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During the early Cold War, it was difficult for American intelligence to penetrate the Iron Curtain but a potential solution soon arose: émigré intelligence groups such as the Magyar Harcosok Bajtársi Közössége (MHBK) or 'Association of Hungarian Veterans'. This group, however, turned out to be an intelligence 'paper mill'. Attempts at trans-Atlantic cooperation with the MHBK and similar groups failed as they lost most of their good sources and were penetrated by communist security services. By the mid-1950s, US intelligence cut these groups off, took over their good sources, and established a source registry to prevent recurrence of the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Military History Chronicles is the property of Policy Studies Organization and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article reviews the analysis of the historian Stephen F. Cohen (1928-2020) on what he called the "New Cold War", i.e., the confrontation between the United States and Russia caused by the expansion, promoted by the United States, of NATO to Eastern Europe. The theoretical framework is the theory of imperialism, and the methodology consists in the analysis of primary sources, academic works and journalistic articles. The conclusion is that Cohen's analysis was vindicated by the outbreak of the current war in the Ukraine, but that his "Russo-centric" view is too narrow, and that his analysis must be placed in the larger global context within which the war in Ukraine takes place: US's two-pronged aggression against both Russia and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Études Caribéennes is the property of Etudes Caribeennes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In both the first and second Indochina wars, Vietnam had a wide range of support from socialist countries, especially from its neighbour China, which was called the 'elder brother'. From the 1950s, China assisted Vietnam in its resistance against the United States and its allies. By comparing changes in Chinese grants and loans to key moments in the anti-American war in Vietnam, this article argues that Beijing's assistance was tied to US actions in South East Asia. The view from Vietnamese archival materials shows shifts in Chinese support that coincide with Beijing's strategic calculation in dealing with the US in the global conflict. Although both Vietnam and China were in the socialist camp and had a shared ideology, there were profound contradictions in Chinese assistance to Hanoi. The article reveals that while supporting Vietnam, China pursued its own benefits, leading to Vietnam's suspicion about China's real intentions in Indochina. This perspective can explain why the war between China and Vietnam happened in 1979, soon after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Relações Internacionais is the property of Relacoes Internacionais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The highland minority in the northern border areas of Thailand received special attention from the United States and Thai governments from the early 1950s, as its members were suspected of being supporters or sympathisers of the Chinese communists. After a brief review of the ethnographic research in Thailand before the 1950s, this article examines the ways the Thai and US military researchers promoted racially and culturally hierarchical concepts of national security during the Cold War. Their views directly affected policymaking processes in Thailand, widening further the extant gap between the Thai government and the ethnic minority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the periphery of Portuguese right-wing authoritarian rule, in the Atlantic archipelago of the Azores and its Central Group, political repression remained part of local life in the period after the Second World War. However, in spite of the Portuguese political police being installed in Terceira (in the Central Group) in 1954, this repression remained porous, and many Azoreans used the loopholes for their own advantage. The everyday life history approach allows us to understand these strategies and challenges: it shows how individuals used the internal conflicts amongst the agents of the Portuguese state or the presence of one of the principal US American military bases of the Cold War in Terceira Island. Medical doctors played out their social prestige to defend themselves of accusations, and elites of small towns used the political police to further their own goals. In some extreme cases, profiting from the internal contradictions of the regime even meant committing some small acts of democratic choice on the local level, or mobilizing against an unpopular bishop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to highlight the strategic importance of Yemen during the cold war in a way that shows its impact on the balance of power during the era of American imperialism that persists to this day. After World War II, the countries that had interests in the country were the Soviet Union, the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt (and to a lesser degree, France, Great Britain, China). This article focuses specifically on a decisive war implicating Yemen and these powers: the North Yemen war of 1962-68. Exploring this war from a multi-level class perspective can clarify the historical context necessary to understand the geostrategic importance of Yemen in the strengthening of American hegemony vis-à-vis the Soviet Union, and at the regional level, of Saudi Arabia vis-à-vis its Soviet-allied competitor: Egypt. I argue that the 1962-1968 war in North Yemen shifted the balance of power in region and contributed to the strengthening of American imperialism and to the defeat of Arab socialism. The weight and the impact of this major shift in the balance of power still burdens Yemen today. The United States, in the face of new competitors such as Iran and China, still needs to have a stronghold on Yemen to maintain its world hegemony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Cold War, the Sino-Belgian writer Han Suyin was one of the People's Republic of China's most famous propagandists in the West. Originally known as an author of autobiographical romance novels, she used her renown to promote and defend Beijing's radical politics from the 1950s to the 1990s. Her controversial analyses and her oratory skill attracted diverse audiences to her lectures throughout the world. This article investigates multiple facets of this charismatic figure and aims to deconstruct the public persona of Han Suyin in order to understand how she came to embody the political concept of "friendship with China." