Hearts and Minds: The Unconventional Cold War

Throughout the Cold War the task of winning “hearts and minds” around the world was of great importance to Soviet and American leaders. Both sides fought a cultural Cold War via radio waves, television transmissions, propa-ganda, and other forms of psychological pressure. A number of recent books that draw on declassified U.S. government records have provided valuable in-sights into the American side of the cultural Cold War. The U.S. government employed military, political, diplomatic, and cultural means to influence for-eign and domestic opinion. The study of this phenomenon requires interdis-ciplinary methodological approaches. Diplomatic historians need to integrate the cultural and propaganda issues into their narratives, and cultural histori-ans need to pay greater heed to the themes raised in diplomatic historical accounts.