Basic Resources U.S. Foreign Relations
Reading:
Michael Hogan and Thomas Paterson, eds. Explaining the History of American Foreign Relations (Cambridge, 2004)
Hunt, Michael, Crises in U.S. Foreign Policy: An International History Reader, New Haven, 1995.
Hunt, Michael, Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy, New Haven, 1986
Ninkovich, Frank, Modernity and Power: A History of the Domino Theory in the Twentieth Century, Chicago, 1994.
Websites:
U.S. Foreign Relations: Basic Resources
US Department of State FOIA Electronic Reading Room
Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS): This is a standard source for primary documents relating to the history of U.S. foreign policy. FRUS attempts to cull representative selections of the most important documents for different countries, regions, issues (foreign economic policy, nuclear weapons). FRUS is not definitive. It must be taken for what it is, an edited volume with documents selected by historians with their own biases. But it is a good place to start, generally well organized.
Declassified Documents Reference Service: This microfiche collection, edited by Carrolton Press, publishes select documents by country and topic as they become declassified. For example, you can look up all documents declassified in 1998 on Guatemala, and those documents can be from various years (1954, 1965, etc.). A well-organized index on CD-ROM allows you to search by keyword.
Academic Journals: The standard journal for diplomatic historians is Diplomatic History, from which a good number of our readings are taken and which is in the library. The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) also has a website which can be useful. Peruse back issues of DH for ideas about articles, and read periodic survey articles that dissect the literature on a topic (Vietnam) or region (Latin America). Other journals that might have relevant articles are the the Journal of Cold War Studies, Cold War History, the Journal of American History, International Security, International Organization, Foreign Affairs, and journals of regional history and studies. All are available through the UMBC library website under online journals or at the UMD of Johns Hopkins libraries.
National Security Archive online (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/):This nonprofit research organization works to declassify documents relating to U.S. foreign policy and make them available to the public. Their website has a list of publications, many of which cover countries (Cuba, Philippines, Iran, Nicaragua, El Salvador) that are relevant to this course. The library may have microfiche sets for a number of the documentation projects that the NSA has published. They are indexed and invaluable.
Cold War International History Project The Cold War International History Project disseminates new information and perspectives on the history of the Cold War, in particular new findings and documents from previously inaccessible sources on "the other side" -- the former Communist world
Congressional Record: The Congressional Record is also located in Government Publications at the UMBC libraries and all university library. This is a useful primary source which can clue you in to congressional hearings on important issues, as well as who is speaking about Guatemala in 1954, among other things. Organized by Congressional Session (basically yearly), indexed and easy to use.
Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, Newspaper indexes: Standard are the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature and the New York Times Index. You can learn a lot by analyzing press coverage: how issues are framed, what issues are covered (or not) and by whom. Often articles from local media are entered into the Congressional Record by Congressmen. Read them. The Washington Post has now archived its entire collection, which is easily accessed by a keyword or subject search.