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Internacional de Humanidades is the property of Common Ground Research Networks and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article looks at the initial implementation of US military assistance to Spain under the lopsided Mutual Defence Agreement of 1953. The process was characterised by the disparity in the objectives of both sides, the centrality of the military training programmes, and the logistical and organisational limitations of the Spanish Armed Forces to assimilate American aid. The Ifni-Sahara decolonisation conflict of 1957–58 in Northwest Africa, in which Spain was forced to seek French military cooperation, made apparent the conditioned and limited nature of US military assistance and Madrid's need to diversify its security partners during the Cold War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the first half of the twentieth century, Thompson-Starrett and Co., a New York-based American engineering, construction, and contracting firm, dominated the building scene. In operation between 1899 and 1968, it was a leader in skyscraper construction and large-scale projects, and literally built the New York skyline. It designed and constructed the tallest skyscraper of the era, the Woolworth Building, as well as other iconic Manhattan structures such as the Equitable Building, the American Stock Exchange, the New York Municipal Building, and the Claridge, Algonquin, Roosevelt, St. Regis, and Waldorf-Astoria Hotels. A formidable pioneering force in structural engineering a hundred years ago, Thompson-Starrett is, by and large, forgotten today, especially its post-World War II ventures in Turkey, such as the Sarıyar Dam and the Çeşme Beach Houses, a luxury beachfront cooperative located in Ilıca, Izmir. However, what would prompt the engineering firm responsible for the Woolworth Building to take on the road and utility construction and project management of a Turkish summer resort? The answer lies in Cold War geopolitics and booming private enterprise, both of which, in the 1950s, converged in Turkey, relied on American engineering, and involved a complex process of Americanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text presents two essays by Michał Kalecki written during the sixties: "The fascism of our times" (1964) and "Vietnam and US big business" (1967), which analyze the political and economic context of that time. The first essay reflects on the ways in which fascism was making a comeback in the political landscape of some countries, such as France, West Germany and the United States, and how groups related to this ideology were infiltrating, without any resistance, into the ruling elites of such governments. The second essay analyzes the interests of the large US corporations in continuing the Vietnam War, despite the negative outlook that was already being presented for the United States in this war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relations of the Soviet Union, Cuba, and the East European socialist states with Nicaragua from Anastasio Somoza's removal in July 1979 until Violeta Chamorro's election victory in February 1990, using a wide array of original documents, collected from Polish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, German and Czech diplomatic, party and security services archives. It delves deeply into the motivations behind the Kremlin's circumscribed approach, attempting to break new ground by looking in detail at Moscow's communication and coordination with its East European allies and Cuba, aimed at supporting Managua without risking major confrontation with Washington. This research aims to contribute to the existing historiography by looking not only at the motivations behind Soviet and Eastern Bloc involvement, but also by taking into account the circumstances preventing Moscow and its allies from developing more comprehensive political and economic relations with the Sandinista regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to offer a valid answer to the question why Turkey's official stance on the Cyprus problem experienced frequent shifts - from indifference (1950) into supporting colonial rule (1954) then into Taksim, or partition (1956) and, finally, into independence (1959). Drawing upon the main assumptions of neoclassical realism, it argues that the existing systemic explanations in the scholarly literature that focus on Cold War rivalry are insufficient to grasp why there were such remarkable shifts in Turkey's Cyprus policy in the 1950s. Instead, the article will focus on the domestic dynamics to make better sense of these policy changes. Accordingly, it will first discuss the main assumptions of neoclassical realism as a sound theoretical framework. Second, it will scrutinise in detail how Turkey experienced such shifts in its Cyprus policy throughout the 1950s. Third, the article will discuss the extant literature that overwhelmingly concentrates on systemic explanations for Turkey's volte-face in Cyprus. In response, the article will offer alternative explanations by focusing on Turkey's depleting resource extraction capacity and the political leadership of Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, in order to fully understand the underlying reasons behind Turkey's shifting Cyprus policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the intricate dynamics of Turkey's relations with Britain and the United States at a critical juncture during the early Cold War era (1946–1952). The article analyses the implications of a dual transformation of triangular relations in the aftermath of the Second World War. This transformation was on the one hand marked by an ongoing hegemonic transition from Pax-Britannica to Pax-Americana, and on the other hand a systemic transformation resulting in a bi-polar global order. This article utilises levels of analysis framework for a more systematic analysis of the complex web of triangular relations. While focusing on a comprehensive analysis at the international level, the implication of factors at the decision-maker and domestic levels are also examined. The article argues that in response to these drastic transformations as a strategically located regional actor Turkey struggled to strike a delicate balance between its resilient British and newly increasing US ties, while also aiming to institutionalise its Western alliance, leading to NATO membership in 1952. