FRUS Sesquicentennial Feed

A Good Year’s Work [Research]

William B. McAllister — 2012-02-08T00:00:00

As you can see from our FRUS sesquicentennial page, we have had a busy year, producing online postings, podcasts, articles, conferences, presentations at academic sessions, and public addresses. We invite you to peruse our discoveries and conclusions about the history of the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series.

“A Burden for the Department”?: To The 1991 FRUS Statute [Research]

Joshua Botts — 2012-02-06T00:00:00

Between 1980 and 1991, the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series entered a period of crisis. In the early part of the decade, the academic community grew more concerned about the increasing lag of FRUS publication from the 20-year line formally established for the series by President Richard Nixon in 1972. By the end of the decade, these anxieties were supplanted by bitter criticism from academic, media, and Congressional sources of gaps in FRUS coverage of pivotal Cold War covert actions. In 1991, Congress intervened to shape the future of the series that it had helped to create by establishing a statutory mandate for both timeliness and comprehensiveness for FRUS production. Throughout the entire period, the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation (also known as the Historical Advisory Committee, or HAC) played a crucial role in mediating (sometimes unsuccessfully) the tensions generated by clashing demands for openness and for security.

Second conference of the FRUS Special Conference Series [Event]

Office of the Historian — 2012-01-24T00:00:00

“National Security Policy and SALT I, 1969-1972”

Second conference of the FRUS Special Conference Series
March 2-3, 2012

As part of an array of events designed to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, the State Department’s Office of the Historian inaugurated the FRUS Special Conference Series to highlight recently-published FRUS volumes.

On March 2nd and 3rd, Williams College and the Office of the Historian hosted a conference focused on the FRUS volumes dealing with National Security Policy, 1969-1972 and SALT I, 1969-1972. The conference took place at Williams College in Williamstown, MA. The text of both National Security Policy, 1969-1972 and SALT I, 1969-1972 is available online.

Update: Video of the event is now available on YouTube: Deterrence in an Era of Parity Panel, Problems of Perception Panel, Compiler and Participant Perspectives Panel, Evolving Constraints Panel, and Jeremi Suri's Closing Keynote Address.

FRUS’s Brush With Death [Research]

Peter Cozzens — 2012-01-23T00:00:00

When Hamilton Fish took office as Secretary of State on March 17, 1869, he inherited both a political and administrative mess. Relations with Congress were terrible. Recently inaugurated President Ulysses S. Grant loathed the powerful Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Charles Sumner. For his part, Sumner quickly became an implacable opponent of the new president’s foreign policy and insinuated himself and his committee into State Department business whenever possible.

Panel Discussion on Diplomatic Secrecy in the 19th Century at the Wilson Center [Event]

Office of the Historian — 2012-01-23T00:00:00

“Diplomatic Secrecy in the 19th Century”

A panel discussion at the Wilson Center
December 8, 2011, 4-5:30 p.m.

While the formal classification system used to keep sensitive government information secret was a 20th Century development, even in the 19th Century, new research shows, the Department of State had to balance the “public’s right to know” with protecting national interests. Foreign policy documents were often released soon after events took place, sometimes complicating diplomatic relations. In certain instances sensitive documents and information were withheld, usually in the name of national security, but occasionally for political advantage. Congress, the media, public audiences, and other governments all took an interest in this peculiarly American penchant for walking the tightrope between transparency of governmental operations and withholding information "not in the public interest."

“Diplomatic Secrecy in the 19th Century” will explore the earliest available examples of both America's open and secret diplomacy, as well as how the ad-hoc system used in the 19th Century formed the basis for the formalized system which was developed in later years.

Panel participants: Aaron Marrs, Peter Cozzens, and William B. McAllister.

International Reaction to Lincoln’s Death [Research]

Aaron W. Marrs — 2011-12-12T00:00:00

April 1865 was an extraordinary month in the history of the Civil War. On the 9th, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war. Just days later, the nation was rocked by the news that President Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated in Washington, DC.

