The Cold War television documentary archive consists of transcripts of 531 interviews concerning events of the Cold War - the political, ideological tension between the United States and the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), 1946-1989, following the end of World War Two, which while falling short of actual war between these two nations, was evident in their foreign and defence policies, and those of their allies.

Interviews were conducted with eyewitnesses from the US, USSR, Germany, Poland, Britain, Czechoslovakia, Italy, France, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Spain, Vietnam, Korea, China, Israel Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Cuba, Chile, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and including politicians, policy makers and advisors, diplomats, journalists, academics, members of armed forces, dissidents, peasants, factory workers and civilians.

Events described include the Berlin blockade, 1948-1949, the Berlin Crisis, 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct 1962, the Vietnam War, 1965-1975, the Korean War, 1950-1953, the Hungarian uprising, 1956, the Prague Spring, 1968, the nuclear arms race, 1945-1991, and Chinese communism, 1949-1972.

The collections also contains transcripts of a series of seminars on the Cold War, Oct 1995, as well as an incomplete series of files relating to individual episodes of the documentary series including annotated extracts of interview transcripts and other production information. (Transcripts in this section of the collection are mainly duplicates, however there are a small number which are not found in the main transcript series).

The collection presents an integrated record of US decision making during the 1962 nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Much of the documentation focuses on the period from Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs McGeorge Bundy's 16 Oct 1962 briefing of President Kennedy on the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba to Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev's 28 Oct 1962 decision to withdraw the weapons. Papers include intelligence reports, diplomatic cables, political analyses, military situation reports, and meeting minutes relating to the immediate backdrop to the crisis, the crisis (16 Oct-28 Oct 1962), and its aftermath. Papers concerning the background to the crisis relate to US attempts to overthrow Cuban Prime Minister Dr Fidel Castro following the Bay of Pigs invasion, Apr 1961; US and Soviet nuclear capabilities and doctrine in the early 1960s; the deployment of US Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBMs) to forward bases in Europe; and the concern over the resurgence of Soviet military aid to Cuba in the summer of 1962. Papers relating to the crisis include US intelligence reports confirming the construction of Soviet missile bases in Cuba; National Security Council minutes relating to a potential invasion of Cuba by US conventional forces, possible US air attacks against Cuba and the resultant Cuban casualties, the possibility of imposing an economic blockade around Cuba, the maintenance of US U-2 High Altitude Reconnaissance Aircraft flights over Cuba, and the possibility of Soviet retaliatory military actions against North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) states in the event of US attacks on Cuba, 16 Oct 1962; Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) daily intelligence reports concerning Soviet missile bases and possible Soviet surface to surface SS-4 ('Sandal') nuclear missiles in Cuba; reports from the UN Security Council and General Assembly from the US Ambassador to the UN Adlai Ewing Stevenson; meetings between Kennedy and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Andreevich Gromyko; US estimates of Cuban ground forces; articles from Soviet news agency TASS denouncing American motives in Cuba; reports from US Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara regarding the possible withdrawal of US missile bases in Italy and Turkey in exchange for Soviet withdrawals from Cuba; discussions of the possible US 'Naval Quarantine' of Cuba; CIA estimates relating to possible Soviet first strike military capability with missiles in Cuba; NSC reports relating to the construction of IRBM and Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) bases in Guanajay and San Cristóbal, Cuba, 21 Oct 1962; President Kennedy's announcement to world heads of state regarding the US 'Naval Quarantine' of Cuba (24 Oct-20 Nov 1962) to prevent further Soviet arms shipments of offensive weapons and development of further missile bases, 23 Oct 1962; message from Khrushchev to Kennedy stating that the US 'Naval Quarantine' is an act of aggression against both Cuba and the Soviet Union, 23 Oct 1962; statements by US Ambassador Stevenson, Cuban Ambassador Mario Garcia Incháustegui, and Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin in the UN Security Council, 23 Oct 1962; documents relating to the operational readiness of US continental nuclear forces; minutes from UN Security Council meeting, 25 Oct 1962; letter from Khrushchev to Kennedy suggesting that the Soviet Union would withdraw missile bases in return for a US 'non-invasion commitment' towards Cuba, 26 Oct 1962; negotiations over verification of the Soviet missile withdrawal; the US non-invasion 'guarantee' to Cuba and the Soviet Union; and, the question of Soviet Ilyushin IL-28 ('Beagle') bombers and troops remaining in Cuba. The collection also includes retrospective studies of the missile crisis, including the US Department of State internal history of the crisis, US Department of Defense comprehensive reports describing the actions of military commands and units during the missile crisis, and US government records relating to the US-Soviet rapprochement developed in the 1970s and 1980