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friendly relations between the United States and Costa Rica were strained during the early 1970s as the latter sought the recall of the US ambassador and CIA station chief amidst rumours of coup plots against influential social democratic president José Figueres. Figueres's efforts to normalise relations with the Soviet bloc while legalising the Communist Party at home provided the broader context. Secret US intelligence about a pact between Figueres, local communists, and the Soviet Union drove the conflict. Drawing on declassified US documents, this study seeks the right balance between Latin American agency and US hegemony during the Cold War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will analyze the connection between history, countervailing ideologies, that is, the legacy of the Cold War, and the perceived identification of human rights violations as they pertain to countries with major security interests in Northeast Asia. This article will further show that the enduring nuclear-weapons problem in North Korea has been inextricably linked to human rights issues there, specifically because Washington wants to change the behavior of officials in Pyongyang so that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) becomes a state that at least remotely resembles a liberal democracy. Although supported by much of the international community, including the United States' South Korean and Japanese allies in Northeast Asia, Washington's North Korean policy has remained ineffective, as Pyongyang has continued to perform missile testing and still possesses nuclear weapons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the end of the Second World War, Yugoslavia, as one of the victorious countries, received various assistances for its post-war reconstruction from United States, Britain, France and Soviet Union. The Soviets expulsion of Yugoslavs out of Cominform in 1948 signalized the unfolding of the first Soviet-Yugoslav conflict, which led to the subsequent economic blockade of Yugoslavia from Soviet bloc countries. Faced with potential Soviets military invasion and political subversion, as well as worsening domestic economic situation resulted from collectivization and drought, Yugoslavia changed its strategic orientation to the West and turned to United States for help. American thought the tension between Yugoslavia and Soviet bloc would be used to further widen the split within the Soviet bloc, so they actively developed several programs to "keep Tito afloat". This paper examines the evolution of the American efforts to aid Yugoslavia in the early Cold War period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. and Soviet Union relations have a bitter history since the creation of the United States. This paper deals with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the emergence of the Cold War in 1979 with a particular focus on the U.S. Foreign Policy responses to the Moscow threat during 1979-81. Soon after the Soviet troops entered into Afghanistan, Washington felt a threat to its interests in the region; hence, warned the Soviets to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan as well as re-established its foreign policy against them. The White House took a various set of unilateral and mutual actions as well as funnelling billions of dollars and armaments to Afghan freedom fighters (AFF) to battle against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. President Jimmy Carter's administration further reduced its relations with Moscow and developed an alliance with other countries to punish the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. This study is based on recent primary, but reliable declassified material of the governments of the U.S, Pakistan, and the Soviet Union as well as some eyewitness's biographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Historia (07169108) is the property of Universidad de Concepcion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ayer: Revista de Historia Contemporánea is the property of Asociacion de Historia Contemporanea and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Examination of recently declassified documents in the Russian and Israeli archives reveals that Moscow’s support for the establishment of the state of Israel was largely designed to sustain the World War II cooperation with Washington, which also supported the creation of a Jewish state. With the advent of the Cold War, the Soviets maintained their support due to the belief that the US’s immersion in the regional tensions attending Israel’s continued existence would greatly relieve its military pressure on the Soviet Union in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship on the representation of Islam in the media has rightly focused on its negative dimensions, particularly since the events of 9/11. However, "Islam" has not always been a negative construct. During the Cold War, the United States sought to promote "Islam" as a bulwark against secular nationalism. Saudi Arabia was central to this policy. In this paper, I study the coverage of the US-Saudi policy of harnessing Islam to serve larger political agendas in five news media outlets-The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, National Review, and