USH: Cold War Archives - Daniel Aaron Lazar Fri, 27 May 2022 14:09:23 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Iran Contra – American Dad https://daniellazar.com/2022/05/27/the-bad-guys-are-winning/ Fri, 27 May 2022 11:49:19 +0000 https://daniellazar.com/?p=9504 The post Iran Contra – American Dad appeared first on Daniel Aaron Lazar.

]]> American Experience Video: McCarthy https://daniellazar.com/2020/05/11/american-experience-video-mccarthy/ Mon, 11 May 2020 18:55:53 +0000 http://www.daniellazar.com/?p=5940 McCarthy chronicles the rise and fall of Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin senator whose zealous anti-communist crusade would test the limits of American decency and democracy.

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]]> Color Video Shows Life in Berlin at the End of WWII https://daniellazar.com/2017/03/08/color-video-shows-life-in-berlin-at-the-end-of-wwii/ Wed, 08 Mar 2017 10:59:45 +0000 http://www.daniellazar.com/?p=5669 “Spirit of Berlin” a short color film with historic footage showing everyday life in the German capital in July 1945 — just two months after the end of the war.  

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]]> How JFK made NASA his secret weapon in the fight for civil rights in America https://daniellazar.com/2015/05/12/how-jfk-made-nasa-his-secret-weapon-in-the-fight-for-civil-rights-in-america/ Tue, 12 May 2015 06:46:36 +0000 http://www.daniellazar.com/?p=5247 Most Americans know the name of the first black player in professional baseball — Jackie Robinson. But how about the first black professional in the US space program?  That was Julius Montgomery. He was part of a small cadre of African American mathematicians, engineers and technicians who helped power the space race — at a … Continue reading How JFK made NASA his secret weapon in the fight for civil rights in America →

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]]> How Warner Bros. Animators Responded to the Cold War (1948-1980) https://daniellazar.com/2015/05/12/how-warner-bros-animators-responded-to-the-cold-war-1948-1980/ Tue, 12 May 2015 06:38:10 +0000 http://www.daniellazar.com/?p=5238 Warner Bros. animators, under the leadership of Charles M. “Chuck” Jones, launched their own, albeit mild, counter attack when they introduced Marvin the Martian in 1948, several years before The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Fail Safe (1964), Seven Days in May (1964), Dr. Strangelove (1964), or Boris and Natasha, the Russian spies in the Rocky and … Continue reading How Warner Bros. Animators Responded to the Cold War (1948-1980) →

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]]> The FBI files on being and nothingness https://daniellazar.com/2014/07/25/the-fbi-files-on-being-and-nothingness/ Fri, 25 Jul 2014 15:29:05 +0000 http://www.daniellazar.com/?p=5032 The irony that emerges from the FBI files on Camus and Sartre, spanning several decades is that the G-men, initially so anti-philosophical, find themselves reluctantly philosophizing. They become (in GK Chesterton’s phrase) philosophical policemen. Hoover needed to know if Existentialism and Absurdism were some kind of front for Communism. To him, everything was potentially a coded … Continue reading The FBI files on being and nothingness →

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]]> Five Myths About the Cold War https://daniellazar.com/2014/07/25/five-myths-about-the-cold-war/ Fri, 25 Jul 2014 10:03:16 +0000 http://www.daniellazar.com/?p=5013 Mark Kramer is director of Cold War Studies and a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Davis Center. More than 20 years since the U.S.S.R. disappeared, Russia’s incursion into Ukraine is renewing old rivalries and sparking talk of a new Cold War, with former KGB officer Vladimir Putin serving as the West’s latest foil in Moscow. … Continue reading Five Myths About the Cold War →

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]]> Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was True https://daniellazar.com/2014/07/25/almost-everything-in-dr-strangelove-was-true/ Fri, 25 Jul 2014 09:52:50 +0000 http://www.daniellazar.com/?p=5004 Despite public assurances that everything was fully under control, in the winter of 1964, while “Dr. Strangelove” was playing in theatres and being condemned as Soviet propaganda, there was nothing toprevent an American bomber crew or missile launch crew from using their weapons against the Soviets.Kubrick had researched the subject for years, consulted experts, and … Continue reading Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was True →

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]]> How the CIA secretly published Dr Zhivago https://daniellazar.com/2014/06/27/how-the-cia-secretly-published-dr-zhivago/ Fri, 27 Jun 2014 13:55:57 +0000 http://www.daniellazar.com/?p=4987 Boris Pasternak’s famous novel Doctor Zhivago remained unpublished in the USSR until 1988, because of its implicit criticism of the Soviet system. But for the same reason, the CIA wanted Soviets to read the book, and arranged the first-ever publication in Russian.

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]]> When Pete Seeger Faced Down the House Un-American Activities Committee https://daniellazar.com/2014/02/06/when-pete-seeger-faced-down-the-house-un-american-activities-committee/ Thu, 06 Feb 2014 06:23:37 +0000 http://www.daniellazar.com/?p=4855 Amid all the tributes and accolades to Pete Seeger today, it’s easy to paper over the extent to which his career was almost destroyed by associations with communism and his refusal to testify to Congress about his time in the Communist Party. When, in August 1955, he was summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee, he refused … Continue reading When Pete Seeger Faced Down the House Un-American Activities Committee →

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