The Onset of the Cold War, 1945-1955

• George Kennan, Excerpts from Telegraphic Message from Moscow of
  February 22, 1946 (“X Telegram”),
            http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/longtel.html .

• "X” (George Kennan), “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” Foreign Affairs 25,
  no. 4 (July 1947), 575.

• NSC 68, http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/nsc68.htm , Department of State, Foreign
   Relations of the United States, Vol. 1, 1950; or Naval War College Review 27
  (May-June 1975), 51-108.

• National Security Act of 1947, http://www.intelligence.gov/0-natsecact_1947.shtml 

• Novikov Telegram http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/novikov.htm

• North Atlantic Treaty, http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/treaty.htm

• Truman Doctrine, http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/trudoc.htm

Confrontation and Fragmentation, 1955-1963

• Domino Theory, http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/domino.html

New Problems: (C)old War: Three Perspectives, 1963-1968

The Rise and Fall of Détente, 1968-1979. 

          Helsinki Final Act, 1975, http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/osce/basics/finact75.htm.
 

The Second Cold War and End of an Era, 1980-1991

Goldwater-Nichols DoD Reorganization Act of 1986,
http://www.ndu.edu/library/goldnich/goldnich.html   

Present

           U.S. Department of State-- Strategic Plan  
               http://www.state.gov/www/global/general_foreign_policy/2000_dos_stratplan_cont.pdf
               http://www.state.gov/www/global/general_foreign_policy/2000_dos_stratplan_body.pdf