Research Guides: U.S. History: Primary Resources: Wars, Foreign Affairs, and Security

Primary Resources: Foreign Affairs and National Security

War of the Rebellion and other Civil War Documents
at Cornell University's Making of America Project
Foreign Relations of the United States
National Security Archive
An independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University, the Archive collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The Archive also serves as a repository of government records on a wide range of topics pertaining to the national security, foreign, intelligence, and economic policies of the United States.

Chinese Civil War and U.S.-China Relations: Records of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945-1955 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for exploring domestic issues in Communist and Nationalist China, U.S. containment policy toward Asia, and Sino-American relations during the post-war period.
Content type: Primary sources, government documents
Coverage dates: 1946-1955
All 41 reels of the former Scholarly Resources microfilm product were digitized into this database.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Country Intelligence Reports/State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research Reports: China This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore digitized intelligence reports, studies, and surveys prepared by the U.S. Department of State about China during and after WWII.
Content type: Primary sources, government documents, intelligence reports, surveys
Coverage dates: 1941-1961
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Country Intelligence Reports/State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research Reports: Japan This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore digitized intelligence reports, studies, and surveys prepared by the U.S. Department of State about Japan during and after WWII.
Content type: Primary sources, government documents, intelligence reports, surveys
Coverage dates: 1941-1961
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Country Intelligence Reports/State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research Reports: Korea This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore digitized intelligence reports, studies, and surveys prepared by the U.S. Department of State about Korea during and after WWII.
Content type: Primary sources, government documents, intelligence reports, surveys
Coverage dates: 1941-1961
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Crisis in the Dominican Republic: Records of the U.S. State Department Central Files, February 1963-1966 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore Dominican and U.S. governmental sources providing a snapshot of U.S. and Latin American politics at the height of the Cold War.
Content type: Primary sources, government dispatches and reports, correspondence
Coverage dates: 1963-1966
Includes topics such as political affairs and government; public order and safety; military affairs; social matters, history and culture; economic conditions (including immigration and emigration); industry and agriculture; communications and transportation; and navigation.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Foreign Relations Between the U.S. and Latin America and the Caribbean States, 1930-1944 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Gain insight into the political and diplomatic relations between Latin American and Caribbean nations and the United States, as well as boundary questions and commerce.
Content type: Primary sources, cables, memoranda, correspondence, reports and analyzes, treaties
Coverage dates: 1930-1944
Materials from the U.S. Department of State Central Files.
Language: English, Spanish
Keywords: Archives Unbound
General George C. Marshall's Mission to China, 1945-1947 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore the complete digitized records, including observer reports and meeting minutes, of the Marshall mission to prevent the renewal of the Chinese civil war.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, meeting minutes
Coverage dates: 1945-1947
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Japan at War and Peace, 1930-1949: U.S. State Department Records on the Internal Affairs of Japan This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore classified U.S. government documents on Japan's political, military, diplomatic, and social/economic affairs before, during, and immediately after World War II.
Content type: Primary sources, correspondence, statistics, government reports
Coverage dates: 1930-1949
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Liberia and the U.S.: Nation-Building in Africa, 1864-1918 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for unique primary sources relating to communications between U.S. diplomats in Liberia.
Content type: Primary sources, correspondence, telegrams
Coverage dates: 1864-1918
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Nicaragua: Political Instability and U.S. Intervention, 1910-1933 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for researching U.S. imperial involvement in Nicaragua during the early twentieth century, long before the more well known Iran-Contra affair of the 1980s.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, memoranda, correspondence
Coverage dates: 1910-1933
Digitized internal State Department records and correspondence with other federal departments, Congress, and private individuals and organizations.
Language: English, Spanish
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Political Relations and Conflict between Republican China and Imperial Japan, 1930-1939: Records of the U.S. State Department This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Access US State Department records on political relations between China and Japan from the 1930s, including documents on the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, military action at Shanghai in 1932, and further Japanese penetration into China.
Content type: Primary sources, diplomatic despatches, memorandums, instructions, notes
Coverage dates: 1930-1939
Many documents have available OCR and links to related reference resources.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Political Relations Between China, the U.S. and Other Countries, 1910-1929 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore U.S. State Department records, including instruction to and dispatches from diplomatic and consular officials and correspondence with other government departments, private firms, and individuals regarding relations between the United States and China.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports and records, correspondence, memoranda
Coverage dates: 1910-1929
Includes records related to the work of a special Commission on Extraterritoriality, established at the Washington Conference on Limitation of Armament, 1921-22
Language: English, Chinese, French
