In response to a 1995 executive order, the Department of Defense has declassified 195 million pages of historical documents from the same era. Chief of Staff Jo Ann C. Jenkins introduced Slocombe during opening night ceremonies on June 28. Other sessions featured scholars and archivists with specialties in the Cold War, Department of Defense representatives and area specialists from the Library's European Division. In his address, Mr. Slocombe emphasized the importance of history in shaping policy and statecraft, and the vital dependence of history on primary source material, such as the documents in the new collection. He also evaluated the joint microfilm project in the larger context of changes that have occurred since the dissolution of the Soviet state.
History is the ultimate judge and the ultimate teacher.
No sooner had the Soviet flag been lowered than historians began reexamining history. For that reexamination, it was essential that historians and archivists seek access to the enormous archives behind the iron curtain. Quoting historian John Louis Gaddis, Slocombe noted that the emergence of primary source material from the archives of the Soviet Union and its former allies will prompt a reconsideration of prior Cold War historiography, which, by necessity, was based almost exclusively on information available in the West. Saying he would leave the interpretation of the Cold War to historians, Mr. Slocombe reviewed some changes in global politics and relations since the Soviet flag was lowered on Dec. 25, 1991. However, conflict still exists.