Primary Resources

Early Cold War

Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, Waltham (NARA):

Galstoff Collection (RG-370, Box 2):
This collection of pamphlets, photographs, and other ephemera chronicles the United States’ nuclear tests at Bikini (Atoll) Island in the South Pacific in 1946.  Galstoff, the Marine Biological scientist assigned to test and monitor the effects of the blasts’ resulting radiation on fish, shellfish, botany, and other marine creatures collected a vast amount of photos and pamphlets on the series of tests which included looking at patterns of impact on the surrounding area.  The photos and pamphlets included in the materials collected from NARA are representative of three things: the relative infancy of the world’s knowledge of and the U.S.’s naivety regarding the destructive powers of the atomic bomb, the rising power of the U.S. and its military on the world stage, and the growing tensions between the Soviet Union and the U.S. and the quest to stay ahead in scientific knowledge and military might.  While a majority of the photographs show obvious impacts of the tests, including hundreds of shots of the mushroom clouds over the test sight, others show sunbathers on the decks of the ships as the bombs were dropped, animal test subjects which were present to give scientists an idea of the physical effects of radiation on the body, and many photographs of personnel aboard the ship.  The pamphlets describe the tests and the scientific findings, as well as lay out the need for nuclear testing and its importance to the U.S.’s presence on the world stage.  Finally, Galstoff’s scrapbook includes documents important to his mission on the U.S.S. Panamint, newspaper articles pertaining to the growing tensions between the U.S. and Russia regarding the tests, and an article describing the outcomes of Bikini.

            The National Archives collection of classified documents from the period between the 1918 Russian revolution and the period after WWII consists of many papers related to Soviet military maneuvers in Eastern Europe in the 1930’s, as well as briefings and state-sponsored articles discussing perceived threats from communists both abroad and in the United States.  Besides many state department documents collected here, there are also some materials from the Bureau of Investigation, the precursor to the FBI.

“Bureau of Investigation”
Filcher, Stuart. “In Re: Forsythe Baths, Election Fraud.”  New York: November 4th, 1918.  This memo is based on Agent Filcher’s investigation of a complaint filed by a local New York City resident that a gathering of about 75 Socialists had formed in order to disrupt the elections in the ward.  When he and other bureau representatives showed up to investigate the complaint, the owner of the property explained that the “Socialists” were really ward workers who were staying there so that they could begin their work on election day on time and with plenty of sleep, a custom had been going on for many years.  Filcher’s report refers to the work of another agent, Special Agent Brunswald, who evidently was the lead on the case.  The document is illustrative of the beginnings of the “Red Scare” phenomenon starting to take hold of the public after the Russian Revolution, partially due to the U.S. government’s anti-socialist propaganda war in the late 1910’s and 1920’s.

“Questions and Answers.”  While this document is not dated, it was published sometime in late 1918 or early 1919 by an unnamed group in the U.S. who were apparently sympathetic to the Soviet cause.  The “questions and answers” pertain to common questions about the structure of the new Soviet government and its benefit over the old system for the Russian population.  The bureau clearly confiscated the literature because of its communist and socialist leanings, an example of the pamphlets and treatises widely circulated before the crackdown of the U.S. government in the 1920’s and 1930’s during the Red Scare era.  

“State Department Records”
“Army Maneuvers, Latvia collection.” This collection of documents relates to a test of Russian military maneuvers in Riga, Latvia in the summer of 1931.  The papers include detailed memos translated from the original Russian transcripts of operations conducted in Latvia in relation to the testing of civil defense plans against “the attempts of capitalists to attack us.”  This perceived threat from the governments of the U.S. and other capitalist nations was used, according to the memos circulated by the state department, to mobilize the peasantry and recruit new members to the Communist Party in outlying areas such as Latvia.  Among the propagandist rhetoric in the memos is the repeated insistence that the capitalists were bent on the destruction of the Soviet Union as “the constructive socialism of the U.S.S.R. causes the hatred and malice of the capitalists.”  Other documents talk about the effects of the Great Depression on the capitalist countries of the world and discuss the relative absence of its impact on the U.S.S.R., the response to and successes of the trial mobilizations within the country, and descriptions of military parades intended to inspect the preparedness of the Red Army to combat the threat of capitalism. page 1 - page 2 - page 3 - page 4 - page 5

“Russian Maneuvers, Czechoslovakia, 1935.”  These documents are mostly memos about the 1935 military parades held by the Russian Army in Czechoslovakia, significant because of the country’s proximity to the Russian border and its shared border with Poland, the last line of defense between the U.S.S.R. and Germany.  In the memos, the possibility of Germany become a probable future enemy is discussed and explains why the Russians were holding military demonstrations in “border areas” such as Czechoslovakia and Latvia, to demonstrate their readiness in case of attack from Hitler’s forces. 