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Political, Economic, and Military Conditions in China: Reports and Correspondence of the U.S. Military Intelligence Division, 1918-1941 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search for primary sources from six U.S. Military Intelligence Division files that focus on general conditions, political conditions, economic conditions, the army, the navy, and aeronautics in China during the early 20th century.
Content type: Primary sources, government documents, correspondence, maps
Coverage dates: 1918-1941
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Records of US State Department's Division of Chinese Affairs This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search these government records to research China's internal political affairs and U.S. foreign policy towards China during and immediately after WWII.
Content type: Primary sources, government documents, memorandums, reports, summaries, position papers, despatches
Coverage dates: 1944-1961
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Revolution in Honduras and American Business: The Quintessential "Banana Republic" This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for researching U.S. imperial involvement in Honduras during the early twentieth century and the intersection of business, revolution and government.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, memoranda, correspondence
Coverage dates: 1910-1930
Digitized primary sources regarding the political and financial machinations of the fruit companies, the corruption of the national government, the American banking community’s loans, the U.S. government’s response and the various aborted popular/revolutionary uprisings.
Language: English, Spanish
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Revolution in Mexico, the 1917 Constitution, and Its Aftermath: Records of the U.S. State Department This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore U.S. State Department documents that reveal the U.S. perspective of the military and political events during the Mexican Revolution and its aftermath.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, correspondence, telegrams, images
Coverage dates: 1910-1924
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Subject Files of US State Department's Office of the Republic of China Affairs (1951-1978) This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore these government records to study Taiwan and its relations with the U.S. during the Cold War.
Content type: Primary sources, government documents, briefing books, correspondence, memoranda, policy papers, reports
Coverage dates: 1951-1978
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
Mexico-United States Counternarcotics Policy, 1969-2013‎ This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Discover primary sources that trace the impact of U.S. drug policy on Mexico-U.S. relations.
Content type: Primary sources, policy reviews, intelligence reports, memoranda, diplomatic cables
Coverage dates: 1969-2013
This database is part of the Digital National Security Archive, an online resource containing declassified documents covering US policy decisions.
Language: English, Spanish
Mafia in Florida and Cuba: FBI Surveillance of Meyer Lansky and Santo Trafficante, Jr. This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for FBI surveillance, informant reports, and correspondence related to investigations on members of the mafia in Florida and Cuba.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, correspondence, newspaper articles, transcripts
Coverage dates: 1946-1977
Also includes Justice Department memoranda, correspondence, and analysis; news clippings and articles; domestic intelligence section reports; transcriptions of wiretaps, typewriter tapes, and coded messages; memoranda of conversations.
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound
U.S. Espionage and Intelligence, 1947-1996 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Access primary sources on civilian and military organizations that constitute the U.S. intelligence community.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, manuals, unit regulations, interagency directives, memoranda, court documents
Coverage dates: 1947-1996
This database is part of the Digital National Security Archive, an online resource containing declassified documents covering US policy decisions.
Language: English
U.S. Intelligence Community: Organization, Operations and Management, 1947-1989 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Discover primary sources, such as functional manuals, unit histories, and internal directives, on various U.S. intelligence organizations.
Content type: Primary sources, functional manuals, unit histories, internal directives, interagency directives, memoranda
Coverage dates: 1947-1989‎
This database is part of the Digital National Security Archive, an online resource containing declassified documents covering US policy decisions.
Language: English
Students for a Democratic Society, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and the anti-Vietnam War Movement (1958-1981) This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore documents related to the anti-war movement of the 1960s through the lens of two prominent anti-Vietnam War organizations.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, diaries, correspondence, images
Coverage dates: 1958-1981
Language: English
Keywords: History Vault
Terrorism and U.S. Policy, 1968-2002 This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Discover primary sources on U.S. terrorism policy, with a focus on SWANA countries.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, congressional hearing transcripts, court testimony transcripts, legal briefs
Coverage dates: 1968-2002
This database is part of the Digital National Security Archive, an online resource containing declassified documents covering US policy decisions.
Language: English, Arabic
U.S. Intelligence Community After 9/11‎ This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Discover primary sources that document the organizational and operational changes in the U.S. Intelligence Community since the September 11 attacks.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, memoranda
Coverage dates: 2001-present
This database is part of the Digital National Security Archive, an online resource containing declassified documents covering US policy decisions.
Language: English

Executive Office of the Historian
A wealth of documents from different departments and agencies, from Lincoln to Clinton -- includes "Foreign Relations of the US," and other links and publications

Wars

War of the Rebellion and other Civil War Documents
at Cornell University's Making of America Project

Japan at War and Peace, 1930-1949: U.S. State Department Records on the Internal Affairs of Japan This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore classified U.S. government documents on Japan's political, military, diplomatic, and social/economic affairs before, during, and immediately after World War II.
Content type: Primary sources, correspondence, statistics, government reports
Coverage dates: 1930-1949
Language: English
Keywords: Archives Unbound