Research guides: Foreign government information: Foreign relations and declassified documents

About foreign relations

The U.S. Constitution divides foreign policy powers between the President and the Congress.

The Department of State advises the President on foreign policy while the Senate advises and gives consent over treaties proposed and ambassadors appointed by the President.

Check Political Science: Major Political Science Databases for periodical indexes for political science.

The White House

The White House
- Briefing room: includes statements of the President, press releases, press conferences, and briefings on foreign affairs
- National Security Council: advises the President on military affairs

U.S. Department of State

U.S. Department of State Website
- US Department of State Archive Websites
U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets
Daily Press Briefings
Department reports and publications
Country Commercial Guides
- 2003+
- countries' commercial environments using economic, political, and market analysis
- select CCG from the "Report Type" drop down menu
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Country Reports on Terrorism
- 1995+
Document collections (US Department of States)
- Includes Secretary Clinton Emails, Chile Declassification Project, Henry Kissinger Telephone Transcripts, Argentina Declassification Project, El Salvador Declassification Project, Guatemala Declassification Project and etc.
U.S. Department of State Dispatch
- Hein Online
- University of Toronto only
- 1990 - 1999 plus 2 supplements
- records foreign policy, speeches, congressional testimony, fact sheets, policy statements, maps and profiles of countries in the news
US Department of State dispatch
- print version in Robarts Library
Department of State Bulletin
- Hein Online
- University of Toronto only
- 1939 - 1989 (Vols. 1 - 89)
- predecessor of Dispatch

Department of State Bulletin
- available for request from UTL Downsview through LibrarySearch

Dispatches from United States consuls
- Individual fiche are available via request through LibrarySearch or email gov.info@utoronto.ca for help
- National Archives microfilm publication
A Reference Guide to United States Department of State Special Files
U.S. National Archives State Department Records
Electronic Reading Room
- 2001-2009

Congress

House Committee on Foreign Affairs
- press releases, hearings, transcripts and other committee materials
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
- press releases, reports, treaties and hearings

Civil war & world wars

ProQuest History Vault: American Politics in the Early Cold War: Truman and Eisenhower Administrations, 1945-1961
- includes interviews, diaries, handwritten notes, confidential correspondence, telegrams, internal memoranda, official reports, briefing books, press releases and briefings on and off the record
- also include transcripts from the Harry S. Truman Oral Histories Collection
ProQuest History Vault: Reconstruction and Military Government after the Civil War (1865-1877)
- collection of primary source material from the U.S. Army's Office of Civil Affairs during the early Reconstruction period in the American South
- includes letters, petitions, court proceedings, documents from newly established military districts of former Confederate states, claims for compensation by Union sympathizers for confiscated personal property during the war, and internal documents related to elections
Historic Government Publications from World War ll (Southern Methodist University)

Foreign relations of the United States (FRUS)

The Foreign Relations of The United States series, which begins in 1861, is the official record of major US foreign policy that have been declassified and published.

A 25 year time lag is required before declassification of these documents.

Documents are from

presidential libraries

National Security Council

Central Intelligence Agency

Agency for International Development

other foreign affair agencies

private papers of individuals involved in formulating US foreign policy

Foreign Relations of the United States (US Department of the State)
- 1945 - 1976
- E-book edition
Foreign Relations of the United States (University of Wisconsin)
- 1861 - 1958/60
Foreign Relations of the United States
- US1..S.........-F56
- 1861 - 1980
General index to the published volumes of the diplomatic correspondence and foreign relations of the United States
- US1..S.......F561...ENG
- 1861 - 1945