“No Policy Issue Can Be of Comparable Importance”: The 1980 FRUS Re-Review [Research]

Joshua Botts — 2011-12-09T00:00:00

Between the spring and fall of 1980, Department of State officials debated the proper balance between security and transparency as they argued about the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series. In the spring of 1980, as U.S. policymakers grappled with the frenzied aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iranian revolution, plans to modernize U.S. intermediate nuclear forces based in Western Europe, and Josip Tito’s death in Yugoslavia, a combination of institutional reform of declassification procedures within the Department and anxieties held by some Department officials inspired a re-review of already cleared FRUS compilations. In response, David Trask, the head of the Office of the Historian (HO), used the official “dissent channel” to appeal the re-review decision to the highest levels of the Department. Trask’s appeal was denied and the re-review delayed, for several years, the release of many FRUS volumes covering the first half of the 1950s. More importantly, however, the 1980 debate over FRUS exposed sensitivities to releasing Cold War secrets that continued to plague the series – eventually with sensational consequences – throughout the remainder of the decade.

An Outburst of Pamphlets: Public Debate about FRUS during the Civil War [Research]

Aaron W. Marrs — 2011-12-05T00:00:00

In a research paper posted to this site on June 24, 2011, I wrote about the domestic reaction to the first Foreign Relations (FRUS) volume [text and video] published in 1861. That paper focused primarily on the positive reaction of Northern newspapers. Tracking coverage of the first FRUS volume in the press allows us to see how FRUS was received throughout the Union. Historians have other options for learning about public reaction. In 1863, a brief flurry of pamphlets sprung up after the publication of the FRUS volume covering 1862. In these pamphlets, we can see contemporaries debate the propriety of publishing state papers.

Lincoln’s P.R. Coup [Research]

Aaron W. Marrs — 2011-12-02T00:00:00

In addition to the domestic challenge it presented, the fledgling Confederacy posed a foreign policy dilemma for Abraham Lincoln’s administration. The Confederacy hoped to use its position as a crucial source of cotton to secure recognition from foreign powers and boost its legitimacy, and it sent commissioners abroad to sway other countries into supporting its cause.

Special FRUS Volumes: Origins of “The Lansing Papers” [Research]

David Langbart — 2011-11-30T00:00:00

In February 1940, the Department of State released a special two-volume supplement to the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series. Those special volumes carried the sub-title “The Lansing Papers, 1914-1919.” Robert Lansing served as Counselor (second in charge in the Department) from April 1914 to June 1915 and then as Secretary of State from June 1915 to February 1920. As the preface noted, the volumes contained “an extensive selection from the large body of correspondence of Robert Lansing... secured for the files of the Department of State following Mr. Lansing’s death in 1928.” The preface further explained that the materials included were not available when the Department prepared the regular Foreign Relations volumes for the years 1914 through 1919 or the special supplementary volumes dealing with World War I and Russia. Realizing the importance of and public interest in the Lansing papers, the Department decided to publish them as a supplement to the series.

Amateurs Need Not Apply [Research]

Peter Cozzens — 2011-11-22T00:00:00

In researching the Foreign Relations (FRUS) series of the Gilded Age (1869-1897), I was particularly struck with the high level of attention it received in the State Department. Unlike the series today, which is prepared by professional historians in an office well removed from the regional and functional bureaus, the nineteenth century FRUS reflected the combined efforts of the key officers of the Department. The fact that the documents published in FRUS were contemporaneous and often reflected both the direction of American foreign policy and Department actions on most of the key issues of the day made such scrutiny imperative. With Congress as the intended consumer of FRUS, the last thing the Department needed was to submit correspondence assembled randomly or without a nuanced understanding of policy.

Panel Discussion on FRUS at the Wilson Center [Event]

Office of the Historian — 2011-11-07T00:00:00

“Foreign Relations of the United States Series: SALT I, 1969–1972”

A panel discussion at the Wilson Center
February 2, 2012, 3:30-5 p.m.

The Nuclear Proliferation International History Project in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State's Office of the Historian presents a panel discussion on the latest volume in the Foreign Relations of the United States Series, 1969–1976, Volume XXXII, SALT I, 1969–1972. Speakers will include: Erin Mahan, chief historian of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Michael Krepon, co-founder and senior associate at Stimson and Amb. Raymond L. Garthoff, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and former member of the SALT negotiating team.