The Nation. I focus on two pivotal moments: (1) the Eisenhower Doctrine of 1957 when the US Islam policy was crystalized; and (2) the era of the Saudi monarch King Faisal, when the policy was instituted. My analysis of several hundred news media articles, editorials, and op-eds shows that while the coverage is contradictory, lapsing sometimes into Orientalist frames, overall Saudi Arabia is consistently presented as embodying the right kind of "Islam." I argue further that "Islam" as a short-hand to designate the Middle East entered US media discourse in the 1960s, and that its meaning has evolved to suit shifting US foreign policy objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the support of new sources from British and Hong Kong archives, this study casts new light on the post-war international adoptions of Chinese refugee children in the British colony of Hong Kong. It argues that while children were ‘saved’ and found families overseas, they were also used as pawns in a bigger political game. A way to delegate welfare for the Hong Kong government, a symbolic humanitarian concession vis-à-vis a strict anti-immigration policy for Britain, and an anti-communist propaganda tool for the United States, these adoptions also convey the competing power and population politics played over subject children by two multiracial empires: one in decline (the rapidly decolonising Britain), the other on the rise (the new cold war superpower). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neorealism is certainly the most analyzed and criticized theoretical approach. This study is no exception. The Cold War was unexpectedly ended in the 1989-1991 period. One of the main criticisms of neorealism is that it failed to predict an end to the Cold War. In international relations discipline, theories have rarely predictive ability. For the neorealist theorists, especially Waltz claims that the prediction issue is not a major criticism because neo-realism does not aim to predict the behavior of individual states at any given time. The main objective of neorealism is to explain the logic of individual relationships in the international state system. This article aims to offer new ideas whether neorealism tells us about the Cold War in terms of explanation about the events that may reemerge in global political scene almost twenty-five year later. Another important contribution of this article is to analyze the success and failure of the neorealist explanation and understanding of the Second Cold War of 1979-1985 in order to shed lights on the future the Third Cold War that is a political reality in terms of a Russian threat and a West response after the 2014 Crimean Crisis. It should be stressed that neorealism has the explanatory rather than the predictive power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the Cold War entanglements of the concept of "creativity" with the US military. The field of creativity studies came about aft er World War II, and the military was a vital site for the production of knowledge about creative thinking. Creativity emerged on the geopolitical radar, in terms of the acquisition of creative thinking skills, attempts to "think the unthinkable" (atomic futures), and the detection of creative citizens. Creative, divergent thinking garnered a renewed urgency with the Sputnik shock, which showcased that conformist practices in knowledge production would not put an American on the moon. Between 1945 and 1965, the concept of creativity--as something to be defined, measured, and stimulated--was framed as a matter of national security and an object of geopolitical concern. This ensuing traffic in knowledge between Cold War academic and military contexts has been constitutive of present-day understandings of creative, undisciplined thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the way American intellectuals depicted Sigmund Freud during the peak of popularity and prestige of psychoanalysis in the US, roughly the decade and a half following World War II. These intellectuals insisted upon the unassailability of Freud's mind and personality. He was depicted as unsusceptible to any external force or influence, a trait which was thought to account for Freud's admirable comportment as a scientist, colleague and human being. This post-war image of Freud was shaped in part by the Cold War anxiety that modern individuality was imperilled by totalitarian forces, which could only be resisted by the most rugged of selves. It was also shaped by the unique situation of the intellectuals themselves, who were eager to position themselves, like the Freud they imagined, as steadfastly independent and critical thinkers who would, through the very clarity of their thought, lead America to a more robust democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Complutense de Historia de América is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Italy's Cold War cultural contest for the hearts and minds of Italian women was a three way struggle between the Catholic Church, the Italian Communists, and the United States. The arrival of American consumer products and models in postwar Italy and their growing influence on upper to middle-class, and eventually working-class women, provided the two domestic groups, who previously had been engaged in a bipolar struggle with each other, with a common enemy - the materialistic, immoral, and avaricious "American way of life" as represented in the products and models that belonged to its consumer capitalist society. The Catholics and Communists employed their popular magazines Famiglia Cristiana and Noi Donne, respectively, in this fight against American consumerism. This article examines how Famiglia Cristiana and Noi Donne responded to the challenges posed by the increasing presence of American consumer culture, specifically in the areas of beauty, and entertainment and celebrity, in Italian women's lives. It argues that, far from an outright rejection, the two publications included American consumer modernity into their pages and adapted it to fit their visions of the ideal postwar Italian woman. They mediated the influence and novelty of the