Library Research Guide for U.S. Foreign Relations

The National Security Archive collects and makes public previously classified US government  documents obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.  Different portions of this material are available on two platforms:

The National Security Archive website offers the Electronic Briefing Books and more recently collected material.

Digital National Security Archive (1945- ) contains 22 core collections of declassified documents, previously published on microfiche, the NDSA bibliographies, and other material.

U. S. Declassified Documents Reference System Online which contains declassified documents sent from various government agencies to the presidential libraries.

Some material on the Presidential Library websites is not in the Declassified Documents Reference System.

Vietnam War and American Foreign Policy, 1960-1975
HOLLIS Record
Descriptions of included collections

Includes much material that does not directly concern the Vietnam War:

• Associated Press, Saigon Bureau Records, Series 1: News Reports, 1953, 1960-71 and Series 2: Message Wires, 1963-1972
• CIA Records on the Cold War: The CAESAR, ESAU, and POLO Papers on China and the Soviet Union, 1953-1973
• The CAESAR, POLO, And ESAU Papers
• CIA Research Reports, Vietnam and Southeast Asia, 1946-1976 and Supplement
• Confidential U.S. State Department Special Files, Vietnam Working Group, 1963-1966
• Crises in Panama and the Dominican Republic: National Security Files and NSC Histories
• Documents of the National Security Council, 1947-1977, Basic Set
• Documents of the National Security Council, 1st -9th Supplements
• Environmental Protection Agency: Records of the U.S./USSR Joint Commission on Environmental Programs, 1972-1976
• Gerald R. Ford National Security Files, 1974-1977: The Middle East and South Asia, Presidential Country Files
• Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversations on World Affairs, 1969-1974
• John F. Kennedy National Security Files, 1961-1963
• Johnson Administration and Pacification in Vietnam, The Robert Komer-William Leonhart Files, 1966-1968
• Lyndon B. Johnson National Security Files, 1963-1969
• Memos of the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs: McGeorge Bundy to President Johnson, 1963-1966
• Minutes of Meetings of the National Security Council with Special Advisory Reports, and 1st - 4th Supplements
• Papers from the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection at the National Archives, Part 1: Kennedy Administration Policy toward Cuba
• Peers Inquiry of the Massacre at My Lai
• Public Statements by the Secretaries of Defense, 1961-1969, The Kennedy and Johnson Administrations
• Public Statements by the Secretaries of Defense, 1969-1977, The Nixon and Ford Administrations
• Public Statements by the Secretaries of Defense, 1977-1981, The Carter Administration
• Records of the Military Assistance and Advisory Group, Vietnam 1950-1964, Part 1: Adjutant General Division--Security Classified Files
• Records of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam, Part 1. The War in Vietnam, 1954-1973, MACV Historical Office Documentary Collection
• Records of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam, Part 2. Classified Studies from the Combined Intelligence Center Vietnam, 1965-1973
• Records of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam, Part 3. Progress Reports on Pacification in South Vietnam, 1965-1973
• Records of the U.S. Information Agency, Cold War Era Research Reports, Series A: 1960-1963
• Records of the U.S. Information Agency, Cold War Era Research Reports, Series B: 1964-1982
• Records of the U.S. Information Agency, Cold War Era Special Reports, 1964-1982
• Records of the U.S. Marine Corps in the Vietnam War, Part 1. Fleet Marine Force, Pacific Command Histories, 1964-1973
• Records of the U.S. Marine Corps in the Vietnam War, Part 2: III Marine Amphibious Force Command Histories, 1964-1971
• Records of the U.S. Marine Corps in the Vietnam War, Part 3: Divisional Command Histories, 1965-1971
• Richard M. Nixon National Security Files, 1969-1974
• Transcripts and Files of the Paris Peace Talks on Vietnam, 1968-1973
• U.S. Armed Forces in Vietnam, 1954-1975, Part 1: Indochina Studies
• U.S. Armed Forces in Vietnam, Part 2. Vietnam: Lessons Learned
• U.S. Armed Forces in Vietnam, Part 3. Vietnam: Reports of U.S. Army Operations
• U.S. Armed Forces in Vietnam, Part 4: Vietnam: U.S. Army Senior Officer Debriefing Reports
• U.S. Army Build-up and Activities in South Vietnam, 1965-1972
• U.S. State Department Office of the Executive Secretariat, Crisis Files, Part 1: The Berlin Crisis, 1957-1963
• U.S. State Department Office of the Executive Secretariat, Crisis Files, Part 2: The Middle East Crisis, 1967
• U.S. State Department Office of the Executive Secretariat, Official Exchanges of the President and Secretary of State with Foreign Leaders, 1961-1966
• Vietnam Documents and Research Notes Series, Translation and Analysis of Significant Viet Cong/North Vietnamese Documents
• Vietnam War: A Documentary Collection, Records of the Westmoreland vs. CBS Case
• Vietnam, The Media, and Public Support For The War
• War in Vietnam: Classified Histories by the National Security Council
• War in Vietnam: Papers of William C. Westmoreland

The Wilson Center Digital Archive  contains documents from the Cold War International History Project. E-dossiers offer materials from the Russian and East-Bloc Documents Database

Harvard Project on Cold War Studies offers Russian-language documents

Vladimir Bukovsky’s Soviet Archives website

Parallel History Project website (“thousands of pages of unpublished archival documents in facsimile, articles, and research reports with a particular emphasis on the military-political dimensions of the Cold War.