Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Discovery Research Exercise #2
January 28th, 2004
Primary Source #1
McAuley, John. "Re: Interview Questions." E-mail to the subject.
27 January 2004
My first primary source was an interview I conducted through e-mail to my father. He is the subject of my Discovery Project and because of his strong interest of the Cold War the source of my subject. He had experience with studying the Cold War throughout his undergraduate years at University of Virginia and planned to obtain a job in the field of solutions towards the Cold War. His major thesis involved the Cold War and how to end it. The following is the interview questions he answered:
1. What is your interest in the Cold War?I was born during the Cold War, and grew up throughout it’s height , and in many ways it dominated the world I lived in…from the Bomb drills in school(where we climbed under our desks, to the at least weekly air raid sirens , that blasted in our neighborhood at least every Saturday at noon, to the Vietnam war which dominated our news and influenced our life.
2. How well educated are you on the time period?The Cold War and its effects as well as proposals to successfully win/end the cold war was the main part of my studies in college and my graduate work and doctoral thesis was on this very subject.
3. What do you feel are the 3 main causes of the Cold War? Stalin’s desire for Soviet Imperialism coupled with the communist movement in China and in other nations , couplked with our Leaders view of communism/socialism as an automatic threat..combined to create the tension throughout the world that came to be called the cold war.
4. How did the Cold War effect your life? Our country and the world political structure was dominated by this tension. Our economic policy was also effected as we continued military buildup and an outrageous arms race with the Soviets and other eastern block nations…The cold War had a definite influence in every action of our country as well as the actions of everyone around the world. It was the most influential and pervasive factor for close to 40 years.
5. How do you feel the Cold War effected the United States as a whole? It caused us to have a us against them attitude…it led to the Vietnam war which contributed to civil strife of enormous proportions in the US…it effected our economy and led to deficit spending and and various economic recessions could be traced to the cold wars influence.
6. How did your life change after the Cold War? In a positive way, the arms race led to the space race and in a perverted way is partly responsible for many innovations in the world today…particularly technological and is probably responsible for a closer world today and a better and faster growing world economy.
7. What do you think are valuable lessons from the entire time period? We cannot simplify more complicated social/political/economic issues in to a simple us vs them scenario…issues between nations/issues between people are much more complex and are not properly evaluated and pursued if we simply look at it from what ieswrong with the other part vs how are we alike or are our nterests similar…how can we work together for the greater benefit of all…the world is made up of individual people not some evil other side.
8. During the Cold War, did you fear communism and believe events would escalade into physical war actions?Yes!!! I remember in the 60’s the Vietnam war…we also knew the fear of the Cuban missile crisis…and I remember registering for the draft in the late 70’s when a military action against China seemed inevitable.
9. Was the area you were living in directly effected? Yes. The entire country was effected…in NYC area we were told many times that we and Dc were the number1 and two targets of a potential atomic bomb/nuclear attack( a possible precursor to (9-11)…Carlottesville was the escape town for DC, and many Professors at UVA were influential policy makers and policy advisors on the Cold War…..lastly the civil strife greatly effected the area I grew up in and changed the very environment I lived in which was a state of constant tension, when one really looks back at it..
10. Did the Cold War have an influence on your political views? It made me more conservative in many ways…but it also made me be more independent in my political thinking.
11. List any other comments you have about your experience with the Cold War, feelings about the time period, etc.... It was a very long period of tension…It finally ended due to an aggressive economic policy, coupled with the natural smaller world reality that has come about due to technological advances,,,the irony is that the actions taken that escalated the Cold War eventually were some of the greatest factors that ended the Cold War
Primary Source #2
Yeltsin, Boris. Midnight Diaries. New York: Public Affairs, 2000
I chose this book because it is personal thoughts around the Cold War, written by a political figure of Russia. I want to be able to get multiple sides to the Cold War since a war involves different groups. I figure this will be personal information of feelings about the Cold War and I could then compare and contrast them to the thoughts of my father. There are chronoligical events leading to the falling of the Berlin Wall through the end of the Cold War. This was the time period in which my father was interested in because he was at the age where he could make a difference.
Primary Source #3
Bender, David L. The Collapse of the Soviet Union. San Diego: Greenhaven, 1999
This book focuses on my father's main interest in the Cold War which is the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since he had many theories of how it should end and what to do after the collapse this book will be able to coorelate to my interview with him. I can read and compare what really happened and what he thought should happen. Since the book is somewhat recent it should have accurate information that will lead to finding more sources. There are also opinions and effects on people in both the Russia and America.
January 28th, 2004
Primary Source #1
McAuley, John. "Re: Interview Questions." E-mail to the subject.
27 January 2004
My first primary source was an interview I conducted through e-mail to my father. He is the subject of my Discovery Project and because of his strong interest of the Cold War the source of my subject. He had experience with studying the Cold War throughout his undergraduate years at University of Virginia and planned to obtain a job in the field of solutions towards the Cold War. His major thesis involved the Cold War and how to end it. The following is the interview questions he answered:
1. What is your interest in the Cold War?I was born during the Cold War, and grew up throughout it’s height , and in many ways it dominated the world I lived in…from the Bomb drills in school(where we climbed under our desks, to the at least weekly air raid sirens , that blasted in our neighborhood at least every Saturday at noon, to the Vietnam war which dominated our news and influenced our life.
