Original Writing on Cold War
History - read a summary of the book Cold Warfare:
A Compact History. A
US Government Study of the Former Soviet Union - social,
political, economic, and national security aspects of the Soviet
Union. The United States
Central Intelligence Agency - the agency describes
its mission. There is historical material on the site. The
Soviet Secret Police (KGB) - the KGB's tasks are defined
in four areas. Cold
War History Search Terms - general terms, names, and
geographic terms for further study. Cold
War History Conundrum - Covert Action - an American
view of covert action, how it impacted the Cold War and where
it started. The United
States National Archives - "We enable people to
inspect for themselves the record of what government has done."
The United States Office of
Naval Intelligence (ONI) - the oldest US intelligence
agency; in continuous service from the 1800's. The
Museum of Communism - a high quality virtual museum
developed by a professor of economics. An
Essay On Arms Control and Photoreconnaissance - this
article shows the ties between intelligence and arms control during
the Cold War. The Cold
War Museum - dedicated to education, preservation,
and research on the global ideological and political confrontations
between East and West. American
Cold War Veterans - honors Cold War heros and also
advocates the creation of an official Cold War veterans victory
medal. Cold
War recognition certificate - the Secretary of Defense
approved awarding Cold War recognition certificates. The
Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) - a
clearing house for international Cold War history based in Washington
DC. The
National Security Archive - this archive is a non-profit
institution. The archive receives no government funding. Soviet Use
of Biological and Chemical Weapons - reports in the
1970s and 1980s of Soviet biological "Yellow Rain" attacks
in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan sparked an investigation by
the United States. 464th
Chemical Brigade (USAR) - the brigade was (is) responsible
for detecting chemical and biological agents the enemy might use.
This mission included Cold War readiness. US
Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) - the mission
of ACDA is formulating, advocating, negotiating, implementing
and verifying effective arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament
policies. 1989:
Massacre in Tiananmen Square - communism's final massacre
of innocents? or, is the Cold War really over? Human
Rights in China (HRIC) - HRIC is an international,
Chinese, non-governmental organization with a mission to promote
human rights in the People's Republic of China. Strategic
Studies Institute (SSI) of the US Army War College - SSI
publishes security and strategic reports and publications; and
did so during the Cold War. National
Museum of Naval Aviation - Cold War History Exhibit -
"We must... strike at the source of the threat to our
survival. At the moment... the A3D can do this best." - Vice
Admiral Charles "Cat" Brown, 1957, regarding a carrier
based nuclear bomber. US
Army Military History Institute - an institute of the
U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center. US
Marine Corps History Division - exists to collect and
disseminate the operational experience of the Marine Corps. Rescue
Mission 'Urgent Fury' 1983: the Invasion of Grenada -
US students rescued - island nation liberated from Cuban based
Marxist-Leninist plot. National
Museum of the United States Air Force - located in
Dayton, Ohio, it is the oldest military aviation museum in the
world. The US Department of State
- the Office of the Historian can be reached here. Historical
info is available. Kennan,
Colby, and Containment - a State Department diplomat,
and a former head of the CIA, explain the key Cold War policy
of Containment. Eastern
Europe: Military Archives - Warsaw Pact military archives
of Hungary, Poland, and Romania are open. Indexes to archival
microfilm at the Library of Congress are in the European Division
under special projects. GWOT?
Or the Cold War Continues?- Are there ideologial similarties
between the former Cold War threat and the GWOT threat? Cold
War terror leaders Abu
Abbas and Abu
Nidal in Baghdad prior to US invsion. Global terrorists
were tied in to the the Soviet, Iraqi, and Syrian governments
for many years. The writings of former
UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and other sources document
these nations' support for such terrorists. Cold
War history book reviews: subjects - American History; Political
History; World/International History.
