The Cold War

V57. 0622
Spring 2008
Molly Nolan
Tue. and Thur. 11-12:15
The course will view the Cold War as global conflict and thus will focus on Europe and
the "Third World" as well as on the U.S. and the Soviet Union. It will look at
international politics and diplomacy, at nuclear rivalry and the culture of the bomb, at
Cold War economic competition and development policies, and at the impact of the Cold
War on culture and gender in various countries.
The course will have two lectures and one discussion section per week. Readings
include a basic survey text on the Cold War, many primary documents, including the
Long Telegram, NSC 68 and Khrushchevs Secret Speech, a monograph on culture and
propaganda, a study of the Vietnam wars, a novel, and a discussion of Eastern Europe in
1989. Particular attention will be paid to key Cold War crises, including Iran 1953,
Guatemala 1954, Suez and the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. The class will discuss the
Cuban Missile Crisis, using the Cuban Missile Crisis Website. Clips from documentaries
about the Cold War and from Cold War films will be shown.
Books marked with an asterisk have been ordered at the NYU Book Center. Articles and
documents (unless otherwise noted) are posted on the Blackboard Website for this class
and books and articles are on reserve in Bobst.
Requirements: Your should read the assigned materials for the week they are assigned.
You are expected to attend lectures and discussion sections. . There are two 4-5 page
paper, due Feb. 21 and April 4. A choice of topics will be provided. There is a final
exam. You will be graded on your participation in discussion sections as well.
Plagiarism is a growing problem at NYU (and other schools as well). I have a zero
tolerance policy. If you plagiarize a paper, i.e. take all or part from another author (in
print or on the web) and represent it as your own work, you will flunk the course.
My office hours are Thursdays, 2-4 and by appointment. My office is 53 Washington
Square South, room 525. phone 998 -8609. email:mn4@nyu.edu.
I. Introduction
Jan. 22 The Cold War as global conflict
Jan. 24 The End of World War II in Europe and East Asia
*Martin Walker, The Cold War: A History, Introduction, Chapters 1-2.

Melvyn Leffler, The Cold War: What Do We Now Know? American

Historical Review, 104:2, April 1999): 501-24.
II. The Cold War in Asia
Jan. 29 Occupying Japan and loosing China
Jan. 31 Korea
*Walker, The Cold War, chapter 3
NSC 68 Report to the National Security Council, April 1950
[in class clips from Why Korea?]
III. The Origins of the Cold War in Europe
Feb. 5 US and Soviet intentions, perceptions, fears
Feb. 7 Occupying and dividing Germany
[in class clips from Berlin Blockade documentary]
The Kennan Long Telegram
The Novikov Telegram
The Truman Doctrine
Carolyn Eisenberg, Rethinking the Division of Germany, in Ellen Schrecker
Cold War Triumphalism
Elena Zubkova, Russia After the War, Chapters 2-4.
IV Cold War Economic Order
Feb. 12 Bretton Woods and Marshall Plan
Feb. 14 Asia between capitalism and communism
David Ellwood, Rebuilding Europe, Chapters 5 and 9.
Bruce Cumings, Japans Position in the World System, in Postwar Japan As
History, 34-63.
John Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, chapter 17.
.
V. Development as Cold War Competition
Feb. 19 Modernization as theory
Feb. 21 Modernization as Practice.

*Graham Green, The Quiet American

Walt Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth, Chapters 1-4, 10
VI. Cold War Crises
Feb. 26 Iran 1953 and Guatemala 1954
Feb. 28 Destalinization
Khrushchevs Secret Speech,
Ervand Abrahamian, The 1953 Coup in Iran, Science and Society, 65:2 (Summer
2001): 182-215.
VII. Cold War Crises II
March 4 Hungary, Poland, Suez
Mar. 6 The Cuban Missile Crisis
*Walker, The Cold War, Chapter 7.
Go to the National Security Archive Website on the Cuban Missile Crisis and the
conference held on the 40th anniversary of the 1962 crisis.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri Spend a few hours looking at
different types of evidenceaudio tapes, intelligence documents, photos,
analyses done after the crisis.
VIII. The Cold War as Cultural Competition
Mar. 11. High culture
Mar. 13 Popular culture and domesticity
*Walter Hixson, Parting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture and the Cold War,
1945-61.
Spring vacation: March 17-22
IX. The Cold War as Nuclear Competition
Mar. 25 The arms race and deterrence
Mar. 27 Nuclear culture
*Walker, The Cold War, Chapter 5
See one of the following films:

On the Beach
Dr. Strangelove
Godzilla (See the 1954 Japanese version, also called Gojira)
X. Challenges to the Cold War Order
Apr. 1 1968
Apr. 3 Vietnam
*Marilyn Young, The Vietnam Wars, Chapters 3-13.
XI. 1970s: End of the Cold War Order?
Apr. 8 Economic crises, domestic and international
Apr. 10 Dtente
*Walker, The Cold War, Chapter 9-10
Charles Maier, The Cold War as an era of imperial rivalry, in Reinterpreting
The End of the Cold War, ed. By Silvio Pons and Federico Romero
XII. 1980s: A New Cold War?
Apr. 15 The Cold War in Third World
Apr. 17 Reagan and the Evil Empire
*Walker, The Cold War, Chapter 11
Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War, Chap. 8, Iran and Afghanistan and
chapter 9 The 1980s: the Reagan Offensive.
XIII. The End of the Cold War
Apr. 22 1989 in East Central Europe
Apr. 24 Why did the Soviet Union Collapse?
*Timothy Garton Ash, The Magic Lantern
XIV. The Post Cold War Order
Apr. 29 A Unipolar World or a multipolar one?
May 1 Blowback
*Walker, The Cold War, Chapters 12-14
National Security Strategy of US, September 2002. On NSC website.