May 15th, 1955, was a momentous occasion for a war-battered Europe, and for the national history of Austria as the…
Tiananmen: Another Bump in China’s Road to WTO Accession
Deng Xiaoping’s 1978 Open Door policy unleashed China’s economy beyond its borders through political reforms and regional trade agreements. This…
Laying It Between the Lines: Music Diplomacy in Shanghai
“But if I really say it/ the radio won’t play it/ unless I lay it between the lines.” This song…
Paul Nitze and A Walk in the Woods — A Failed Attempt at Arms Control
In 1976, the USSR deployed hundreds of intermediate-range SS-20s (pictured), which were an upgrade of the older SS-3 and SS-4…
Creating Bangladesh: The Triumph and Tragedy of Sheikh Mujib
The leader of the Bangladesh’s independence movement, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, helped create a sovereign nation, successfully taking on Pakistani occupying…
George Kennan — Containment and the Cold War
George Frost Kennan was, and still remains, a very controversial and legendary figure in American diplomatic history. As a historian,…
The Fight for Non-Proliferation Begins at Home
The development and potential use of nuclear weapons defined the Cold War era and kept the world under the shadow…
Admiral William Leahy, Ambassador to Vichy
When Admiral William Leahy retired as Chief of Naval Operations in August 1939, President Roosevelt personally awarded him the…
The 1989 Romanian Revolution and the Fall of Ceausescu
1989 was the year of remarkable popular uprisings throughout the world, most notably Tiananmen Square, the fall of the Berlin…
A Battle of Wills in Berlin, 1959
Throughout the Cold War, Berlin was one of the main battlegrounds for the psychological warfare between the United States and the…