed.), American Cold War Strategy: Interpreting NSC-68, pp. 1-151, 178-193.

Further useful reading:
Leffler and Painter, chapter 5 (article by Marc Trachtenberg).

7. Week of March 8: Hot War in Korea

LaFeber, chapters 5-6.
Leffler, Specter, chapter 4.
Boyle, chapter 7 (chapter 6 is recommended).

Further useful reading:
Materials on the origins of the Korean War from the Bulletin of the Cold War International History Project (especially contributions by Kathryn Weathersby and Bruce Cumings on the origins of the War; see CWIHP Web site).
John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, pp. 70-84 on the Korean War.

Mid-semester examination on the material into the early 1950s on Friday, March 12.

After the armistice ending the Korean War, the class will adjourn for the Spring Break-week of March 15.

8. Week of March 22: The Cold War at Home; The Leffler Debate

Stephen J. Whitfield, The Culture of the Cold War, especially chapters 1-3, 5, 8, 9. (NB: the second ed. has an Epilogue)
Boyle, chapter 8.

Leffler, Preponderance, chapter 11 (pp. 485-493 only), Conclusion.
Lynn Eden, "The End of U. S. Cold War History?" (review essay on Leffler, Preponderance-International Security, vol. 18:1 [Summer 1993], pp. 174-207; E-Reserve and in Reserve files).
Bruce Cumings, "'Revising Postrevisionism,' or, The Poverty of Theory in Diplomatic History" (Diplomatic History, vol. 17:4 [Fall 1993], pp. 539-569; E-Reserve and in Reserve files).
William O. Walker III, "Melvyn P. Leffler, Ideology, and American Foreign Policy" (review of Leffler's Specter-in Diplomatic History, vol. 20:4 [Fall 1996], pp. 663-673; E-Reserve and in Reserve files).

Further useful reading:
For a review essay on books dealing with Soviet espionage, see Michael E. Parrish, "Soviet Espionage and the Cold War," Diplomatic History, vol. 25:1 (Winter 2001), pp. 105-120 (ECO and Reserve files).

9. Week of March 29: The 1950's; The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

LaFeber, chapters 7-9.
(Boyle, chapter 9 on the 1950's, is also useful.)

LaFeber, chapter 10.
Zubok and Pleshakov, chapters 6 and 8, Postmortem.
Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, "One Hell of a Gamble": Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958-1964, Introduction, chapters 1, 5, 9, 12, 13, 14.

Further useful reading on the Cuban Missile Crisis:
John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, chapter 9.
Articles by Raymond Garthoff, Jorge Domínguez, and Philip Zelikow in "Roundtable Review: FRUS on the Cuban Missile Crisis" (Diplomatic History, vol. 24:2 [Spring 2000], pp. 297-334; ECO and in Reserve files).
Boyle, chapter 10.
Laurence Chang and Peter Kornbluh (eds.), The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. (A National Security Archive Documents Reader)

10. Week of April 5: The Cuban Missile Crisis (cont.); the Arms Race-the Soviet Side

James Nathan (ed.), The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited, chapter 5. (Chapters 1-4 and 6 are also useful.)
David Holloway, The Soviet Union and the Arms Race (2nd ed.), Introduction to the 2nd ed., chapters 1-3, 4 (conclusion only), 5, 8-9.
(See also Holloway's Stalin and the Bomb.)

11. Week of April 12: Vietnam

LaFeber, chapter 11.
George Herring, America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975 (4th ed.) (all-but skip the following pages: 63-68, 83-87, 92-114, 191-204, 276-310).

Further useful reading:
Leffler and Painter, chapter 13 (article by Michael Hunt and Steven Levine).
(See also the syllabus for History 308-The Vietnam War.)

12. Week of April 19: The Arms Race: SALT; the Cold War Winds Down

(Herring reading, cont.)
Powaski, chapters 8-9, Conclusion.
LaFeber, chapters 12-13, in chapter 14, pp. 398-409.
Boyle, chapter 17 ("The Lessons of History").

Further useful reading:
For a review of writings on Henry Kissinger, see Jussi M. Hanhimäki, "'Dr. Kissinger' or 'Mr. Henry'? Kissingerology, Thirty Years and Counting" (Diplomatic History, vol. 27:5 [November 2003], pp. 637-676; ECO and in Reserve files).

13. Week of April 26: Conclusion: "Argument without End"

Geir Lundestad, "Moralism, Presentism, Exceptionalism, Provincialism, and Other Extravagances in American Writings on the Early Cold War Years" (Diplomatic History, vol. 13:4 [Fall 1989], pp. 527-545; E-Reserve and in Reserve files).
John Lewis Gaddis, "The Tragedy of Cold War History" (SHAFR Presidential Address, December 1992, Diplomatic History, vol. 17:1 [Winter 1993], pp. 1-16; ECO and in Reserve files).
Melvyn P. Leffler, "New Approaches, Old Interpretations, and Prospective Reconfigurations" (SHAFR Presidential Address, January 1995, Diplomatic History, vol. 19:2 [Spring 1995], pp. 173-196; ECO and in Reserve files).
Michael J. Hogan (ed.), The End of the Cold War: Its Meaning and Implications, especially the chapters by LaFeber, Wells, Filitov, Barnet, and Garthoff.

Further useful reading:
Odd Arne Westad, "The New International History of the Cold War: Three (Possible) Paradigms" (Diplomatic History, vol. 24:4 [Fall 2000], pp. 551-565; ECO and in Reserve files).
John Lewis Gaddis, The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War (1987); The United States and the End of the Cold War: Implications, Reconsiderations, Provocations (1992); We Now Know, especially chapter 7.

A term paper (about 10-12 pages) will be due on Wednesday, May 5 (details to be announced). There will also be a final examination.