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U.S. Diplomatic History: A Web Guide
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by Scott Kaufman
Francis Marion University
Florence, South Carolina
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Those of us who specialize in American diplomatic history oftentimes find ourselves embattled. Our colleagues in the history profession consider the study of U.S. foreign policy an outdated field, and our students seem far more interested in military campaigns and social movements than in knowing about America's diplomacy. Go to almost any college or university, and one is likely to find classes on African-American history, women's history, World War II, or the Vietnam War attracting far more students than those on U.S. foreign policy.
Yet any American history survey, be it at the high school or college level, would not be complete without some examination of the role foreign policy plays. As instructors, we rely heavily on secondary literature to help us pass on to our students major issues, trends, and themes. The Internet plays an increasingly vital role in that process.
There is one caveat, however: information overload. At the time of the writing of this article, Google listed nearly 8.37 million sites on American foreign policy -- most of which have nothing to do with diplomatic history. Even relevant sites must be carefully scrutinized, as too many are based on conjecture or hearsay. Some, however, are maintained by well-established, credible organizations and are wonderful teaching tools. Encyclopedia Britannica, the Avalon Project, the Cold War International History Project, History Matters, the National Archives and Records Administration (including the presidential libraries), the Library of Congress, the National Security Archive, the Department of State, and several university sites provide a goldmine of documents, essays, and, at times, ideas for the classroom.
Diplomatic History Sites
Foreign Relations of the United States
Published by the U.S. State Department, this archive collects material from the National Archives and the presidential libraries, as well as other sources, and publishes them in volume form. The online volumes come primarily from the Kennedy through the Nixon presidencies. Like the Cold War International History Project, FRUS might overwhelm high school AP students and college freshmen, but instructors should be aware that it exists.
 Foreign Relations of the United States
International Relations Program at Mount Holyoke College
Here you will find links to numerous documents, ranging from telegrams to contemporary magazine and newspaper articles. It is, however, a very frustrating site to use. I found that the best way to find the documents was to simply type "documents" in the "search" field on the International Relations Program home page and then look at the title of each link that comes up. Once you find a site of interest, you will find the documents listed in chronological order. In short, this is a site that requires a fair amount of patience.
International Relations Program, Mount Holyoke College
The Cold War on CNN
In 1998, CNN produced a multipart documentary on the Cold War. The network's Web site offers an educator's guide to the series, which includes links, maps, a chronology, and questions instructors might consider for each episode. Even better, if you click on the link "Getting Started" on the educator's guide and go to "Where can I find these primary documents?" you will find a link to an interactive site for the series, divided by episode. Each includes short articles, written by scholars, related to certain aspects of the episode in question, as well as maps, documents, online interviews, suggestions for in-class discussions (or exams), and a neat section titled, "You Make the Call," where students are given a particular scenario and asked to make a decision on how to respond. In the process, they get a taste of the decision making that policymakers go through every day.
Cold War: Educator Guide, CNN
Cold War International History Project
The CWIHP, maintained by the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., collects documents, primarily from the communist bloc. You can search for items by collection, keyword, or subject. Additionally, the CWIHP prints essays from scholars summarizing the collections and explaining what new insights the documents provide. While the CWIHP might be a bit much for high school AP students and college freshmen, instructors should take a good look at it.
Cold War International History Project
The National Security Archive
The NSA, run out of George Washington University, is similar to the CWIHP in that it collects archival materials from the Cold War period. Unlike the CWIHP, the NSA's focus is on the United States; it uses the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the declassification of documents, some of them very recent. Like the CWIHP, the items are divided into collections, which can best be found by clicking on the "documents" link on the NSA home page. Note: Some document collections are available on microfiche only; in that case, you will have to find a nearby library that has those collections available.
The National Security Archive, George Washington University
General Sites with Diplomatic History Content
Encyclopedia Britannica Online
As Arnold Pulda has noted in his cyberguide for women's history, the Encyclopedia Britannica Online is a fantastic resource for doing work in any area of history. For the U.S. diplomatic historian or the student working on a diplomatic history piece, Encyclopedia Britannica contains articles on topics ranging from major events and periods (the Cold War, the XYZ Affair) to important figures of the time. The timelines and atlases are user-friendly and helpful in placing events in chronological order or locating where particular events took place.
