This is a primary source anthology of protest documents from the Cold War era. It was developed as a project for Gilder Lehrman's spring 2015 online course, "The Global Cold War." Divided by decade, these pages feature a small selection of the many global voices of dissent against the bipolar dynamic that dominated world politics from 1945 to 1989.
What is the criteria of a Cold War dissenting voice? In some cases you will see voices of citizen activists or journalists; in others you will see powerful names like Nikita Khrushchev (the 1956 Secret Speech) and Dwight Eisenhower (his 1961 Farewell Address), leaders who challenged aspects of the Cold War system. They have been chosen for their specific response to the Soviet/American power dynamic, not other historical processes occurring simultaneously, such as civil rights movements and decolonization. Of course, these three forces--the international human rights movement, decolonization, and the Cold War--are inexorably linked and interconnected. What this project seeks to isolate and examine are messages of Cold War-specific dissent.
Why couldn't even presidents and premiers do much to shift this world system once it had been established in the 1940s? Why did a world divided into capitalists and communists take so long to dismantle? In pursuing these questions, my hope is that students of history will see how important it is to remain cognizant of human agency. If humans were responsible for creating the rules of the Cold War dynamic, humans should also be able to revise or discard them.
In the first iteration of this site, I have selected textual documents and provide introductions and questions for analysis. In the future, I plan to include protest songs and film, which were powerful mediums for change during this period. I welcome your ideas and suggestions via the Feedback page.
What is the criteria of a Cold War dissenting voice? In some cases you will see voices of citizen activists or journalists; in others you will see powerful names like Nikita Khrushchev (the 1956 Secret Speech) and Dwight Eisenhower (his 1961 Farewell Address), leaders who challenged aspects of the Cold War system. They have been chosen for their specific response to the Soviet/American power dynamic, not other historical processes occurring simultaneously, such as civil rights movements and decolonization. Of course, these three forces--the international human rights movement, decolonization, and the Cold War--are inexorably linked and interconnected. What this project seeks to isolate and examine are messages of Cold War-specific dissent.
Why couldn't even presidents and premiers do much to shift this world system once it had been established in the 1940s? Why did a world divided into capitalists and communists take so long to dismantle? In pursuing these questions, my hope is that students of history will see how important it is to remain cognizant of human agency. If humans were responsible for creating the rules of the Cold War dynamic, humans should also be able to revise or discard them.
In the first iteration of this site, I have selected textual documents and provide introductions and questions for analysis. In the future, I plan to include protest songs and film, which were powerful mediums for change during this period. I welcome your ideas and suggestions via the Feedback page.