The Center for the United States and the Cold War will host “The Early Cold War and How it Led to Today: Connecting the McCarthy Era to the Age of Trump” a fall symposium at New York University on September 15-16. The two-day conference will bring together renowned scholars, writers, and journalists who have shaped our understanding of those years to reevaluate this crucial watershed in American history. Panel discussion topics include McCarthyism in the Age of Trump; Whatever Happened to the New Deal?; The United Nations and Postwar Internationalism; What Have We Learned Since Venona?; Cold War Controversies (Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs, and the Smith Act Trials). The conference will explore the deep connections between the early postwar years and the age of Donald Trump, and encourage a new wave of scholars to rediscover the Early Cold War. This event is sponsored by The Center for the United States and the Cold War at NYU’s Tamiment Library and The Nation.  Made possible by a grant from Agnese N. Haury

NYU’s Tamiment Library, the home of the Center for the United States and the Cold War, is one of the oldest and most important collections in the United States documenting the history of the Cold War and the left during the 20th century. Tamiment’s archives, photographs, oral histories, and other printed sources are the foundation for the exciting scholarship that has established the Cold War Center as a highly visible and internationally recognized research center since its founding in 2006.
Vanderbilt Hall 40 Washington Sq South New York, NY 10012

September 15, 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM
September 16, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Conference Schedule

September 15:
Tishman Auditorium
Vanderbilt Hall 40 Washington SQ South New York, NY 10012

4:30-6:00 PM
McCarthyism in the Age of Trump
Stephen F. Cohen (Nation)
Sarah Jaffe (Guardian/Nation Institute)
Suzanne Nossel (PEN America)
Timothy Naftali (NYU)
Chair: Victor Navasky (Nation)

September 16:
Greenberg Lounge
Vanderbilt Hall 40 Washington SQ South New York, NY 10012

9:15-10:45
Ripped From the Headlines: Cold War Controversies (Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs, Smith Act Trials)
Joan Brady (Independent Scholar)
Lori Clune (Fresno State University)
Jeff Kisseloff (Independent Scholar)
Ellen Schrecker (NYU)
Chair- Timothy V. Johnson (Tamiment Library/NYU)

11:00-12:30
What Have We Learned Since Venona?
Kai Bird (CUNY Graduate Center)
Vadim Birstein (Independent Scholar)
Beverly Gage (Yale)
John Prados (National Security Archive)
Chair- Tim Naftali (NYU)

1:45-3:15
What Happened to the New Deal?
Thomas Devine (Cal State-Northridge)
Kim Phillips-Fein (NYU)
Nicole Hemmer (Miller Center-University of Virginia)
Wendy Wall (SUNY-Binghamton)
Chair- David Greenberg (Rutgers)

1:45-3:15
What Happened to the New Deal?
Thomas Devine (Cal State-Northridge)
Kim Phillips-Fein (NYU)
Nicole Hemmer (University of Virginia)
Wendy Wall (SUNY- Binghamton)
Chair- David Greenberg (Rutgers)

3:30-5:00
The United Nations and Postwar Internationalism
Andrew Bacevich (Boston University
Blanche Wiesen Cook (John Jay College and the Graduate Center, CUNY)
Jessica Pearson-Patel (Macalester College)
Stephen Schlesinger (Century Foundation)
Chair- Chris Dietrich (Fordham)

RSVP: email tamiment.events@nyu.edu with guest name(s) & event title.