By David Langbart The development of the Cold War after World War II and America’s ascension to a position as the leading World power with its attendant dangers and complications led to somewhat of a removal of partisan politics from foreign policy issues. Underlying this move, referred to as bi-partisanship, was the idea that the … Continue reading Bipartisanship in Foreign Policy, 1953
By David Langbart In recent years, the subject of leaks of classified information from U.S. Government agencies has received a great deal of attention. This is not a new problem; I have seen references to such leaks as early as World War I. In the early 1960s, however, the Department of State suffered a spate … Continue reading Leaks in the Department of State, 1963
By David Langbart As the Department of State noted in a major 1950 publication “There is no longer any real distinction between ‘domestic’ and ‘foreign’ affairs.” (Our Foreign Policy, Department of State Publication 3972, released September 1950). In the post-World War II Twentieth Century, perhaps no issue better illustrates that statement than the movement for … Continue reading Foreign Policy and Domestic Discrimination
Today’s post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, archivist at the National Archives in College Park. At the end of January, Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, head of the 12th Army Group, wrote the G-5s of his four Armies (First, Third, Ninth, and Fifteenth) regarding the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFA&A) Specialist Officers and their … Continue reading The Monuments Men During February 1945: Locating Repositories of Looted and German Cultural Property
Today’s post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, archivist at the National Archives in College Park. In mid-September 1944 General Henry H. ( “Hap”) Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Force, proposed that every available British and American airplane be used on some clear day to swarm all over the German Reich, attacking military objectives … Continue reading Operation Clarion: February 22-23, 1945
Today's post is written by Daniel Dancis, an archivist at the National Archives in College Park, MD. As most of the eastern United States is experiencing record setting low temperatures this week it is timely to look back at a letter written by then-Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. to the Office of the Sergeant At … Continue reading It’s Cold Inside!
Today's post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher and Dr. Sylvia Naylor, archivists at the National Archives in College Park. This post is also featured on our Rediscovering Black History blog. In April 1945 the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion received orders to move to the West Coast for a special assignment. Members of this all African American unit hoped to finally see combat … Continue reading Firefly Project and the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (“Smoke Jumpers”)
Today’s post is written by Cody White, an archivist at the National Archives at Denver. Strolling the two Western American Art galleries at the Denver Art Museum one can see several examples of famed western artist Charles Marion Russell’s depictions, in both paint and bronze, of the American West, but Russell’s work can also be seen … Continue reading How The West Was Drawn: the Art of Charles Marion Russell in the National Archives at Denver
Today’s post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives in College Park. As December 1944 ended and January 1945 began, the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) was two weeks old and the Allied forces had stopped the German effort to cross the Meuse River and capture Antwerp. … Continue reading The Monuments Men During January 1945
Today’s post is written by Cody White, an archivist at the National Archives at Denver. In February 1939, the Superintendent of Carlsbad Caverns National Park Thomas Boles wrote to Robert Ripley’s “Believe It or Not” and Floyd Gibbons’ “Headline Hunter” radio program about what he considered to be an unbelievable story; a ranger had fallen into … Continue reading “Fool Thing to Do;” The True Story of Surviving a Fall Into The Carlsbad Caverns National Park Elevator Shaft
