The Oliver North File

The Oliver North File:

His Diaries, E-Mail, and Memos on
the Kerry Report, Contras and Drugs.

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).

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The Iran-Contra Affair

The Iran-Contra Affair

From The National Security Archives, George Washington University.

"On November 25, 1986, the biggest political and constitutional scandal since Watergate exploded in Washington when President Ronald Reagan told a packed White House news conference that funds derived from covert arms deals with the Islamic Republic of Iran had been diverted to buy weapons for the U.S.-backed Contra rebels in Nicaragua." Read more in the online briefing book.

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).

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Science, Technology and the CIA: From Satellites to Psychics

Science, Technology and the CIA: From Satellites to Psychics

Jeffrey T. Richelson, Editor

From The National Security Archive, George WashingtonUniversity.

"Mention of the Central Intelligence Agency generally elicits visions of espionage and covert action operations. It may also produce images of the multitude of finished intelligence products the agency turns out – from the tightly controlled President’s Daily Brief, available only to the president and a select circle of advisers, to a number of less restricted intelligence assessments. The CIA’s role in the application of science and technology to the art of intelligence is far less appreciated. Even an 800-page history of the agency, published in 1986, John Ranelagh’s The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA, included only a few references to the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology. However, the exploitation of science and technology has been a significant element of the CIA’s activities, almost since its creation. In 1962, it resulted in the creation of the Deputy Directorate of Research, which was succeeded in 1963 by the Deputy Directorate for Science and Technology (renamed the Directorate of Science and Technology in 1965)...[read more]"

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).


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Presidential Inaugurations: Historical Insights, George Washington's First Inauguration

Presidential Inaugurations: Historical Insights, George Washington's First Inauguration:

"Marvin Kranz, historical specialist, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress."

From The American Memory Collection at The Library of Congress.

Link to video presentation (outside THF network).

There are also links to the inaugurations of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln (2), Ulysses S. Grant (2), William McKinley (2), and Theodore Roosevelt.

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Bill Clinton's Legacy: HNN Podcasts

Bill Clinton's Legacy



A series of interviews conducted with prominent historians/political scientists attending the Clinton Conference held at Hofstra University, November, 2005. Interviews conducted, produced and hosted by HNN.

The Podcasts:

Sidney Blumenthal: Bill Clinton's Legacy
David Greenberg: Was Bill Clinton a Liberal?
Michael D'Innocenzo: Bill Clinton's Record on Terrorism
Douglas Brinkley: Bill Clinton's Legacy
Lanny Davis: How Will Clinton's Impeachment Be Remembered?
Nancy Kassup: Bill Clinton's Impact on the Office of the Presidency
John Robert Greene: Was It "The Economy, Stupid?"
Nigel Hamilton: Assessing Bill Clinton's Presidency
Diane Heith: Public Opinion and Impeachment
James D. King: The Elections of 1992 and 1996
William D. Pederson: Bill Clinton's Pardons ... Machiavellian or Magnanimous?

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The Pentagon's Spies: Defense HUMINT

Defense HUMINT: The Pentagon's Spies

From The National Security Archives, George Washington University.

"A key part of the Central Intelligence Agency’s mission, since its creation in 1947, has been the conduct of human intelligence operations – which have included the recruitment of foreign nationals to conduct espionage as well the debriefing of defectors and other individuals with access to information of value. The primary focus of such HUMINT operations has been strategic – the collection of information relevant to national policymakers.
...

The documents that make up this briefing book provide a window into the creation, evolution and (in some cases) abolition of a number of military service/DoD human intelligence organizations, the product of their activities, and the controversies that have occurred over the last several decades."

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).

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U.S. Satellite Imagery, 1960-1999

U.S. Satellite Imagery, 1960-1999

A short illustrated history by Jeffrey T. Richelson from The National Security Archive, George Washington University.

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).