The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks produced a series of comprehensive arms control agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union that for the first time limited the deployment of ballistic missiles and anti-ballistic missile systems. Commonly referred to as “SALT I,” the agreements were signed by President Richard Nixon and the General Secretary of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev at the Moscow Summit in May 1972. This volume documents the negotiations leading up to the agreement, the internal deliberations among U.S. policy makers, and reveals the play of political and national security considerations that factored into U.S. negotiating positions and policy decisions.

Tim McDonnell, program associate in the Wilson Center's Nuclear Proliferation International History Project will chair the event.

Public Presentation on FRUS at President Lincoln’s Cottage [Event]

Office of the Historian — 2011-11-07T00:00:00

“Celebrating 150 Years of FRUS at Lincoln’s Cottage”

A presentation at President Lincoln’s Cottage
December 1, 2011, 6:30-7:30 p.m.

President Lincoln’s Cottage and the Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State are hosting a public program to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), the flagship publication of the Department’s Office of the Historian. Join Burrus Carnahan, noted Civil War and Lincoln author and scholar, as he interviews Dr. Aaron Marrs, Civil War researcher with the Office of the Historian, on Marrs’ new research that sheds light on foreign relations in the context of the Civil War.

Update: Video of the event is now available on YouTube: Part I and Part II.

Discussion on FRUS at the Miller Center of Public Affairs [Event]

Office of the Historian — 2011-10-31T00:00:00

“A Weapon of Mass Instruction?: The Foreign Relations Series and the Politics of American Globalism”

A discussion at the Miller Center of Public Affairs
University of Virginia
November 7, 2011, 4 p.m.

Since 1861, the Foreign Relations of the United States (or FRUS) series has evolved to become the official documentary history of U.S. foreign policy, produced according to scholarly best practices and under a Congressional mandate. As part of the sesquicentennial anniversary of the series, the Office of the Historian at the U.S. Department of State launched a special research initiative to explore the history of FRUS. On November 7, come to the Miller Center to participate in a discussion with Office of the Historian staff members William McAllister and Joshua Botts as they share research into how the U.S. Government has historically struggled to balance security imperatives with its commitment to transparency and democratic accountability with University of Virginia faculty and students and the interested public.

Update: The Miller Center has posted audio and video of the event.

Eureka!: The 1925 FRUS Order (and Why You Should Be Nice to Archivists) [Research]

Joshua Botts — 2011-10-27T00:00:00

One of the most frustrating experiences for a historian occurs when you know that something happened but you can’t find contemporary sources to shed light on how it happened, or why it happened the way that it did. For the FRUS sesquicentennial project, the Departmental Order of March 26, 1925, which for the first time explicitly defined principles for the Foreign Relations series, has been a source of exactly this kind of angst. After hours of digging through the Department of State’s central files for the period 1910-1929 in search of the Order – which had been reprinted in a 1928 FRUS volume and referenced repeatedly as an important milestone for the series – the best I could come up with was a 45-page memorandum written in 1937 that summarized its origins to refute criticism of later FRUS volumes. While the 1937 memo provided a great deal of interesting information about the Order and the major players in its creation, it was a poor substitute for primary source documentation from 1925 embodying contemporary, rather than retrospective, accounts of the effort to formalize the principles behind the Foreign Relations series.

The Constitutional Basis of FRUS [Research]

Aaron W. Marrs — 2011-10-24T00:00:00

In these blog posts, we have been sharing the fruits of our ongoing research into the history of the Foreign Relations of the United States series. As our investigation continues, our knowledge about the series grows and evolves. In this post, I’ll discuss how new findings shed light on some long-standing questions about the series.