The John F Kennedy National Security Files, 1961-1963, reproduces in microfilm memoranda, cables, intelligence projections, telegrams, conversations, correspondence and special studies relating specifically to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and Central Europe, Asia and the Pacific and Western Europe. The collection provides documents maintained and organised by NSC adviser McGeorge Bundy and his staff of 'New Frontiersmen' and relate to foreign policy and national security issues including US attempts to achieve a state of détente with the Soviet Union, 1961-1963; US political, ideological and psychological perceptions of the First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, 1961-1963; the development of nuclear weapons technology and the massive build-up of nuclear deterrent forces, 1961-1963; the expansion and modernisation of US conventional forces to permit a 'flexible response' to Third World threats, 1961-1963; the establishment of guerrilla warfare programmes, 1961-1963; increased US economic and technical aid to the Third World under the Alliance for Progress; the Berlin Crisis and the resultant construction of the Berlin Wall, Aug 1961; statements issued by Deputy Secretary of Defense Roswell Gilpatric relating to American nuclear second strike capabilities, 1961; the Cuban Missile Crisis and its aftermath, 1962; Kennedy's promotion of the 'Grand Design', increased economic and military trade with Europe; US reactions to growing West European scepticism of US nuclear deterrence; the increased US political and military commitment to Vietnam, including mention of the South Vietnamese military coup d'état which overthrew President, Ngo Dinh Diem, 1 Nov 1963.

Documents of the National Security Council, 1947-1985 are microfilmed copies of memoranda, policy papers, directives and records of actions undertaken by the US National Security Council, 1947-1985. Document material relates to US policy with respect to Japan, the Soviet Union, China, 1948-49; military assistance to non-communist nations, 1948-49; US policy on atomic warfare, 1948; the Berlin Blockade; the United Nations decision to introduce military forces to Palestine, 1948; US policy towards Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe, 1949; US courses of action with respect to the Republic of Korea, 1950-53; responsibilities of the Central Intelligence Agency with respect to guerrilla warfare, 1952; US policy and courses of action to counter possible Soviet or satellite action against Berlin, 1952; US objectives and actions to exploit the unrest in the Soviet satellite states, 1953; US courses of action with respect to Latin America, Iran and South Asia, 1953-85; covert operations, 1954-75; nuclear attack warning channel and procedures for civilians, 1955-65; the political implications of Afro-Asian military take-overs, 1959; US policy towards Cuba, 1959-60; US strategic nuclear forces capabilities, 1960-85; US military, political and psychological operations in South East Asia, 1961-74; US training objectives for counterinsurgency, 1962-85; the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT); US policy on arms transfers, 1975-85; the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; US policy towards Cuba and Central America, 1982; the US approach to the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START), 1982-85. Policy papers and progress reports relate to all European nations, the Soviet Union and its satellites, Canada, Latin America, Japan, The Middle East, the People's Republic of China, South East Asia, Angola, North Africa, 1947-1985.

Public Statements by the Secretaries of Defense, 1947-1981 are microfilmed copies of official statements, press releases, speeches, announcements and memoranda released by successive US Secretaries of Defense, 1947-1981. Compiled by the US Department of Defense at the Pentagon, Washington, DC, the material reflects US government national security concerns during the height of the Cold War. Arranged chronologically, the series includes statement before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee regarding the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan), 1948; statement before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives on aid to Greece and Turkey, 1948; memoranda relating to Civil Defense Planning, 1948; statement on biological warfare potentialities, 1949; statements relating to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1949-1981; remarks at the unveiling of the memorial to British FM Sir John (Greer) Dill, 1950; testimony relating to the military situation in the Far East and the Balkans; statements relating to the Mutual Security Pact, 1952 and the Mutual Security Program, 1953; statement regarding the deployment of nuclear weapons for air defence, 1957; statement before the Senate Committee on Armed Services relating to satellite and missile programs, 1958; testimony regarding the Foreign Assistance Act, 1962; press conferences relating to the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962; joint statements with Gen Maxwell Davenport Taylor, Chairman, US Joint Chiefs of Staff, relating to the situation in the Republic of Vietnam, 1963; press conference regarding Gulf of Tonkin 'incident', 1964; statement regarding the appointment of Gen William Childs Westmoreland as Commander, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, 1964; press releases relating to the increased commitment of US ground troops to Vietnam, 1966; testimony regarding US operations in Cambodia, 1970; press conferences relating to US-Soviet Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) tests, 1970; statements regarding US arms sales to Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, 1974; statements regarding the fall of Saigon, Republic of Vietnam, to the North Vietnamese Army, Apr 1975; testimony relating to nuclear technology, including the Minuteman II nuclear missile, 1976; statements regarding Stealth technology and its application, 1980.