Encyclopedia Britannica Online
History Matters
Maintained by George Mason University, this may be the ultimate in one-stop shopping for educators. Designed for both high school and college teachers of U.S. history, History Matters offers everything from ideas for teaching assignments to Web sites (divided by field and time period), primary documents, and annotated syllabi. Many of the links relate to domestic issues, but there are also many resources for those interested in diplomatic history.
History Matters
National Archives and Records Administration
Where would we historians be without NARA? Aside from its vast array of documents and links to the presidential libraries, NARA provides the "Digital Classroom." Here, instructors should choose the link "Teaching with Documents," where they will find, listed chronologically, a variety of historical subjects and one or more documents related to that topic. For the diplomatic historian, subjects include the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the 1897 Petition Against the Annexation of Hawaii, the 1917 Zimmermann Telegram, and the U.S. decision in 1947 to recognize Israel. The Digital Classroom provides background to each document, the document itself, and discussion questions and suggestions for assignments.
National Archives & Records Administration
EDSITEment
A joint project between the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Trust for the Humanities, and the Marco Polo Foundation, EDSITEment is, well, exciting. Like NARA, the historical subjects it lists are not just from the world of diplomacy, but from other areas of interest, as well: James Madison's 1812 decision to declare war on Great Britain, the Monroe Doctrine, America's entry into World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, and the debate over whether the United States should join the League of Nations. For each subject, EDSITEment provides an incredibly detailed lesson plan, including suggestions for preparing to teach each subject; learning objectives; and a large number of links to documents specifically related to the topic at hand. While, as with any lesson plan, instructors will want to make adjustments to fit in with their particular approach, teachers should find EDSITEment a dream to use.
EDSITEment
Discovery School
The Discovery Channel offers "Discovery School," where instructors can find lesson plans put together by teachers for teachers on a variety of historical topics. The plans are divided by grade level and then by subject. As with NARA and EDSITEment, not all of the topics are related to diplomacy, but some are: the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and U.S.-Cuban relations. Included in each lesson plan are objectives, procedures for introducing the subject, discussion questions, suggested readings, and links. The lesson plans are not as detailed or extensive as those at EDSITEment, and the links are far fewer in number, but teachers should still find Discovery School useful.
Discovery School
H-Net
Anyone interested in History should become a member of H-Net. Here, one can find book reviews, links, and bibliographies. Those interested in U.S. diplomatic history should sign up for H-Diplo, the online discussion group for historians of U.S. foreign relations.
H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online
Avalon Project
This site is a godsend for anyone looking for primary material. Yale University has amassed hundreds of documents, most of them treaties and speeches, which can be searched by time period or subject. While some relate to domestic American history, most are from the realm of U.S. foreign policy.
Avalon Project
From Revolution to Reconstruction... and What Happened Afterwards
One of the difficulties in teaching U.S. diplomatic history is the enormous amount of documentation related to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the relative dearth of information from the centuries prior. Part of that relates to the increasingly rapid pace of events due to technology; I think another part of it is the result of a lack of interest by diplomatic historians in the pre-1900 era. From Revolution to Reconstruction, therefore, fills a void. Here, one can locate numerous documents, divided chronologically; biographies of major figures; and essays on topics ranging from Anglo-American colonization to Manifest Destiny and détente. The search engine can be a bit difficult to use at times, but overall, this is a wonderful site.
From Revolution to Reconstruction
Presidential Libraries
The presidential libraries vary when it comes to putting archival materials online. Some of them, like the Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman Libraries, have a fairly large number of documents available; others, like the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan Libraries, are more limited. Because they can be accessed through the NARA home page, I will not provide separate site addresses for the presidential libraries.
Presidential Libraries (NARA)
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States
Need a presidential speech? Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States has available online all of the presidential statements from the last year of George H.W. Bush's presidency through the first year of George W. Bush's. No doubt new volumes of speeches will be added in the future.
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States
This list of sites, of course, is not all-encompassing. I have not, for instance, provided links to sites that focus on military history even though some of them provide documents that could be useful to diplomatic historians. From those I have listed, however, instructors should find a vast array of materials to use in class, if not new ideas for the presentation of that information.
Scott Kaufman is an assistant professor of history at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina, where he teaches courses in U.S. foreign policy and twentieth-century U.S. military history, including a class on the Vietnam War.
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