FRUS at War: Appeasement, Alliance Politics, and the Paris Peace Conference Volumes [Research]

Joshua Botts — 2011-10-20T00:00:00

The first potentially paralyzing clearance battle waged for the Foreign Relations series came in the late 1930s. When preparing the regular annual volumes, Department of State historians—or other officials—could simply omit materials that posed insolvable clearance problems. This in fact occurred in 1936, in response to opposition within the Department and from the Iranian government to publishing records from 1922 concerning a financial mission to Tehran and negotiations for an oil concession. The annual volumes covering 1922 simply skipped over Iran entirely, though the omissions did not diminish the value of the remainder of the compilation. The Paris Peace Conference volumes posed a much different challenge because foreign government clearances would be required to publish the jointly “owned” formal minutes of conference proceedings and since the conference record had to be substantially complete to be coherent. If any of the foreign governments that played a major role at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference objected to publishing the records of the conference discussions, Department of State historians would have to put the subseries publication plan on hold until they changed their minds.

The Proper Selection of Dispatches [Research]

Peter Cozzens — 2011-10-12T00:00:00

In my last post, “Our Ministers Do Not Express Their Real Opinions,” I said that I intended to devote this post to a discussion of how the State Department’s reaction to complaints from ministers (ambassadors) that their sensitive dispatches might appear in Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) volumes dampened candor in their reporting. The nature of historical research being what it often is, you think you know what you need, where to find it, and when to wrap up the research—only to come across something that challenges your assumptions. For this post, I find myself writing on something unexpected.

The First Foreign Relations of the United States Volume of 1861 [Research]

Aaron W. Marrs — 2011-09-30T00:00:00

A brief video with accompanying transcript of Dr. Aaron Marrs speaking about his research into why the first volume of the Foreign Relations of the United States series was released in 1861 amidst the Civil War, the precedents for such a release of foreign relations documentation, and the reception of the first volume.

The Foreign Relations of the United States Series: An Orientation [Research]

Edward Brynn — 2011-09-29T00:00:00

A brief video with accompanying transcript of Ambassador Edward Brynn speaking about the Foreign Relations of the United States series—its history, evolution, and continuing significance.

FRUS’s War in the Pacific [Research]

Joshua Botts — 2011-09-15T00:00:00

In the mid-1930s, current and retired U.S. diplomats complained that Foreign Relations volumes provided too much transparency for the Department of State’s own good. In response, the chief of the Division of Publications—and editor of the Foreign Relations series—Cyril Wynne explained the careful process that Department historians undertook, in collaboration with other officials, to compile, edit, and declassify documents for Foreign Relations volumes. Wynne placed special emphasis on Ambassador Joseph Grew’s support for the series since he “served in the most difficult post in our entire Foreign Service”—Japan. While Grew’s appreciation of FRUS was genuine, the Japanese government had grown both weary and wary of the series by 1936.

What Do Those Asterisks Mean? [Research]

Aaron W. Marrs — 2011-09-13T00:00:00

In my previous blog post, I discussed how historians start their research with a question about the past. In this post, I’ll talk about another question that we in the Office of the Historian have had about the first FRUS volume published in 1861: what material was left out?

“Our Ministers Do Not Express Their Real Opinions” [Research]

Peter Cozzens — 2011-09-07T00:00:00

American diplomats reporting from abroad in the latter decades of the nineteenth century wrote openly at their own peril. The Department of State offered no guarantee that their dispatches would remain confidential. In annual volumes called Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States (the precursor to what we now know by the acronym FRUS), the State Department published what it considered the most salient diplomatic correspondence of the year. In my research article “A Surprising Manifestation of Backbone” we see an example of the Department manipulating FRUS content to pursue policy goals as well as to shape public opinion and Congressional debate. And, as I implied in that article, there was sometimes a sinister relationship between FRUS and the spoils system by means of which most ministers and consuls were appointed—that is to say, Secretaries of State permitted the publication of sensitive dispatches for partisan political purposes.

“The problem that you have undertaken to help us with is one of very, very great difficulty”: The Formation of the Historical Advisory Committee and the First HAC Meeting, December 1957 [Research]

Joshua Botts — 2011-08-11T00:00:00

If you read my previous post on the story of “the Yalta papers,” you’ll see that one of the most consequential legacies of the Yalta FRUS was the creation of a Historical Advisory Committee (HAC) in 1957. The formation of the HAC marked an important transition for the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, formalizing the critical role that academic and professional organizations had played in the evolution of the series since the 1920s and insulating FRUS from the partisan political pressures that had been so significant in the first half of the 1950s. The HAC was one of a series of changes in the way that FRUS was planned, produced, declassified, and released that took place in the 1950s.