2. How well educated are you on the time period?The Cold War and its effects as well as proposals to successfully win/end the cold war was the main part of my studies in college and my graduate work and doctoral thesis was on this very subject.
3. What do you feel are the 3 main causes of the Cold War? Stalin’s desire for Soviet Imperialism coupled with the communist movement in China and in other nations , couplked with our Leaders view of communism/socialism as an automatic threat..combined to create the tension throughout the world that came to be called the cold war.
4. How did the Cold War effect your life? Our country and the world political structure was dominated by this tension. Our economic policy was also effected as we continued military buildup and an outrageous arms race with the Soviets and other eastern block nations…The cold War had a definite influence in every action of our country as well as the actions of everyone around the world. It was the most influential and pervasive factor for close to 40 years.
5. How do you feel the Cold War effected the United States as a whole? It caused us to have a us against them attitude…it led to the Vietnam war which contributed to civil strife of enormous proportions in the US…it effected our economy and led to deficit spending and and various economic recessions could be traced to the cold wars influence.
6. How did your life change after the Cold War? In a positive way, the arms race led to the space race and in a perverted way is partly responsible for many innovations in the world today…particularly technological and is probably responsible for a closer world today and a better and faster growing world economy.
7. What do you think are valuable lessons from the entire time period? We cannot simplify more complicated social/political/economic issues in to a simple us vs them scenario…issues between nations/issues between people are much more complex and are not properly evaluated and pursued if we simply look at it from what ieswrong with the other part vs how are we alike or are our nterests similar…how can we work together for the greater benefit of all…the world is made up of individual people not some evil other side.
8. During the Cold War, did you fear communism and believe events would escalade into physical war actions?Yes!!! I remember in the 60’s the Vietnam war…we also knew the fear of the Cuban missile crisis…and I remember registering for the draft in the late 70’s when a military action against China seemed inevitable.
9. Was the area you were living in directly effected? Yes. The entire country was effected…in NYC area we were told many times that we and Dc were the number1 and two targets of a potential atomic bomb/nuclear attack( a possible precursor to (9-11)…Carlottesville was the escape town for DC, and many Professors at UVA were influential policy makers and policy advisors on the Cold War…..lastly the civil strife greatly effected the area I grew up in and changed the very environment I lived in which was a state of constant tension, when one really looks back at it..
10. Did the Cold War have an influence on your political views? It made me more conservative in many ways…but it also made me be more independent in my political thinking.
11. List any other comments you have about your experience with the Cold War, feelings about the time period, etc.... It was a very long period of tension…It finally ended due to an aggressive economic policy, coupled with the natural smaller world reality that has come about due to technological advances,,,the irony is that the actions taken that escalated the Cold War eventually were some of the greatest factors that ended the Cold War
Primary Source #2
Yeltsin, Boris. Midnight Diaries. New York: Public Affairs, 2000
I chose this book because it is personal thoughts around the Cold War, written by a political figure of Russia. I want to be able to get multiple sides to the Cold War since a war involves different groups. I figure this will be personal information of feelings about the Cold War and I could then compare and contrast them to the thoughts of my father. There are chronoligical events leading to the falling of the Berlin Wall through the end of the Cold War. This was the time period in which my father was interested in because he was at the age where he could make a difference.
Primary Source #3
Bender, David L. The Collapse of the Soviet Union. San Diego: Greenhaven, 1999
This book focuses on my father's main interest in the Cold War which is the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since he had many theories of how it should end and what to do after the collapse this book will be able to coorelate to my interview with him. I can read and compare what really happened and what he thought should happen. Since the book is somewhat recent it should have accurate information that will lead to finding more sources. There are also opinions and effects on people in both the Russia and America.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Discovery Research Exercise #1
January 22, 2004
My father, John McAuley is my subject for the Discovery Project and because his college thesis was based around the Cold War and the Soviet Union I have decided to use the Cold War as my topic of research. The book, The Origins of the Cold War, is a good starting point for my research. It opens up with the reasons behind the Cold War and leads into occurrences along with a strong basis for further research. It is a scholarly and credible source because it was consistently being updated by new editions along with it being published by the University of Connecticut.
Bibliography:
Paterson, Thomas G. The Origins of the Cold War. University of Connecticut, 1974
January 22, 2004
My father, John McAuley is my subject for the Discovery Project and because his college thesis was based around the Cold War and the Soviet Union I have decided to use the Cold War as my topic of research. The book, The Origins of the Cold War, is a good starting point for my research. It opens up with the reasons behind the Cold War and leads into occurrences along with a strong basis for further research. It is a scholarly and credible source because it was consistently being updated by new editions along with it being published by the University of Connecticut.
Bibliography:
Paterson, Thomas G. The Origins of the Cold War. University of Connecticut, 1974
