Wed, October 24
@ 7PM
McCune Conference Room
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The Films of the Cold War Series Presents: "The Lives of Others"
1984, East Berlin. The population of the GDR is kept under strict control by the STASI, the East German Secret Police. It's declared goal: "To know
everything." Florian Von Donnersmarck's devastating political thriller
traces the gradual disillusionment of Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich
Muhe), a wire-tapping expert charged with observing the private lives
of a famous playwright and his actress companion in order to determine
their loyalty to the socialist state.
Professor Harold Marcuse (UCSB) and Tara Woodruff (USCB) will provide a scholarly introduction and lead the pre-screening discussion.
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Tues, November 6
@ 4PM
HSSB 4020 |
Lecture Series: Paul Spickard "Who Do We Think We Are? American Identity and Immigration Policy from the Cold War to the War on Islam"
American immigration policy, and indeed American identity, ha ve changed
dramatically during the Long Cold War period. From a tightly restricted
vision of who would be allowed to become an American after the 1920s,
Americans in the high Cold War era came to embrace a new vision of extending
open arms to peoples from around the globe in the 1960s. After new, Cold
War-style fears were generated in the 21st century, some Americans began to
speak of a permanent global war against 'Islamo-Fascism.' Meanwhile, many
Americans also reversed course on immigration policy once again and tried to
close American borders to darker peoples, citing security fears. UCSB's own Professor
Paul Spickard will chart and explain these historical changes, both in US
immigration policy and in Americans' sense of who we are and should be.
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Thurs, November 15
@ 2PM
Harbor Room in the
University Center |
Lecture Series: Hugh Wilford "The Mighty Wurlitzer: CIA 'Front' Operations in the Cold War and After"
During the early years of the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency secretly
funded a vast array of "front" organizations in an effort to combat
Communist ideological influence around the world. Likened by one
intelligence officer to a "Mighty Wurlitzer" on which the U.S. could play
any propaganda tune it desired, the CIA's front network embraced an
astonishing variety of American
citizen groups - among them labor, women, and African Americans - and
operated in every major theater of the Cold War, from Western Europe to
Southeast Asia. In part two of "The Unfinished Cold War" lecture
series, Hugh Wilford, author of the first comprehensive account of this
operation, will explore the origins of the Mighty Wurlitzer in the late
1940s, its expansion into the "Third World" during the 1950s, and its
eventual exposure and demise in the late 1960s. Focusing on the complex
dynamics of the CIA's clandestine partnership with the private
individuals who managed its client organizations, Wilford will also
reflect on the significance of the Cold War's front operations for our
own age of global conflict.
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Wed, January 23
@ 7PM
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The Films of the Cold War Series Presents: "Good Night and Good Luck"
Good Night, And Good Luck. takes place during the early days of broadcast
journalism in 1950s America. It chronicles the real-life conflict between
television newsman Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House
Un-American Activities Committee. With a desire to report the facts and
enlighten the public, Murrow, and his dedicated staff - headed by his producer
Fred Friendly and Joe Wershba in the CBS newsroom - defy corporate and
sponsorship pressures to examine the lies and scaremongering tactics perpetrated
by McCarthy during his communist 'witch-hunts'.
Professor Colin Gardner (UCSB) will provide a scholarly introduction and lead a post-screening discussion.
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Thurs, March 13
@ 4PM
McCune Conference Room |
Lecture Series: Melvin Leffler "Cold War Legacies and Contemporary Dilemmas"
 Did the Cold War truly end in 1991?
Discussing the Cold War roots of today's international conflicts,
Melvin Leffler, professor of history at the University of Virginia and
author of Preponderance of Power, provides some surprising answers to this question in part 3 of "The Unfinished Cold War" lecture series.
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