ABOUT THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan think tank established in 1921 and continuing to the present day in its stated goals of furthering understanding of the world and of foreign policy decisions in the United States. The files digitized here are sourced from the CFR Archive’s Records of Groups and Records of Meetings, and cover a vast range of topics, including international relations and U.S. “soft power,” labor relations, economics and monetary policy, international trade, technology and the armed forces, national and international security and defense, and the local politics of areas of key interest to the U.S., including Southeast Asia, China, and the Middle East.

VALUE OF THE COLLECTION

• Globally recognized: The collection gathers widely referenced insight on U.S. foreign policy and international relations from this globally recognized institution—which is the U.S. counterpart to Chatham House, thereby making this collection an ideal companion to Chatham House Online Archive .
• Interdisciplinary scope: These materials are crucial for researchers of twentieth-century global and U.S. history, U.S. foreign relations, politics and political science, American studies, and international relations. The collection also contains unique material on economics, international trade and business, questions of arms control and nuclear nonproliferation, security and defense, food security, environmental management, and human rights.
• Current research trends: The development of the current political moment can be explored in detail in these papers, through the U.S.’s role in the world throughout the twentieth century, the development and impacts of Cold War ideologies, and the international relations that transformed the global stage.
• Historical relevance: The collection contains material relating to critical foundations to the twentieth-century world order:
  • Events: including World War II; the U.S. occupation of Japan; hostilities in Korea and Vietnam; China under Mao Zedong; the rise and fall of the Soviet Union; the first Gulf War; crises in Central America, Eastern Europe, and the Congo
  • Transnational institutions: including the UN, NATO, IMF, World Bank, OECD, OAS, SEATO, and others
  • Policymakers and globally recognized leaders: including Henry Kissinger, Nelson Mandela, John Foster Dulles, Condoleezza Rice, Joseph R. Biden Jr., Nelson Rockefeller, Jimmy Carter, Dick Cheney, and many more
• Exclusive policy insight: Global events and foreign policy concerns also affected domestic issues, and these materials provide direct insight into the factors linking domestic and international concerns in domestic security and defense, economics, industrial and financial policy, and the public opinion of government and the global position—both in relations with individual countries and as a member of institutions like the United Nations.

CONTENT HIGHLIGHTS

Records of Groups, 1918–1996

• United States Policy toward the Caribbean and Central America, 1924–1925
• Seminar on the U.S.S.R. and the Sources of Soviet Policy (First Meeting, April 14, 1978), 1977–1979
• Study Group on the Philippines Bases (First Meeting, June 22, 1987), 1986–1989
• The United States and China in World Affairs, Parts 1–7, 1962–1965
• United States–Canada Trade Negotiations (First Meeting, December 4, 1986), 1986–1987

Studies Department Series Additions, c.1964–2000

• Resolution of Ethnic and Minority Rights in Kosovo (c. 1967–1996)
• Future American Involvement in the Gulf, March 12–13, 1996
• The Middle East Peace Process, Investing in the Future, May 18–19, 1995

Records of Meetings, 1920–1995

• International Agenda for Japan in the 1990s, March 26, 1990 (Speaker: Hisashi Owada)
• Change in the Soviet Union: Implications for United States–Soviet Relations, September 11, 1989 (Speaker: Condoleezza Rice)
• Moscow and Washington: A Mid-Winter Report, April 12, 1984 (Speakers: Joseph R. Biden Jr., W. Cohen)
• “The Cuban Crisis,” February 4, 1963 (Speakers: John J. McCloy, Henry Wriston)
• “Measuring American Public Opinion on Foreign Affairs,” January 1940 (Speakers: Henry P. Fletcher, Philip Guedalla)
• “Vietnam and Aspects of Its Relations with the United States,” January 26, 1968 (Speakers: Bùi Diêm, Frank Trager)

Meetings Series Additions, 1972–2000

• “Recent Developments in South Asian Security," Transcript, September 22, 1999
• Future Visions for U.S. Defense Policy, May 26, 1999
• Globalization Study Group, including:
  • Session I, “Muslim Transitional Institutionalization,” June 18, 1996
  • Session II, “Globalized Communications,” June 25, 1996
  • Session III, “Globalization of Muslim Issues,” July 1, 1996