American consumer culture, offering selected criticism and praise that were in line with important Catholic and Communist beliefs, such as modesty and religious morality, and collectivism, equality, and financial morality, respectively. Therefore, the women promoted in these two magazines were modern, consuming women that remained loyal to the core ideological beliefs of the Church and Communists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors of this paper deal with the role of the USA in the post-Cold War world and their position from the standpoint of relevant indicators and theoretical considerations. This work also refers to path that the United States took from isolationism to the world domination and considers justification of the position of the USA in the period after the Cold War from the point of hegemonic stability theories, while at the end indicates the diversity of understanding of contemporary thinkers regarding the position of the United States as the hegemon or rather "just" a global leader. This paper does not prejudge the final definition of the position of the USA in international relations, but aims to launch discussions on the necessity and justification of the existence of such vision on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. The Cold War in the Third World was certainly much more dynamic than a mere clash of power and ideology between the belligerent big powers. In newly emerging areas like Southeast Asia for instance, many of the newly independent states have made clear from the outset that they do not wish to take sides in the Cold War, wanting to be non-aligned. For the United States, however, the Cold War was an uncompromisable situation and held that non- alignment was self-deception, naïve and even dangerous. This essay examines the interplay between the American policy of containment and the Indonesian policy of non-alignment with particular reference to the United States' reactions to Indonesia's relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC). The discussion covers the period from 1950 through to the Bandung Conference in 1955. An examination of the conflict between the American policy of "containment" and Indonesia's policy of "non-alignment" during the 1950s would serve to illustrate that the Cold War in Asia was much more dynamic that just clashes between the belligerent big powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assumption that US policy toward Africa was characterized by continuity during the cold war has recently been challenged by scholars who argue that President John F. Kennedy embarked on an African policy that was distinct from his predecessors. This may be true for black Africa, but Kennedy’s support for African nationalism did not extend to South Africa. This article reveals that Kennedy’s cold war priorities ensured continuity in US policy toward the apartheid state and, in some cases, additional cooperation as cold war crises increased the perceived importance of South Africa as an ideological and strategic ally and bastion against communism on a rapidly changing continent. This article also explores the role South Africa’s apartheid government played in this cold war alliance. The ruling National Party recognized its importance to US foreign policy goals and used this to stave off serious American criticism of its racial policies, deflect attention in the United Nations, and ensure continued economic and military cooperation with the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Revista Complutense de Historia de América is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Historia y Politica: Ideas, Procesos y Movimientos Sociales is the property of Departamento De Historia del Pensamiento y de los Moviemientos Sociales y Politicos (Madrid) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Probing the intersection of Memory Studies and International Relations, this article traces the uses of collective memory in late Cold War US Transatlantic relations. First it surveys the existing scholarly literature on the topic and critiques some selected methodological models. Next it discusses the politics of cultural memory in the United States itself. In its main body, the study focuses on the core of the use of memory in US Transatlantic relations: historical reasoning in the fields of 1) foreign policy decision-making, and 2) public or cultural diplomacy. The author argues that while the US government may not have had a centrally articulated and overarching policy for the use of collective memory in US diplomacy, such a policy can nevertheless be assembled out of its foreign policy training and the cultural diplomacy practices of the United States Information Agency, both of which continued throughout the 1990s, the first period of the post-Cold War era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Complutense de Historia de América is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the work of Peace Corps volunteers in South America during the 1960s. It argues that through their training in impoverished communities in the United States and their intervention in similar contexts in South America, these volunteers connected diverse visions of community action aimed at eradi-cating poverty. This allows an inclusion of a historical comprehension of the Peace Corps within the scenario of a Global War on Poverty. The argument derives from the analysis of letters and testimonies, press items, and official documents found in archives and libraries both in the United States and South America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 1930s through the 1950s--the decades bracketing the second and third international polar years--research in the physical and biological environmental sciences of the Arctic increased dramatically. The heroic, expedition-based style of Arctic science, dominant in the first decades of the twentieth century, gave way to a systematic, long-term, strategic and largely statefunded model of research which increased both Arctic presence and the volume of research output. Factors that made this change possible were distinct for each of the five circumpolar