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FOREIGN OFFICE FILES: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Series Three: The Cold War

(Public Record Office Class FO 371 and Related Files)

Part 2: The Prague Spring and Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia, 1967-1968

Projects of Related Interest

FOREIGN OFFICE FILES: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Series Three: The Cold War

(Public Record Office Class FO 371 and Related Files)
Part 1: The Berlin Crisis, 1947-1950
(PRO Class FO 371/70489-70528, 76537-76562, 84975-84994, and related AIR, CAB, DEFE, FO, PREM, T and WO files)

The Berlin Crisis, culminating in the massive Allied Airlift, from June 1948 to May 1949, was one of the first major episodes of the Cold War and helped to shape the nature and outline of modern Germany before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Disagreements over Germany led to the Russian closure of the road routes to Berlin. The massive "Berlin airlift" became the city’s only supply route. In 1948 the first American B29 Superfortress squadrons arrived in Britain in East Anglia - the vanguard of a force which was to steadily expand as the Cold War intensified.


The Crisis followed swiftly in the aftermath of the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia, February 1948, and the signature of the Brussels Treaty, March 1948.


In this microfilm project we offer comprehensive coverage of Foreign Office files from FO 371 for 1947-1950 on the following:

  • the situation in Berlin
  • the Soviet blockade of access to Berlin
  • Western counter measures and retaliation via trade channels
  • the massive Airlift
  • Berlin currency and trade
  • the Berlin railway strike
  • the administration of Western Berlin
  • Minutes of Meetings of Commandants, Berlin, 1947-1950
  • Weekly Intelligence Reports from Berlin, 1947-1950
  • Visits carried out by the British Military Governor, Berlin
  • Allied Control Council documents on Berlin
  • UN Security Council debates on Berlin
  • Operation "Plainfare" and the use of civilian aircraft for the Berlin airlift
  • Soviet Breaches of the Four-Power Agreement on Germany
  • Berlin weekly political summaries and the Tripartite agreement on the Control of the Western Sectors of Berlin

We also provide some files on discussions on the future political structure of Germany where these have a direct bearing on events in Berlin. As well as the strong body of Foreign Office files, which are full of high level diplomatic correspondence, telegrams, records of meetings, briefing papers and Foreign Office analyses of events, we include related AIR, CAB, FO, DEFE, Treasury and PREM files providing material on the Cabinet Committee on Germany and records of the Control Commission for Germany, the RAF Ferry and Transport Command, the British Air Forces of Occupation (BAFO) and Ministry of Defence Papers. These papers allow scholars to see the day by day and week by week workings of Operation "Plainfare", collaboration at various levels between Britain and America, the sheer volume of supplies airlifted, and the manpower and expenditure involved.

"These files are a rich seam full of gems - primary data from inside the Foreign Office presenting an unfolding picture on the first chilling crisis of the cold war."

Dr Martin Dedman

School of Economics, Middlesex University


These British records provide a wealth of detail on decisions at Cabinet Committee level; military and civilian planning groups; high level discussions between the Allies; Foreign Office deliberations, thinking and assessments, and the crucial task of co-ordination throughout the entire operation.


FOREIGN OFFICE FILES: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Series One: USA - Politics & Diplomacy, 1960-1974

(PRO Classes FO 371 and FCO 7: American Department - United States)
Part 1: The John F Kennedy Years, 1960-1963
(PRO Class FO 371/148576-148649, 156435-156516, 162578-162648 & 168405-168491)
Part 2: The Lyndon B Johnson Years, 1964-1968
(PRO Class FO 371/174260-174346, 179557-179622 & 184995-185056 and PRO Class FCO 7/738-884)

Part 1 of the series starts with complete coverage of FO 371/ USA for the Kennedy years, 1960-1963. President Kennedy's visits to the UK and Europe are fully documented including his 1963 visit to Berlin, as well as visits by Johnson, Nixon, and Senators Fulbright, Anderson and Irwin, and George Ball of the US State Department.


There is much material on US Aid and the Mutual Security Programme including reports on the US military presence in Europe and around the world, nuclear tests, weather stations and the Atlantic Under-water test and Evaluation Centre in the Bahamas.


