The Cold War

Find old cold war articles here. We have free newspaper articles from the 1950s cold war check them out today!

Fingers Crossed for a Lasting Peace
(Weekly News Review, 1953)

Fighting in Korea ended under a truce effective July 27. It is a well known fact, though, that the truce is no guarantee that fighting won’t start again. The UN wants to work out an agreement with the Reds that will mean no more war for Korea.


– and work it out they did; the truce has held for some sixty-five years. This article concerns all the various minutia both sides had to agree to in order to reach the agreement.

The Importance of Winning
(Quick Magazine, 1950)

Policy makers in Washington were divided into two groups during the early Cold War days: one held that Communist expansion was most dangerous in Asia while the other believed that Europe was the spot most deserving of attention. This short editorial by John Gunther (1901 – 1970) argued that Asia was the vulnerable zone and if Korea was lost to the Reds – the whole world would follow.

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A Warning to the West
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1948)

This is a 1948 Soviet poster that foreign correspondents of the day reported as having been widely distributed across the Worker’s Paradise. A veiled piece of patriotic pageantry, it was clearly intended to intimidate the Western democracies; it made its appearance a few weeks into the Berlin Blockade (June, 1948 – May, 1949) – an international stunt that gained the Soviets nothing.

From Amazon:
Iconography of Power: Soviet Political Posters Under Lenin and Stalinstyle=border:none

Why America Could Win A War Against Russia
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

When this article first went to print, American forces had been slugging it out on the Korean peninsula for the past six months – and the American people had genuine concerns about that dust-up snowballing into a much larger conflict. This article was written to remind them that mighty air armadas do not simply appear when necessary; they must be planned and budgeted. The author goes into great depth concerning all the impressive aircraft that was both available in limited numbers and on the drawing boards – but the military-industrial complex would need a lead time of 18 months to produce them in effective numbers.

If we win this war or any part of it, it won’t be due to the wisdom or foresight of our political leaders but to what U.S. industry has heretofore conclusively proved itself capable of – an outright production miracle.


Were Russian MIGS Better Than American Fighter Jets?

George F. Kennan: Mr. X
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1949)

George F. Kennan was an American diplomat who is remembered as being one of the most insightful analysts of Soviet foreign policy during the cold war.


Click here to read about the Cold War prophet who believed that Kennan’s containment policy was not tough enough on the Soviets…

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The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge
(Collier’s Magazine, 1951)

There is a set of rocky hills close to the 38th Parallel that came to be known as Heartbreak Ridge in the Fall of 1951. It came to pass when a plan was made to secure these hills for the U.N Forces – they thought this would be done in one day – but it continued for a full month. At long last, the 23rd Regiment of the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division finally wrested Heartbreak Ridge from a numerically superior enemy on October 12 – and in so doing, lost half their strength (1,650 men).

The Hungarian Uprising of 1956
(Collier’s Magazine, 1957)

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a nationwide revolt against the government of the Hungarian People’s Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956. Though leaderless when it first began, it was the first major threat to Soviet control since the USSR’s forces drove Nazi Germany from its territory at the end of World War II.

Hiding A Military Error
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1946)

This 1946 article puts a nice face on a subject that both American diplomats and military men were eager to hide from the world – the issue involving a total lack of military preparedness. The journalist reported on the military’s push to bulk-up the reserves to an acceptable level, but the real story was that all branches of the armed services were on a recruiting drive for more men (and women) to make up for the fact that the post-war deployment program had drastically reduced the combat effectiveness of practically every unit. Under heavy pressure from civil authorities to save money, military planners failed to retain the services of numerous combat veterans to train the newest recruits. This partially explains the lack of accomplishments attained by the earliest divisions deployed to halt the North Korean advances in 1950.

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The Soviets at the U.N.
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1949)

In 1949 there still existed such hope and optimism for the future of the United Nations as a force for good in the world – and a profound disappointment can clearly be sensed in this writer’s voice as you read this column that reported as to how the Soviets were manipulating the organization to benefit their espionage efforts.


CLICK HERE to read about the beautiful Blonde Battalions who spied for the Nazis…


Click here to read about the blackmail and extortion tactics that American Communists used in Hollywood during the Great Depression…

False Hope in Washington
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

This snippet appeared on the newsstands shortly after Halloween, 1950. It will give you a sense of the great relief that was felt not simply in the halls of Congress and the Pentagon, but all across the country. The journalist wrote this report as if decades had past and a distant memory was being recalled about a five month-long war that was once fought and won by the all-suffering Americans and their U.N. Allies, but the Communists learned their lesson, so we don’t have to worry about them anymore. The war’s turning point is hailed (The Inchon Landings), as is General MacArthur, American casualty figures are listed and mention is made of the South Koreans moving into the recently liberated towns of the North. But this same reporter would write a very different article for the next issue of the magazine when he would relay that the war had expanded, and casualty figures had ballooned with the intervention of the Chinese Army.

Japan Chipped-In
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

War-weary Japan recognized that when the U.S. and her assorted allies went to war in Korea, she too, could play an important roll in the struggle as a reliable, non-combatant partner.

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The Red Spies in Washington
(Coronet Magazine, 1952)

Stalin’s deep fear of traitors and moles was not simply confined to the Soviet Union – it spread throughout every branch of his embassies as well. This article pertains to the Soviet spies who worked in Washington – the ones who spied on the Soviet diplomatic corps:

When a new [diplomat arrives from Moscow] he soon learns that the Ambassador is not the real boss. One outside diplomat who has contacts with the Embassy declares: ‘Always, there is someone in the Embassy whom the others fear. They live in terror of him, for he is the real leader… I have seen Soviet officials actually tremble when he comes into the room.’


A 1951 article about the young CIA can be read by clicking here…

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Marriner Stoddard Eccles on Cold War Economics
(The Diamondback, 1950)

While serving as FDR’s Federal Reserve chairman between 1934 and 1948, Marriner Stoddard Eccles (1890 – 1977) put into play numerous policies that allowed the Federal Reserve to be sublimated to the interests of the Treasury; as a result, he is largely remembered as the patron saint of deficit spending. When he left that position during the Truman administration he went on the lecture circuit where he repeatedly condemned both the post-war economic policy as well as the Cold War policies of the State Department. The attached article summarizes a talk he gave at the University of Maryland in February of 1950.


Click here to read a Cold War editorial by Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.

The Reformed South Korean Military
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1952)

By the close of 1952 it became evident to anyone who followed the events in Asia that the army of the Republic of Korea (ROK) had evolved into a competent and reliable fighting force; highly disciplined and well-lead, it was finally able to both take and hold ground while simultaneously inflicting heavy casualties on their the enemies. Gone from the mind was that South Korean army of 1950: that retreating mob that quickly surrendered their nation’s capital to the on-rushing Communists just three days into the war, leaving in their wake a trail of badly needed equipment.


After a year and a half of the most vicious combat, the ROK Army put in place the badly needed reforms that were demanded if the war was to be won. Relying on their own combat veterans as well as their United Nation’s allies, recruits were clearly schooled in what was required to survive in battle. As relieved as the many Western commanders were to see how effectively the South Koreans were able to create such a force, the liabilities of this army were still genuine and they are listed in this article as well.

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