Cold War Historiography

Reeves: character was the foundation of an outstanding presidency

Week 2 - Truman Years

Liberals: Applauded Truman's high nature of foreign policy 

Realists: Foreign policy should be grounded and realistic

After Vietnam, historiography turned to revisionism and criticism of US foreign policy compared to Oxrthodox historians

Orthodox Historians: hard stance on USSR was for freedom

Revisionists: hard stance on USSR was for economic reasons and fear of USSR as an economic power

Orthodox: USSR is responsible for Cold War and Truman had to react

1960s Revisionists: challenged USSR sole responsibility and criticised Truman

Post-revisionists: John Gaddis - sole blame was too simplistic 

Week 3 - McCarthyism

Richard Rovere: portrayed McCarthy as a fraud and Charkitten

Danuek Bell: McCarthyism was propelled at the grass roots and appealed to the outsiders e.g. Catholics and stood against the elites and establishment

Rogin: refutes Bell and says the elites and traditional oarty was the cause for his prominence 

Edward Bailey: te press could've played a bigger role in investigating McCarthy

Week 4 - The Eisenhower Years

Revisionism: 1980s most prominent time who had a positive outlook on Eisenhower e.g. Stephen Ambrose (8 years of peace and prosperity), Robert Divine and Fred Greenstein (false that he wasn't in control as his response to McCarthyism was a 'hidden hand'

Post Revisionism: Herbert Parmet - criticism was levelled on foreign policy (not as influential) 

Ambrose: the biggest domestic achievement was the…