HIS 32 Z — The Cold War and Its Legacies
Quarter: Winter
Instructor(s): David M. Kennedy, James Sheehan
Date(s): Feb 18—Mar 18
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Wednesdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 5:30—7:30 pm (PT)
Tuition: $390
Refund Deadline: Feb 20
Unit(s): 1
Status: Registration opens Dec 1, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Winter
Day: Wednesdays
Duration: 5 weeks
Time: 5:30—7:30 pm (PT)
Date(s): Feb 18—Mar 18
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $390
Refund Deadline: Feb 20
Instructor(s): David M. Kennedy, James Sheehan
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Dec 1, 8:30 am (PT)
The Cold War shaped the global order for nearly half a century after World War II. It fueled proxy wars across the globe and defined government priorities, from nuclear strategy to the space race. In this series of lectures, Stanford historians Jim Sheehan and David Kennedy (a Pulitzer Prize winner) analyze the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1989.
We begin with the conflict’s roots in the collapse of the European order and the postwar power vacuum. Was confrontation inevitable, or did wartime cooperation conceal irreconcilable ambitions? We then trace escalation across Berlin, Vietnam, Cuba, and Korea while examining how rival visions of communism and liberal democracy guided strategies from Truman’s containment to Nixon’s détente. We also consider how the Cold War created a new set of European institutions and redefined America’s role in the world. The course concludes with Reagan and Gorbachev’s pivotal influence in the dramatic endgame of 1989–1991 and the Cold War’s enduring lessons for today’s tensions with authoritarian powers such as Russia, North Korea, and China.
We begin with the conflict’s roots in the collapse of the European order and the postwar power vacuum. Was confrontation inevitable, or did wartime cooperation conceal irreconcilable ambitions? We then trace escalation across Berlin, Vietnam, Cuba, and Korea while examining how rival visions of communism and liberal democracy guided strategies from Truman’s containment to Nixon’s détente. We also consider how the Cold War created a new set of European institutions and redefined America’s role in the world. The course concludes with Reagan and Gorbachev’s pivotal influence in the dramatic endgame of 1989–1991 and the Cold War’s enduring lessons for today’s tensions with authoritarian powers such as Russia, North Korea, and China.
Please note: Due to Professor Kennedy’s schedule, his March 11 lecture will be prerecorded and shown during class. All other lectures by both professors will be delivered live.
Students can choose to attend this course on campus or online. Sign up for Section H if you think you might attend class on the Stanford campus at least once. There is no commitment—you can still choose to attend via Zoom for any session. Sign up for Section Z if you know you will exclusively attend via Zoom.
DAVID M. KENNEDY
Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus, Stanford
David M. Kennedy has long taught courses in the history of the 20th-century United States, US foreign policy, American literature, and the history of the North American West. His Pulitzer Prize–winning book Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 recounts the history of the American people in the two great crises of the Great Depression and World War II, both of which deeply shaped the Western region. He is the founding faculty director of Stanford's Bill Lane Center for the American West.JAMES SHEEHAN
Dickason Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Modern European History, Emeritus, Stanford
James Sheehan is an expert on the history of modern Europe and has written widely on the history of Germany, including four books and many articles. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. He has received many grants and awards, including the Officer’s Cross of the German Order of Merit. He is a past president of the American Historical Association. His book Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? The Transformation of Modern Europe was published in 2009. Sheehan received a PhD from UC Berkeley. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.