Public Presentations on FRUS at the New York Public Library (NYPL) [Event]

Office of the Historian — 2011-08-08T00:00:00

“New Perspectives on Postcolonial History: A Workshop on Using FRUS in the 21st Century”

A presentation at the New York Public Library
October 12, 2011, 3 p.m.

This workshop on researching the postwar history of decolonization, nationalist struggles, and identity will demonstrate how to utilize the Foreign Relations of the United States series for non-diplomatic history topics. Office of the Historian staff will also provide an overview of NARA and other available on-line resources, address more traditional uses of FRUS, and demonstrate the research capabilities of history.state.gov. Participants will have access to computers and will be encouraged to search/browse the site and consult with Office of the Historian staff regarding their research interests.

“Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire”: A Conversation about Security and Transparency in the Cold War Era Foreign Relations Series”

A presentation at the New York Public Library
October 12, 2011, 6 p.m.

The Foreign Relations of the United States series, the official documentary record of United States foreign policy and diplomatic activity, has embodied the Department of State’s commitment to responsible transparency since 1861. The evolution of the series during the twentieth century, particularly debates in the 1950s surrounding the release of the 1945 Yalta Conference volume (and those covering other wartime conferences), illuminates historical debates within the United States Government over secrecy versus transparency in the realm of diplomacy and national security and tensions between Congress and the Executive Branch in conducting foreign policy. Dr. Josh Botts of the Department of State’s Office of the Historian and Susan Butler, distinguished historian and biographer, will discuss how the story of the Yalta FRUS volume reflected the interplay of partisan impulses, national security imperatives, and bureaucratic politics in the 1950s.

Update: An audio recording of this event is available from the NYPL homepage.

Publicizing Foreign Relations in Time of War: The Foundation of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series [Research]

Aaron W. Marrs — 2011-06-24T00:00:00

After the start of the Civil War, the Union faced a series of challenges related to foreign relations. One immediate challenge was to prevent the fledgling Confederate government from gaining recognition from foreign powers. In the summer of 1861, the Lincoln government received calls from Congress to demonstrate and explain the steps being taken to prevent such recognition from taking place. Thus, in addition to the challenge overseas, the administration had to respond to domestic demands for information about foreign policy. The administration responded to these demands by releasing several hundred pages of foreign affairs-related documentation with the President’s annual message in December 1861. Although the documents were released in direct response to a Congressional demand, they also served a public relations function. This paper will explore the creation of the first volume of the Foreign Relations series and suggest some general conclusions about the significance of this volume.

“Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire”: The Politics of the Yalta FRUS [Research]

Joshua Botts — 2011-06-24T00:00:00

Throughout the 20th century, the Foreign Relations series evolved in response to broader transformations in American foreign relations, government institutions, and political culture. The most enduring of these transformations occurred in the 1950s, when the series adapted to the development of the national security state and the globalization of U.S. power. The intense bureaucratic, partisan, and international controversies generated by the 1955 FRUS volume for the 1945 Yalta conference helped define the series for the Cold War.

“A Surprising Manifestation of Backbone”: The 1872 Foreign Relations Affair [Research]

Peter Cozzens — 2011-06-21T00:00:00

In 1895, the Chicago Inter Ocean gleefully greeted the annual Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) volume, which contained a hefty sampling of the year’s correspondence between the Secretary of State and his ministers abroad. “As it is made up of dispatches which have passed between [American] foreign representatives and the government, and as they are deferred so long that they are of the quality of last year’s bird’s nests, it is possible the reading public fancies the book must be dry and musty.”

Exploring the History of the First Foreign Relations Volume [Research]

Aaron W. Marrs — 2011-06-13T00:00:00

In 2011, the Department of State celebrates the 150th anniversary of its official documentary history publication, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS). Ironically for a project staffed by historians, much of FRUS’s own history is shrouded in mystery. I am part of a team within the Office of the Historian which has been doing some research to learn more about the series’ past and the context in which it was created. During the year we’ll be highlighting notable and controversial moments in the series’ history here on this website. My own work has focused on the first volume, published in December 1861. The volume includes over 400 pages of correspondence between U.S. diplomats abroad and Secretary of State William Seward, and was released as part of President Abraham Lincoln’s annual message to Congress.