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Within These Walls: 200 years of American history as seen from the doorstep of one house

Within These Walls

"View 200 years of American history as seen from the doorstep of one house that stood from Colonial days through the mid-1960s in Ipswich, Mass. Meet five ordinary families whose lives within the walls of the house became part of the great changes and events of the nation's past, and learn how to look for clues to the history of your own home and neighborhood. Visit Web site"

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Free E-book: Pentagon Papers ( Gravel Edition)

Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition:

A top-secret United States Department of Defense history of the United States' involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. Completed in 1968 and leaked to the press to be first published by the New York Times in 1971. An excellent source for the study of the Vietnam War across administrations.

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Interview with Richard J. Carwardine: About Lincoln

Interview with Richard J. Carwardine: About Lincoln

"Interview with Richard J. Carwardine: About Lincoln
By Jason Emerson

The following interview with Prof. Carwardine, winner of the prestigious Lincoln Prize for Lincoln (Longman Publishing Group), was conducted by email. Prof. Carwardine is Rhodes Professor of American History at Oxford University"

Part of a fantastic collection of interviews with over 80 historians from the History News Network (HNN) at George Mason University. See the full list of interviews.

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The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup

The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup:

From The National Security Archive, George Washington University.

"This extremely important document is one of the last major pieces of the puzzle explaining American and British roles in the August 1953 coup against Iranian Premier Mohammad Mossadeq. Written in March 1954 by Donald Wilber, one of the operation’s chief planners, the 200-page document is essentially an after-action report, apparently based in part on agency cable traffic and Wilber’s interviews with agents who had been on the ground in Iran as the operation lurched to its conclusion." 

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).

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Operation Desert Storm

Operation Desert Storm

From The National Security Archive, George Washington University.

"During the early morning hours (Baghdad time) of January 17, 1991, the United States and its allies initiated Operation Desert Storm in accord with United Nations resolutions and U.S. government policy directives that authorized the use of force to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait.  The National Security Archive ihas placed a collection of declassified and unclassified documents concerning Desert Storm on its web site.  The documents primarily focus on the intelligence, space support, Scud-hunting, and stealth (F-117A) elements of the conflict.

These documents provide information on:

possible Iraqi actions, including the attempted destruction of Kuwaiti oil fields, which a secret Presidential directive stipulated would lead the U.S. to seek and replace Saddam Hussein

lessons learned from the attempts to find and destroy Iraqi Scud missiles

the role of a variety of space systems, including the Defense Support Program launch detection satellites, in support of the ground and air wars

the debriefing of Iraqi emigres and defectors in support of targeting

how China's People's Liberation Army has responded to the lessons of Desert Storm."

 Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).

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The George Washington Forum on American Ideas, Politics & Institutions

The George Washington Forum on American Ideas, Politics & Institutions

Department of History, Ohio University

"The George Washington Forum aims to bolster the teaching of America’s foundational principles in their Western intellectual, political, and institutional contexts. It is founded on the idea that students facing an increasingly globalized world need to understand what particularly characterizes and distinguishes the nation in which they live and the civilization from which it emerged. As such, the Washington Forum aims to help students become enlightened citizens in a liberal democracy whose roots run deep in Western civilization but whose ideals and interests transcend the West.

During the 2009–10 academic year, The Washington Forum will host a major conference on Making Democracy: Violence, Politics and the American Founding (22–23 April 2010). Plenary speakers will include Andrew Cayton, Peter Onuf, David Hendrickson, Patrick Griffin, and T.H. Breen. The Forum will also host public lectures during the year by Patrick Deneen, Jack P. Greene, and Paul Halliday."

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Conference: the Association of British American Historians

BrANCH Conference: 2010

"2010 BrANCH Conference at Jury's Inn, Liverpool, 8-10 October

CALL FOR PAPERS

The 17th BrANCH annual conference will take place from 8-10 October 2010 at Jury’s Inn, Liverpool.

The BrANCH committee will meet in mid-April to put the programme into preliminary shape. Please let me have paper proposals—with synopsis (on a single page) and the briefest C.V.—by Friday 2nd April at the latest.

Individual papers and panel proposals are welcome on any aspect of the period 1789-1917. Postgraduate contributions will be warmly received, and we hope to be able to offer generous subsidies to British-based graduate students.

Send all proposals to me by e-mail at m.s.crawford@ams.keele.ac.uk

I greatly look forward to hearing from you.

Martin Crawford
Chair, BrANCH"

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