LibGuides: US History: Cold War

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Cold War Audio Files

Cold War Arms Race
On March 21, 1960, U.S. Vice Admiral Hyman Rickover discusses the importance of keeping abreast of Soviet technological developments.
Communists Build the Berlin Wall (0:46)
On August 13, 1961, troops in East Germany sealed the border between East and West Berlin with barbed wire fences that were soon replaced with concrete blocks. As East Germans awake to the new reality, local news coverage paints a grim picture of life for those trapped behind the barricade.
Kennedy on the Buildup of Arms in Cuba
On October 22, 1962, in a national statement, President John F. Kennedy discloses that U.S. spy planes discovered the placement of Soviet offensive missiles in Cuba.
Reagan on Historic Visit to Berlin Wall (1:57)
In June of 1987, President Ronald Reagan stopped in West Berlin on the 750th anniversary of the city and delivered one of his most famous lines when he demanded that Mikhail Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall. In an address to the nation following his return from that trip, President Reagan recalls standing next to the imposing structure.
Fall of the Berlin Wall (1:11)
On the evening of November 9, 1989, East Germany announced an easing of travel restrictions to the west, and thousands demanded passage through the Berlin Wall. Faced with a growing demonstration, East German border guards allowed citizens to cross. CBS News is on the scene as scores of East Germans climb on top of the once-imprisoning wall.

Books in the collection

The wall : growing up behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sís
Call Number: UDO 92 SIS
ISBN: 0374347018
Publication Date: 2007
Annotated illustrations, maps, and dreamscapes explore how the artist-author's life was shaped while growing up in Czechoslovakia during the Cold War, in a powerful graphic memoir.
Living through the Cuban Missile Crisis
Call Number: 972.9106 MCC
ISBN: 0737721286
Publication Date: 2005
This book is a collection of primary and secondary accounts of the Cuban Missile Crisis, describing Fidel Castro's accusations against the U.S., photographic evidence of missiles in Cuba, the U.S. quarantine of Cuba, and the mishaps during the Cuban Crisis that could have caused a nuclear war.
Nuclear weapons and the Cold War
Call Number: 355.02 BEY
ISBN: 1404202900
Publication Date: 2005
This book explains the potential dangers of the Cold War and explains how the U.S. and the Soviet Union negotiated peace through arms reduction.
The Cold War : collapse of Communism
Call Number: UDO 327.47 RIC
ISBN: 1560066342
Publication Date: 2000
Presents a history of the tense, often combative, relations between Soviet Russia and the United States from the end of World War II to the fall of communism in 1989.

Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Space Race: Cold War Front (4:21)

A brief look at the Space Race, set to "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf.

Cold War (History Channel)

The Cold War is over, but what it left behind may surprise you.

Berlin Wall: Deconstructed

For 30 years, the Berlin Wall was the defining symbol of the Cold War, separating families and keeping the people from jobs and opportunity in the west.