nation-states considered here. For Soviet leaders, the Arctic was an untamed land containing vast economic resources, all within reach if its long-sought Northern Sea Route became reality; Soviet officials sought environmental knowledge of this region with a range of motivations from economic and strategic concerns to enhancing the prestige of socialism. In contrast. United States officials largely ignored the Arctic until the outbreak of World War U, when military commanders quickly grasped the strategic importance of this region. Anxious that the Arctic might become a literal battleground between East and West by 1947, as the Cold War began. Pentagon leaders funded vast northern research programs, including in strategically located Greenland. Canadian leaders--while appreciating the national security concerns of its powerful southern neighbor--were even more concerned with maintaining sovereignty over its northern territories and gaining knowledge to assist its northern economic ambitions. Norway and Sweden, as smaller states, faced distinct challenges. With strong claims to Arctic heritage but limited resources, leaders of these states sought to create independent research strategies while, especially in the case of Norway, protecting their geopolitical interests in relation to the Soviet Union and the U.S. This article provides the first internationally comparative study of the multiple economic, military, political, and strategic factors that motivated scientific activities and programs in the far north, from the interwar period through World War II and the Cold War, when carefully coordinated, station-based research programs were introduced. The production of knowledge about Arctic's physical environment--including its changing climate--had little resemblance either to ideas of science-based 'progress,' or responses to perceived environmental concerns. Instead, it demonstrates that strategic military, economic, geopolitical, and national security concerns influenced and shaped most science undertakings, including those of the International Polar Year of 1932-1933 and the following polar year, the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that US policy regarding Portuguese colonialism and decolonization followed the general patterns of US African policy during the Cold War. The narrative of US-Portuguese relations demonstrates that, despite the growing interest in African affairs since the late 1950s, Europe continued to be the political centre of the Cold War throughout the decades. The fear of losing the strategically located Azores base in a period of several important Cold War episodes, such as the Berlin and Cuban crises, and the Vietnam and Yom Kippur wars, outweighed the concerns with African developments and the rhetoric of anti-colonialism that briefly emerged in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the relationship between the United States and Thailand under Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram between the years 1948 and 1957. It first seeks to show how Phibun, who had collaborated with the Japanese during World War II and had at one time faced prosecution as a war criminal, was able to overthrow the post-war liberal government and gain acceptance in the United States. Next, it will present and analyze the basic tenets and principles of the Thai-American relationship in the context of the Cold War and the bipolar rivalry in Asia. Finally, it will explain the issue of Phibun ' s changing image in the United States and his attempts to make his government more "democratic" as part of his struggle to retain power and to quell the growing internal discontent with his regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents, contextualizes and discusses significant observations of the Uruguayan ambassador to the United States of America contained in a recently found in the Historical Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay document. The same relates to the "delicate circumstances" surrounding the “Guatemala case” at a time when he was elucidating the immediate future of democracy presiding Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, overthrown shortly afterwards thanks to the military coup orchestrated by the CIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having achieved independence in 1957, Ghana was a possible role model or precedent setter for other black African countries, none others of which achieved independence until 1960 or later. Kwame Nkrumah, who led his country to independence and served as its first president, is today regarded by Ghanaians as a national hero, but Ghanaian historians agree that he had serious shortcomings, including the capacity to spend money foolishly and to behave arbitrarily. Lyndon Johnson's government was justifiably concerned at Nkrumah's growing friendship with Communist countries, including the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and Cuba. It pondered various courses of action: feigned indifference, reductions in foreign aid, and a coup d'etat. Each presented difficulties. The problem resolved itself when the Ghanaian army ousted Nkrumah in February 1966 as he traveled to Hanoi as a self-appointed mediator between the Johnson administration and Ho Chi Minh. The new Ghanaian government was so supportive of US foreign policy that many suspected US involvement in the coup, but evidence for that is lacking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Republic of Korea (ROK) has a significant overall diplomatic bargaining leverage advantage in relation to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in shaping international behavior to support or acquiesce to the ROK assuming sole representational legitimacy for the broader Korean nation. Aside from the ROK's direct diplomatic bargaining leverage advantages towards the DPRK, the ROK's indirect leverage over the DPRK is enhanced through the ROK's power leverage in its international diplomatic interaction with the United States and the rest of the international community. Perceived influence capability over third countries is only one bargaining lever for comprehending DPRK-ROK