The relations of America with British Commonwealth nations is also well documented, especially regarding the West Indies, Rhodesia, British Guiana, Nigeria, the Pacific Islands and Australia. There are special files on racial discrimination, civil rights, aid to Latin America (the ‘Alliance for Peace’ programme), the space race, Khrushchev’s visit to the United Nations, and the assassination of President Kennedy and international reaction to his death.


This project provides an ideal basis for the study of the United States during the Kennedy years, Anglo-American relations, international diplomacy, the impending crisis in Vietnam, Cuba, economics, trade and the continuing growth of a super-power.


The material in Part 2 provides complete British files on the Johnson administration. These offer scholars a useful counterpart to the US State Department files in judging how the US and its government reacted to such events as:

  • the escalation of the Vietnam War and the involvement of American combat troops
  • the emergence of hippies and the ‘Counter Culture’
  • the arrival of China as a nuclear power
  • the high tide of the American civil rights movement and federal attempts to end segregation
  • the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy
  • the Space Race
  • the founding of the Black Panther Party in 1966
  • LBJ’s attempts to create the 'Great Society' through social legislation
  • The Arab-Israeli War of 1967
  • The Chinese Cultural Revolution of 1966
  • The fall from power of Khrushchev in the USSR in 1964
  • The release of the Sergeant Pepper album by the Beatles
  • The ‘Prague Spring’ and subsequent Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968

 

FOREIGN OFFICE FILES: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Series Two: Vietnam, 1959-1975

(Public Record Office Classes FO 371 and FCO 15:
South East Asia Department)
Part 1: Vietnam, 1959-1963
Part 2: Laos, 1959-1963
Part 3: Cambodia, 1959-1963
Part 4: SEATO, S E Asia General and Thailand, 1959-1963: Complete files on the

            Vietnam Conflict
Part 5: Vietnam, 1964-1966
Part 6: Vietnam, 1967-1968

This ongoing project looks at all aspects of the Vietnam conflict bringing together a large corpus of British Foreign Office and FCO files.

The Vietnam War had wide-reaching implications; it was destined not to confine itself to Vietnamese borders, with the interlocking geographical and political nature of the region ensuring that more nations would become immersed in the increasingly complex conflict. Whilst Britain was not directly involved in Vietnam she had substantial interests in South-East Asia and was anxious to monitor the situation closely. The Foreign Office files included in this collection reflect this, documenting the events which lead up to and into the war, America’s role in the region and the interrelation between Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.


Parts 5 and 6 focus on the build up of American forces in Vietnam following the attack on the USS Maddox and the passage by US Congress of the Tonkin Gulf resolution which gave President Johnson extraordinary powers to act in South-East Asia. Weekly reports, intelligence assessments and critical analyses bring together news from Hanoi, Saigon, Haiphong and Dien Bien Phu, offering a British and Commonwealth perspective on US policy, the motives and debates influencing decision making, the scale of the human tragedy, the efforts at mediation and peace talks to end hostilities.

 

FOREIGN OFFICE FILES FOR CUBA
(Public Record Office Class FO 371)
Part 1: Revolution in Cuba, 1959-1960
(PRO Classes FO 371/139396-139521, 148178-148345 & PREM 11/2622)
Part 2: Cuba and the Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961
(PRO Classes FO 371/156137-156255 & PREM 11/3316, 3321 & 3328)
Part 3: The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
(PRO Classes FO371/162308-162436, 168135 & PREM 11/3689-3691)

This project covers the crisis in great detail - including all correspondence and reports within the British Foreign Office on the unfolding events between the United States and Cuba. Britain was more than a bystander - she had colonial and commonwealth interests in British Guyana and the Caribbean and wished to preserve the ‘special relationship’ with America, whilst striving to maintain trade and diplomatic relations in the region.


