Professor Jeremi Suri discusses Henry Kissinger's foreign policy of detente. He looks at the effect Kissinger's policies had on Cold War diplomacy and how they affected the Cold War and the world as a whole, and also discusses the writing of academic books and articles.
To listen to this lecture, scroll down to the Wednesday, July 14th, 7:30-9:30 pm session. Then click on the Real Audio link in the gray bar to the left of the main text.
Professor John Moser considers the foreign policy of the Truman administration. He examines the Truman Doctrine, the origins of the policy of containment, and the impact of this policy on future administrations.
To listen to this lecture, scroll down to 4:30 pm-6:00 pm on Wednesday, July 14th. This should be the lecture "Kennan, Truman, and Cold War Containment." Click on the Real Audio image or text in the gray bar to the left of the main text.
Presidential historian Michael Beschloss discusses the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, when Soviet nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba are pointed at the United States, and JFK is faced with the prospect of nuclear war.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes President Richard Nixon's historic trip to the People's Republic of China in 1972, the first trip by an American president since the takeover by the Communists in 1949.
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This iCue Mini-Documentary describes the expansion of communist ideology after World War II, and western governments' fears of a domino effect as countries succumbed to communism. The Truman Doctrine called for action to contain the communist threat, by economic or military action, if necessary.
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Adrian Basora, Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Director of the Project on Democratic Transitions, offers an in-depth assessment of the political, economic, and social transitions of Central and East European countries 15 years after the fall of communism; and discusses the development of non-democratic countries following 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall. He examines responses to democracy and looks at attempts to spread democracy.
To listen to this lecture, select "A - Adrian Basora on Democratic Transitions on Radio Times (on NPR-affiliate WHYY), 3/16/2007" under "2007."
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The Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminars are designed to strengthen participants' commitment to high quality history teaching. Public, parochial, independent school teachers, and National Park Service rangers are eligible. These week-long seminars provide intellectual stimulation and a collaborative context for developing practical resources and strategies to take back to the classroom.
The Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminars are designed to strengthen participants' commitment to high quality history teaching. Public, parochial, independent school teachers, and National Park Service rangers are eligible. These week-long seminars provide intellectual stimulation and a collaborative context for developing practical resources and strategies to take back to the classroom.
The Cold War dominated the second half of the 20th century, but until recently the world had only an imperfect sense of what it was all about. Historians wrote about it, of necessity, from within the event they were seeking to describe, so that there was no way to know its outcome. And because only a few Western countries had begun to open their archives, these accounts could only reflect one side of the story. Cold War history, hence, was not normal history: it was both asymmetrical and incomplete. The end of the Cold War and the subsequent partial opening of Soviet, Eastern European, and Chinese archives have revolutionized the field. Everything historians thought they knew is suddenly up for reconsideration, whether because of the new documents available to them, or as a consequence of knowing how it all came out. Even as this happens, though, the memories of those who lived through the Cold War are rapidly fading, and a new generation of students has no memory of it at all. This seminar will seek to integrate the latest scholarly research on Cold War history and the ways in which that subject is presented in the classroom. The seminar will use a variety of means: lectures, books, documents, video documentaries, and the resources of the worldwide web. There will also be ample opportunity for participants to learn from one another, and for the presenters to learn from the participants. It will be, in short, a week of total immersion in the lengthy, occasionally dangerous, and (almost) always intriguing history of the Cold War, filled with debate and new information.
This seminar will "focuses on learning as much as possible about the events of 1989, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the massacre in Tiananmen Square, and the conflicting interpretations of those events, and on developing learning activities that will make it possible for educators to bring these events to life for their students. In addition to learning a great deal about 1989 and its aftermath, the participants who join us for the seminar will create Primary Source Activities that they can take home, use in their classrooms, share with colleagues and potentially publish on the website 'Making the History of 1989: The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.'"