interaction, but the source of the ROK's ability to influence these third countries is significantly "soft-power" based. Soft power's role may be understood in terms of public opinion, legitimacy and nationalism in affecting relevant public opinion constituencies both within the Koreas and within these third countries. South Korea's development has made it a national growth model for the rest of the post Cold War world. Its international political influence and national economic prosperity derives partly from the Cold War political bifurcation of the Korean nation, which made the South Korean ROK state comparatively open to external cultural, economic and political influences. North Korea's development of nuclear weapons is comprehendible as representing a compensatory bargaining leverage response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin's views on Anglo-American relations during the crucial year of 1947. It challenges the view that Bevin was unquestioningly pro-American. It demonstrates how Bevin pushed the embassy in Washington to project a view of Britain, based on answering American criticisms robustly. He saw Britain's problems to be a consequence of American failures to act responsibly, as he saw it. Bevin was frustrated with American attitudes, and sought to bring them to underwrite his own policies and shape theirs around his strong belief that Britain had earned their support and that they should compensate Britain for its past sacrifices in the common cause. Bevin was not coldly pragmatic, nor was he uncritically pro-American, or merely a puppet in the hands of his Foreign Office officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on the preface to the DBPO volume. It describes some of the background to the events which are illustrated by the documents included in the volume. The end of the Second World War brought hopes of building a new society in Europe. These documents reveal the nature of Foreign Office concerns about the range of problems, both multilateral and bilateral, which still remained to be resolved in the Nordic area, and describe the evolution of policies to deal with them. In particular, they describe the means by which Britain attempted to encourage Scandinavian countries away from their support for neutrality and, by enlisting American support, began the process which led to the signature of the Atlantic Treaty in 1949. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses and portrays the bilateral relationship between Great Britain and Denmark from the end of the Second World War to 1951. It is shown how Great Britain played an important role for Denmark in this period both as a trading partner and as a political partner. This state of affairs was primarily due to most Danish politicians holding a dichotomous view on the still more influential partner in the far west, the United States. In the early post-war years, Denmark thus relied on Britain in both major and minor matters. It is argued that Britain exploited this state of affairs to promote British policies and political as well as economic interests in the still more important Nordic region in an era where British influence on world politics was diminishing and where British policies were certainly not always in concordance with American policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on British attitudes towards US military bases in Iceland, 1945–1951. In the beginning, the British government was willing – for a mixture of idealist and realist reasons – to distance itself from the United States in an attempt to modify its military goals. British faith in the United Nations when it came to post-war security was genuine, even if its interpretation of the mandate of the UN Security Council proved wrong. And it did not want to antagonize the Soviet Union and thus tried to avoid a potential confrontation over bases in the Nordic countries. But the British position was compromised by a desire for joint wartime base rights with the Americans. With the emergence of the Cold War in 1946–1947, it is argued, a shift occurred in British policy. The United Kingdom gave the United States full backing in its quest to integrate Iceland into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949 and to station US military forces on the island in 1951. British cooperation with the Americans in Iceland not only reflected shared opposition to the Soviet Union; it also entailed a willingness to help local Icelandic political elites to battle an internal foe: the Socialist Party. The British, however, were never in a position to shape Iceland's integration into the Western Alliance. During the early Cold War, their function was essentially to assist the United States in achieving and maintaining its military position in Iceland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of the British diplomatic documents published in the Documents on British Policy Overseas (DBPO) volume, The Nordic Countries: From War to Cold War, 1944–1951, this article seeks to assess and discuss how and to what degree the documents reproduced in the DBPO volume may produce new insights into the Scandinavian alliance dilemmas of the early Cold War of choosing between a joint, but ‘neutral’ Scandinavian solution and Western alignment. The main argument is that the documents will not alter basic interpretations of why the Scandinavian option collapsed or about the driving forces behind the policy pursued by the Atlee government on the issue. However, the article also argues that the DBPO collection lends itself – in combination with the corresponding US documents published in the Foreign Relation of the United States series – to comparatively oriented research both in terms of assessing similarities and differences in the US and the UK approach to Scandinavian security and alliance involvement and to analysing the – differing and competing – attempts of Denmark, Norway and Sweden to obtain Western support for their individual approaches. Seen in a larger historical context, this picture seems to confirm a recurrent pattern of the post-1945 ‘grand designs’ in Nordic cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]