FOREIGN OFFICE FILES SOVIET UNION
Part 1: Complete Files for 1960
(PRO Class FO 371/151908-152050)
Part 2: Complete Files for 1961-1962
(PRO Class FO 371/159534-159607 & 166201-166276)
Part 3: Complete Files for 1963
(PRO Class FO 371/171924-171996)
Part 4: Complete Files for 1964
(PRO Class FO 371/177661-177759)

This microfilm collection brings together invaluable documentation relating to a most intense period of Cold War politics. Reports and analyses by British Embassy staff ‘on the ground’ in Moscow ensure a comprehensive view of both internal machinations and international repercussions. From the crises over Berlin and Cuba to friction over nuclear tests, disarmament, the Sino-Indian dispute and the trial of U-2 pilot Gary Powers, there is much material that is equally critical of both American and Soviet actions.


The following extract, taken from Sir Frank Roberts 16 page Valedictory Despatch on The prospects for the Soviet Union and Soviet policy, 12 November 1962 (FO 371/166208) highlights the importance and special nature of the British position in Moscow:


"...we should do all we can to maintain our not unfavourable position, which is based partly on our historical relations, which have oscillated between the poles of never very severe hostility and less than warm but often effective alliance, with prolonged cooling-off periods in between marked by a strange mixture of suspicion, respect for each other’s qualities and considerable curiosity. We maintain this position today because the Russians still regard us as the most moderate, influential and politically successful of the former imperialist and capitalist powers, now in the second rank of world affairs…"

Well documented events and issues include:

  • the ongoing Sino-Soviet dispute
  • reactions to the Bay of Pigs fiasco, 1961
  • the Vienna disarmament discussions, 1961
  • the resumption of nuclear testing in 1961
  • the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1961-1962
  • continuing US violations of Soviet airspace
  • Khrushchev’s proposals for a separate peace treaty with East Germany
  • stalemate over Berlin
  • the renewal of the Berlin Crisis, the Berlin Wall
  • reports of alleged KGB involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy
  • the Khabarovak incident
  • the political and economic situation in the USSR
  • US and USSR agreement on a "hot line" from the White House to the Kremlin
  • Nuclear test ban treaty signed by US, USSR and Great Britain, 1963

 

MACMILLAN CABINET PAPERS, 1957-1963, ON-LINE

Macmillan On-Line provides historians and political scientists with direct access to documents from the highest level of Government during the Macmillan Administration. With images of over 30,000 pages of original documents, taken from CAB 128 and CAB 129 as well as selected files from PREM 11 and CAB 124, this project is as important a source for world history as it is for British politics.


A powerful search mechanism combining with thorough indexing allows researchers quick access to top level documents. Introductory essays by a number of scholars provide a contextual background and focus on issues such as Anglo-American relations during the Cold War, Europe, and Decolonisation.


Macmillan On-Line contains a wealth of information, with specific topics featured including:

  • the aftermath of Suez and a new Middle East policy, 1957-1963
  • the foundation of the EEC by the Treaty of Rome, 1957
  • the 1957 Defence White Paper, a landmark in British defence policy
  • the first British Hydrogen Bomb Test, 1957, and the decision to site Thor missiles in the UK
  • the Wolfenden Report on Homosexuality and Prostitution, 1957
  • the Declaration of Common Purpose, October 1957, providing a unified world outlook for the UK, USA and Canada
  • West Indian Independence, 1958
  • the Berlin Crisis, 1958-1961, including the building of the Berlin Wall, with heightened Cold War tensions
  • Macmillan's visit to Moscow, 1959, and his exchanges with Khrushchev
  • the launch of Britain's first nuclear submarine
  • the establishment of EFTA by the Stockholm Convention, 1960
  • the ‘Wind of Change’ Speech, February 1960
  • Independence for Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi and Zanzibar
    the Sharpeville Massacre, March 1960, and apartheid in South Africa
  • Macmillan's Washington visit in March 1960, which confirmed that Britain would have an independent nuclear deterrent in the form of Skybolt or Polaris
  • the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962
  • the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 1963
  • the Profumo Scandal, June 1963

There is correspondence and records of discussions with many of the key figures of the era including Acheson, Adenauer, de Gaulle, Diefenbaker, Douglas-Home, Dulles, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Khrushchev, Macleod, Ormsby-Gore, Rusk, Sandys, Spaak, Welensky and Whitehead; and much material concerning Banda, Castro, Gizenga, Lee Kuan Yew, Kaunda, Kenyatta, Nasser, Nyerere, Phouma, Phoumi and Rahman.

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