“Misc. Intelligence Documents.”  In the summer of 1939, the Russian government was stepping up its efforts to showcase its military preparedness in case of attack.  Its fears in 1935 of a possible German attack on the western borders of the Soviet Union had become a very good possibility when in the fall of 1939, Poland was invaded by the Nazis.  Two years later, Russian borders would be breached by the Hitler’s army and Russia’s fear of invasion substantiated.

“Arnold Margolis Correspondence.”  Margolis was a European immigrant and Boston lawyer active in the 1930’s in trying to get the United States to recognize the U.S.S.R. as a legitimate government.   The hope was that negotiations between the two countries could foster a relationship in which the U.S. could help the Russians to set up a more democratic form of rule.  While the economic philosophies of the two countries were radically different, Margolis argued, both were interested in letting the people make political decisions—the Soviets, he said, had promised after the revolution to eventually conform to a more democratic process—but until the U.S. recognized the legitimacy of the Russian government talks could not begin.  These letters are significant because it is a common plea of other American citizens, sympathetic to the Russian cause and concerned for the welfare of the average Russian peasant, that the U.S. involve itself in helping the Soviets move toward a more democratic process in elections and collective decision making.

“Suggestions Regarding the Desirability of Sending an Official American Commission to the U.S.S.R.” This document from the late 1930’s suggests sending a commission to the Soviet Union to determine what was being done to bring about a more democratic government in the U.S.S.R., as promised by the Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution in 1918.  The concern expressed is that the American people were demanding that the government involve itself in helping the Soviets to form a new, more democratic society, replacing the dictatorship under which the Russians still ruled the various provinces and thwarting the possibility of this dictatorship spreading through the whole of Eastern Europe.  Essentially, the plan consisted of forming a commission to go on “fact finding” mission to give greater understanding to the U.S. government about the specific standing of the Soviets in keeping their promise to democratize. 

MIT Rad Lab Photos (RG 227, Group 35, Boxes P-C 001-003 and Box P-B 001).
            These photos document an ongoing project at MIT and Harvard in the late 1940’s and 1950’s to develop radar technology in response to the growing Soviet and broader Communist threat.  The photos collected here intend to the show the extreme secrecy of the project, as well as the role of local universities and defense corporations in the progression and development of Cold War technologies. The last 4 photographs in the series show a project developed on the beaches of Ipswich, a radar technology used to detect off-shore Russian submarines and other enemy watercraft.

 “Naval Records from Boston, MA—Daily Historical Logs, 1942 and 1945.” (RG 181, 17/03/01-05).  These excerpted logs are a collection of national and global top headlines, mostly relating to the war, from local newspapers such as the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. They are interesting in that they show the changing relationship between the United States and Russia at the beginning and end of World War II.  As evidenced in most of the entries from 1942, the United States suspends their mistrust for the communists to work with the Soviets as allies against the Nazi regime.  However, as the war progresses, Stalin’s Russia becomes the target of suspicion again in the United States press, as the Soviets begin to discuss their place in the new order in Europe.  Note that the logs are arranged chronologically, starting from the end of the year and working back toward January. 

Courtesy of the Boston Public Library:

Proquest Newspaper Articles (available through the BPL’s website)
            This small collection of articles briefly describes the proceedings of the Yalta conference, the event which many historians point to as the beginning of U.S./Soviet tensions over the division of power in Eastern and Western Europe, most specifically the administration of Germany after their surrender.  The compromises of Roosevelt and Churchill to appease Stalin and the Russians, whose military prowess, knowledge of the eastern front, and seemingly unlimited pool of manpower were integral in winning on the European and African fronts are eventually seen as the thrust that Stalin needed to expand Communism to Eastern Europe, resulting in the Eastern Bloc and the beginnings of the Cold War with the United States.

“History at Yalta.”  New York Times (1857-Current File); Feb 14, 1945; Proquest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005).  Pg. 18

Hulen, Bertram D.  “Roosevelt Shaped 2 Yalta Solutions.”  New York Times (1857-Current File); Feb 14, 1945; Proquest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005).  Pg. 1

Warren, Lansing.  “Yalta Parley Ends.” The New York Times. The New York Times British O...New York Times (1857-Current File); Feb 13, 1945; Proquest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005). Pg. 1