This collection of documents on the Cold War continues the Ashbrook Center’s extended series of document collections covering major periods, themes, and institutions in American history and government.

The volume begins with George Kennan’s “long telegram” (1946) laying out the containment policy that the United States would follow in various forms throughout the struggle with the Soviet Union. It ends with the transcript of a phone call between President George H. W. Bush and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1989 in which the two leaders discussed how to deal with the changes transforming Russia and bringing the Cold War to an end. It covers American aid to Europe in the early years of the Cold War and American intervention in subsequent years in conflicts around the world to contain the spread of Soviet power. Its documents also explore the domestic effects of the Cold War, chronicling how national security concerns affected relations between American citizens and between Americans and their government. This collection and its companion volumes — World War I and the 1920s, The Depression and New Deal, and World War II — comprise a detailed account of the major events of America’s 20th century.