History 478
History of U.S. International Relations
Professor Chris Endy
Fall 2011
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Cold War Culture Online Movies  (about 90 minutes total)

Please view the following short movies, which you can stream online.  You should view them before class on Tuesday, 1 November, when we will cover them in class discussion.  Take notes while you watch, because you can use the films as evidence on the final exam essays.


Civil Defense Films
Film 1: Duck and Cover (1951, 9 minutes)
http://www.archive.org/details/DuckandC1951

Film 2: Survival Under Atomic Attack (1951, 9 minutes)
http://www.archive.org/details/Survival1951

Questions: What kind of emotional reactions do you think Americans in 1951 would have had to these civil defense films?  What effect might these films have had on the U.S. public’s view of Cold War foreign policies like the Korean War or the overall containment policy?



Corporate Domestic Policy Films
Film 3: In Our Hands, Part III (1950, 12 minutes)
http://www.archive.org/details/InOurHan1950_3

Questions: According to this documentary, funded by the Inland Steel Company & the Borg-Warner Corporation, how might Americans lose their freedom?  How did this documentary combine fears of communism with opposition to the social welfare programs and economic planning that marked FDR’s New Deal years?  Imagine how different groups of Americans would view this documentary  For instance, what would be the response to this film from a working-class mother who enjoyed government price controls during World War II, because price controls reduced the size of her grocery bill?  How might an African American hoping for federal intervention in support of equal rights respond to the movie?  How might the father of a middle-class white family in the Southern California suburbs respond?


Multinational Corporation Films
Film 4: Desert Venture, Part I (1948, 14 minutes)
http://www.archive.org/details/DesertVe1958

Film 5: Assignment: Venezuela (1956, 24 minutes)
http://www.archive.org/details/Assignme1956

Questions: How do these films depict life abroad (i.e. in Saudi Arabia and Venezuela) for American employees? What strategies do the films deploy to emphasize the benefits of American corporations for the people of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela?



The Rhetoric and Charisma of John F. Kennedy
Film 6: Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961 (14 min)
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/youtubeclip.php?clipid=8032&admin=35

Questions: If you were Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev or Cuban Prime Minister Castro, what would you have thought of JFK’s speech?  If you were a young American in your twenties, what would you have thought?  As historians in 2011, what can we learn from watching the speech that we do not learn by simply reading it (Note: Document 1 of Hunt’s Chapter 5, also due on 1 November, contains an excerpt of this same speech).  What does the visual and audio element add to our interpretation of the source?