Cold
Warfare: A Compact HistoryCold Warfare: A Compact History goes to what its author Patrick Pacalo calls "the real roots of the Cold War." These roots of conflict are in Marxism, the First World War, Lenin's actions, and Woodrow Wilson's reactive diplomacy in 1918. The book has received outstanding reviews from several sources. The book has been purchased by Auburn University library, The University of Chicago library, The National Defense University library, The Library of Congress, and many others. Synopsis of Book One
George Washington, while engaging the British in North America, put the wheels of covert action into motion over 50 years before Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto. The importance of the Manifesto is that it put the Soviet state directly opposed to the democracies of the world in the 20th century. What evolved some one hundred years after Marx's writing (1947-48) was a CIA capable of covert paramilitary operations. George Kennan (US State Department) stated that what was needed was not a "department of dirty tricks," but then stated that the CIA would operate in peacetime with operations including sabotage and guerilla war. The means for this action was National Security Council memorandum 10/2. Cold Warfare: A Compact History is accurately documented with hundreds of footnotes. The prestigious sources used are formerly classified CIA and OSS records, presidential papers, and records from both the National Archives and the National Security Archive.
The book also includes an interview with the famed releaser of the "Pentagon Papers," Daniel Ellsberg.
Cold Warfare: A Compact History - table of contents
Cold Warfare can be ordered from www.barnesandnoble.com or from almost any other bookseller.
Ratings for: Cold Warfare: A Compact History
By Patrick Pacalo, phd
PublishAmerica, trade paperback
279 pages, August 2004
ISBN: 1413719252
REVIEW:
Captain R. M. Rausa, Editor of Wings of Gold magazine (3/29/2005)
Rated: five stars - An "excellent perspective derived
from formerly classified CIA and OSS records, presidential papers
and records from both the National Archives and the National Security
Archive. Pacalo, son of a Navy captain who is a former writer
of the Grampaw Pettibone column in Naval Aviation News, provides
a well written and detailed look at the genesis of a conflict
that has colored the lives of many generations of Americans."
REVIEW:
Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com
Br. Benet Exton, O.S.B., 2006
Rated: Four stars - This is what would be called a document
source history of the Cold War. Cold Warfare author Patrick J.
Pacalo researched declassified documents from the CIA, OSS, presidential
papers, and records from the National Archives and the National
Security Archive. These documents shed light on how the United
States conducted the long-running “cold” war against
the Soviet Union. The documents, as Pacalo discovered, reveal
that the United States would do almost anything in order to prevent
the Soviet Union from gaining the upper hand or controlling a
country - the Iran-Contra scandal is one example.
Pacalo argues that the Cold War really started after World War I and escalated after World War II. He presents how the CIA came into being and what its main job was and is, followed by descriptions of what the United States under President Eisenhower did in Iran, Guatemala and Hungary to combat Communism. In the first two cases, the U.S. succeeded even at the expense of justice in thwarting Communists from gaining control of those countries. In Hungary, though, the U.S. failed, leading the Hungarians to feel abandoned by the West.
Pacalo outlines the United States’ actions aimed at stopping Castro from spreading Communism in Latin America, including the attempt to overthrow Castro. The Vietnam War was another instance of the Cold War turned hot. Pacalo finishes his book with the 1970s and the Reagan era, which saw the end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War. He does not include material from the various sources on China or the Korean War because, he says, these conflicts did not involve the Soviet Union to a large extent.
Pacalo provides copious quotes from these declassified documents. His bibliography of books, letters and other sources is extensive, making it a primary bibliographical source on the history of the Cold War that can be used for further extensive research on the conflict. This book belongs in libraries with a Cold War collection; general readers interested in the Cold War would do well to read this book for its important collection of these sources.
Patrick Pacalo has a Ph.D. in Social Sciences. He interned at the U.S. Army War College in 1983. He is a retired captain and served as an intelligence officer in 1990 to 1992 in the reserve 464th Chemical Brigade.
Some quotes: "If you study history long enough you will see it change." --Patrick Pacalo "Analyze don't memorize." --Patrick Pacalo "The truth is my addiction, stranger still than fiction...." --Justin Hayward, No More Lies, The Moody Blues "If it be of importance and of use to us to know the principles of the element we breathe, surely it is not of much less importance nor of much less use to comprehend the principles, and endeavour at the improvement of those laws, by which alone we breathe it in security." --Jeremy Bentham, A Fragment on Government "The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the power of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. --George Washington, Farewell Address "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do." --Edward Everett Hale Feel free to contact Dr. Pacalo at: Coldwartrooper@hotmail.com Life Member of the Military Officers Association of America Founding Member of the American Cold War Veterans Bronze Patron of the US Army Chemical Museum © 2008 Have a great day! PJP