The Effects of Highly-charged, Civilian-centered Events on American Cold War Policy and the Soviet-American Relationship Between 1945-1950
Journal: HIMALAYA
Year: 2020

This honors thesis examines the role of highly charged, highly covered, and civilian-centered international events in the early Cold War’s development (1945-50). It does this through the case study of American students Peter Sellers and Warren Oelsner, who spent two months in Soviet military captivity in East Germany in 1949. Their case received substantial media coverage and the US government eventually obtained their release. By looking at a combination of government documents, newspaper artic