Panels on FRUS in the 19th and 20th Centuries at the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) 2011 Annual Meeting [Event]

Office of the Historian — 2011-04-01T00:00:00

“FRUS In The World, Part One: New Research on the Foreign Relations of the United States series, The Long Nineteenth Century”

A panel at the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Annual Meeting
June 24, 2011

Chair
- William B. McAllister, Ph.D., Special Projects Director, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State
Presenters
- Aaron Marrs, Ph.D., Research Historian, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State
- Peter Cozzens, Special Assistant to The Historian, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State
Commentators
- Howard Jones, Ph.D., University of Alabama
- J.C.A Stagg, Ph.D, University of Virginia

As part of the sesquicentennial commemoration of the FRUS series, the Office of the Historian has launched a major research initiative to examine numerous questions about the series that have remained unexamined for 150 years. The most significant results of this research will be revealed in the two sessions we propose to present at the 2011 SHAFR annual meeting. Why was the series launched in 1861, and how was it shaped by previous public releases of foreign policy documents? Why did the series continue after its ostensible reason for publication, the Civil War, ended? What controversies surrounded the compilation and publication of the series in the later 19th century? This panel will shed important new light on multiple aspects of 19th century U.S. history and historiography, including relations between the legislative and executive branches, conceptions about “openness in government” in a nineteenth-century context, issues of professional expertise and politicization involved in producing FRUS volumes, and important foreign policy issues of the era. In order to explore this topic thoroughly, we anticipate that each presenter will speak for 30 minutes, followed by substantial remarks from the two commentators, with sufficient time reserved for the audience to participate in a larger discussion of the issues raised.

“Publicizing Foreign Relations in Time of War: The Foundation of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series”

Aaron W. Marrs

An examination of early Foreign Relations of the United States volumes gives us an opportunity to investigate how the federal government presented its foreign policy to the American people, and how the populace reacted to foreign policy. Using the volumes themselves, Department of State documents, and private papers, this paper will demonstrate that FRUS was composed for a domestic (not international) audience and constitutes an example of the federal balance of powers. This paper will shed light on FRUS’s early history, contrast the volumes with the ad hoc publications which preceded them, and explore the contemporary implications of its publication.

“Charming Volumes for Summer Outings”: FRUS and the Transformation of American Foreign Policy, 1870-1900

Peter Cozzens

This paper will examine the role the FRUS series played during the transformative years of American Foreign Policy from 1870-1900. It will place especial emphasis on Congressional, public, and foreign reception of the series and the series’ impact on American foreign policy and transparency in government. Also examined will be the quality and completeness of the volumes, particularly with respect to salient policy issues and crises. The paper will be based on research principally in government documents, private papers, and period newspapers.

“FRUS In The World, Part Two: New Research on the Foreign Relations of the United States series, The Twentieth Century in Comparative Perspective”

A panel at the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Annual Meeting
June 24, 2011

Chair
- Michael Hogan, Ph.D., President of the University of Illinois
Presenters
- Joshua Botts, Ph.D., Research Historian, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State
- Sacha Zala Ph.D., Director, Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland, Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences
Commentators
- Richard Immerman, Ph.D., Temple University
- Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, Ph.D., San Diego State University

As part of the sesquicentennial commemoration of the FRUS series, the Office of the Historian has launched a major research initiative to examine numerous questions about the series that have remained unexamined for 150 years. The most significant results of this research will be revealed in the two sessions we propose to present at the 2011 SHAFR annual meeting. This panel will shed important new light on multiple aspects of 20th century U.S. history, including the growing professionalization of both the historical profession and the Foreign Service, the tension between the rising status of the United States in world affairs and the desire to promote informed public debate through release of foreign policy documents, the international ramifications of revelations that impact other governments, and political factors that can shape the compilation and publication of FRUS volumes. This panel will also feature an important international comparative perspective by including the prominent Swiss scholar Sacha Zala, who has examined how several European governments have dealt with many of these same issues. In order to explore this topic thoroughly, we anticipate that each presenter will speak for 30 minutes, followed by substantial remarks from the two commentators, with sufficient time reserved for the audience to participate in a larger discussion of the issues raised.

“Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire”: The Politics of the Yalta FRUS

Joshua Botts

This paper examines the origins, compilation, reception, and consequences of the Yalta FRUS volume. The Yalta volume was notable for several reasons. It not only sparked intense public controversy upon its 1955 release, but it also represented the culmination of the professionalization of FRUS that began in the 1920s and introduced methodological changes that transformed the compilation and scope of the FRUS series during the postwar period. The paper uses Department of State and Congressional records, personal manuscript collections, and newspapers to examine issues of domestic and bureaucratic politics, diplomacy, and national security as FRUS entered the Cold War era.

“The War of Documents” and the Professionalization of the Editor’s Work: A Comparative View

Sacha Zala

This paper will place the FRUS series in comparative international perspective by examining similar issues that have arisen in European official publications of foreign policy documents. Topics will include how the FRUS series impacted, and was impacted by, the “War Guilt Controversy” of the 1920s; controversies surrounding the publication of FRUS volumes on the Paris Peace Conferences; the use of captured German records as a Cold War propaganda tool; and general observations about developing professional standards for historians and government employees surrounding the use and release of sensitive foreign policy documents.

Panels on Crisis and Change in FRUS at the Society for History in the Federal Government (SHFG) 2011 Annual Meeting [Event]

Office of the Historian — 2011-02-15T00:00:00

“Crisis and Change in the Foreign Relations of the United States Series, 1861-2011”

A panel at the Society for History in the Federal Government Annual Meeting
March 31, 2011

Chair
- William B. McAllister, Ph.D. Special Projects Director, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State
Presenters
- Aaron Marrs, Ph.D., Research Historian, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State
- Peter Cozzens, Special Assistant to The Historian, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State
- Joshua Botts, Ph.D., Research Historian, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State

The Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, the official documentary record of U.S. foreign policy, enters its 150th year of continuous publication in 2011. The Department of State’s Office of the Historian, which publishes the FRUS series, is conducting significant new research about the historical development of the series. To commemorate the FRUS sesquicentennial, we propose to share the most significant early results of this research at the 2011 SHFG Annual Conference. This panel will shed important new light on multiple aspects of 18th through 20th century history and historiography, including pre-1861 releases of foreign policy documents, relations between the legislative and executive branches, conceptions about “openness in government” in a 19th century context, the growing professionalization of both historians and the Foreign Service, the tension between the rising status of the United States in world affairs and the desire to promote informed public debate through release of foreign policy documents, the international ramifications of revelations that have an impact on other governments, and evolving political factors that have shaped and continue to shape the compilation and publication of FRUS volumes. We also envision allotting sufficient time after the presentations to engage in question-and-answer and general discussion with the audience about issues of interest to them.

Inaugural conference of the FRUS Special Conference Series [Event]

Office of the Historian — 2011-02-01T00:00:00

“Foreign Economic Policy, 1973-1976”

Inaugural conference of the FRUS Special Conference Series
March 31, 2011

As part of an array of events designed to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, the State Department’s Office of the Historian is inaugurating the FRUS Special Conference Series to highlight recently-published FRUS volumes.

On March 7th, the Office of the Historian and the George Mason University School of Public Policy will host a half-day conference focused on the FRUS volume dealing with Foreign Economic Policy, 1973-1976. The conference will take place at the George Mason University School of Public Policy in Arlington, Virginia. The text of Foreign Economic Policy, 1973-1976 is available online.

Panel on FRUS and National Security at American Historical Association (AHA) 2011 Annual Meeting [Event]

Office of the Historian — 2011-01-01T00:00:00

“Open Secrets: The Foreign Relations of the United States Series, Democracy’s ‘Need to Know,’ and National Security”

American Historical Association Annual Meeting
January 9, 2011

Two historians from the Office of the Historians participated in a panel at the American Historical Association (AHA) 2011 Annual Meeting, entitled “Open Secrets: The Foreign Relations of the United States Series, Democracy’s ‘Need to Know,’ and National Security”. Video of the event is available via CSPAN video and Youtube video.