Asia

Afghanistan and the U.S., 1945-1963: Records of the U.S. State Department Central Classified Files
- includes special reports, studies and statistics, interviews and minutes of meetings, legal documents, internal communications, and translated documents
History Vault: CIA Cold War Research Reports and Records on Communism in China and Eastern Europe
- CIA Research Reports from 1946-1947 and records collected by Raymond Murphy on communism in China and Eastern Europe from 1917-1958
- This collection deals with international questions and biographical reports, offering profiles of relatively unknown leaders
- provides information on war recovery efforts, international aid, formation of countries, and information on the Chinese Communist Party
General George C. Marshall’s Mission to China, 1945-1947
- a collection of meeting minutes, reports, and memoranda prepared by U.S. advisers for the American special envoy to China George C. Marshall
- Marshall was sent in 1945 to negotiate a cease-fire to the Chinese Civil War and prevent growing Soviet influence, but left China in 1947 without a solution
Indochina, France, and the Viet Minh War, 1945-1954: Records of the U.S. State Department, Part 1: 1945-1949
- Records of the U.S. State Department’s Central Classified Files
- Includes instructions sent to and correspondence received by the State Department; the State Department’s internal documentation, as well as correspondence between the Department and other federal departments and agencies, Congress, and private individuals and organizations; telegrams, airgrams, instructions, inquiries, studies, memoranda, situation reports, translations, special reports, plans, and official and unofficial correspondence
Japan and the United States: Diplomatic, Security, and Economic Relations, Part III, 1961-2000
- Documents include declassified material from the State Department, the Pentagon, the CIA, and the White House.
The Minutes of the Shanghai Municipal Council, 1854-1943
- collection of minutes from meetings held by the Board of Directors of the Shanghai Municipal Council during its tenure
- The Shanghai Municipal Council was founded by a group of Western businessmen to govern the daily matters and infrastructure in the Shanghai International Settlement (1863–1941)
- Topics covered include sanitation, transportation, telecommunication and postal service, taxation, urban planning, gas supply, street lighting, rickshaw operator management, animal protection, and police system
Records of the U.S. Information Service in China: Chinese Press Reviews and Summaries, 1944-1950
- a collection of reviews of Chinese press and translations of radio broadcasts from the Chinese Civil War period
- provides a unique opportunity to understand immediate post-World War II Chinese history, comparative revolution, and early Cold War history
Sukarno and the Army-PKI Rivalry in the Years of Living Dangerously, 1960-1963
- includes memoranda, correspondence, studies and reports, maps, and news articles relating to US diplomatic activities with Indonesia, Indonesia's internal affairs, and Indonesia's relations with its neighbors
U.S. - Vietnam Collections
- include documents from the US State Department and CIA relating to the Vietnam War, U.S. – Vietnam relations, opposition groups, religious grous and related events in Cambodia and Laos. Of interest to researchers of Southeast Asian studies, US history, international relations, economics, political science and sociology. Subdivided into subject collections:
The U.S. civilian advisory effort in Vietnam : U.S. Operations Mission, 1954-1957 - Classified & Subject Files of the Executive Office
- includes files relating to the control and direction of US economic and technical assistance programs, and coordination of mutual security activities
ProQuest History Vault: Japanese American Incarceration: Records of the War Relocation Authority, 1942-1946
- includes reports and correspondence on issues such as security, education, health, vocational training, agricultural, food, and family welfare
- The collection is organized by relocation center. Sources in the collection reflect the day-to-day organization and activities of the ten concentration campus from 1942-1946

Europe

Public Document Clearinghouse: Congressional Russia Investigations
- Documents compiled by the Just Security in Congress's various Russia investigation dating back to the 2026 election cycle
- contains significant original source materials including letters, subpoenas, deposition transcripts, hearing transcripts, press statements, contempt resolutions, criminal referrals and any subpoena enforcement litigation
Commercial and Trade Relations Between Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union and the U.S., 1910-1963
- is a primary source collection relating to the commercial and trade relations between Russia and the United States beginning in the Tsarist Russia period and extending through the Khrushchev period
- provides longitudinal study of economic relations between Russia/the Soviet Union and the United States
- consist mostly of instructions to and dispatches from diplomatic and consular officials, and cover treaties, general conditions affecting trade, imports and exports, laws and regulations, customs administration, tariffs, and ports of entry activities./li>
European Colonialism in the Early 20th Century
- These collections include correspondence, studies, reports, cables, maps and other kinds of documents related to U.S. Consular activities, from the records of the U.S. State Department, Central Classified Files. U.S. consulates were listening posts reporting on the activities of European colonial governments and the activities of the natives peoples
European colonialism in the Early 20th Century: Colonialism and Nationalism in the Dutch East Indies, 1910 -1930
- contains correspondence, studies and reports, cables, maps, and other kinds of documents from the US State Department. Items cover the activities of the Dutch colonial government and natives of what is now Indonesia.
Confidential U.S. State Department central files. Great Britain internal affairs, 1945-1949
Despatches from United States ministers to Great Britain, 1819-1906
- Record group 59: General records of the Department of State. Diplomatic despatches, Great Britain, v. 24-76
Records of the Department of State relating to internal affairs of Great Britain, 1910-29
OSS/London: Special Operations Branch and Secret Intelligence Branch War Diaries

North America, Latin America & Caribbean

Foreign Relations Between the U.S. and Latin America and the Caribbean States, 1930-1944
- It includes cables, memoranda, correspondence, reports and analyses, and treaties, and is organized by country. In the Caribbean, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic are represented.
Nicaragua: Political Instability and U.S. Intervention, 1910-1933
- documents from the US State Department relating to the US occupation of Nicaragua
- includes official and unofficial correspondence, instructions, studies, memoranda, translations, reports, and plans
Federal Surveillance of the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño (PIP)
- Contains FBI's efforts to disrupt the activities of Puerto Rico's largest independent party, from 1941-1982
- provides a history and analysis of why independence was the second largest political movement on the island
- includes FBI surveillance and informant reports and correspondence from a variety of FBI offices, with materials ranging from pamphlets, newsletters, news clippings and articles, Extremist Intelligence Section reports, among others
Latino Civil Rights during the Carter Administration (1979 - 1981)
- White House Office of Hispanic Affairs
- Topics include inflation, bilingual education, police brutality, political unrest, immigration and civic rights
- Documents include those from LULAC, TELACU, La Raza, The Puerto Rican Legal Defense, and others

Other guides

Political Science
by Margaret Wall Last Updated Aug 31, 2022 99 views this year

Last Updated: Mar 18, 2024 2:35 PM
URL: https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/forecount
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Subjects: Country and Area Studies, Government Information, Political Science

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Research Guides

Foreign government information

About foreign relations

The White House

U.S. Department of State

Congress

Other agencies and links

Civil war & world wars

Foreign relations of the United States (FRUS)

Other declassified and confidential documents

Asia

Europe

North America, Latin America & Caribbean

Other guides

Library links

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