Introduction
A term first used by the financier Bernard Baruch in 1947 and popularized by the journalist Walter Lippmann, the Cold War refers to the confrontation of the superpowers (the US and the Soviet Union) and their allies from the 1940s to the 1990s. The Cold War involved ideological, military, and economic rivalry without resort to open warfare. USSR president Mikhail Gorbachev brought the Cold War to an end by convincing U.S. President Ronald Reagan of his sincerity by making agreements with the US for arms control and reductions, and by withdrawing support from Third World revolutionary regimes and from the communist parties of Eastern Europe, thus allowing the revolutions of 1989-91 to take place. The collapse of the Soviet Union completed the process.
Source: A Dictionary of Contemporary History - 1945 to the present. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1999. s.v. "Cold War," http://www.credoreference.com/entry/726108 (accessed March 12, 2009).
Collections
The Ball State University Libraries Digital Media Repository contains the collections listed below pertaining to the Cold War, 1940s-1990s. To browse all Cold War materials available in the DMR click here.
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Cantigny First Division Oral HistoriesThe Ball State University Libraries Digital Media Repository features the Cantigny First Division Oral Histories collection, whose holdings include forty high definition oral history interviews and transcripts conducted in 2008. |
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Eleanor Roosevelt Speech CollectionThe Ball State University Libraries Digital Media Repository features the Eleanor Roosevelt's May 6, 1959 Ball State Teachers College convocation speech, entitled Is American Facing World Leadership? |
