Contact: Sammy McDavid
Four national historians offer new perspectives next week on the 45-year struggle against communism during Mississippi State's 16th annual history assembly.
"Rethinking America's Cold War" is the theme of the university's Presidential Forum on Turning Points in History, a public program being held Tuesday and Wednesday [Nov. 11-12].
The first session begins at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Starkville High School. Succeeding sessions will be held in the Simrall Hall auditorium on the MSU campus at 7 p.m. that same day, and at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday. President Donald Zacharias officially opens the campus segment at the Tuesday night event.
Featured speakers include Christian F. Ostermann of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.; Walter L. Hixson of the University of Akron; Michael J. Hogan of Ohio State University; and Carol Anderson of the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Sponsored by the history department, with support from the Mississippi Humanities Council and the university's College of Arts and Sciences, this year's program includes:
--2 p.m., Tuesday, [Nov. 11], "The Cold War," a film documentary followed by an open discussion (see Starkville High principal's office for location);
--7 p.m., "Rethinking the Cold War: New Evidence from East Bloc Archives," Ostermann;
--10 a.m., Wednesday [Nov. 12], "Reassessing George Kennan after the End of the Cold War," Hixson, and "The Soviet Bloc and U.S. Containment Policy," Ostermann;
--2 p.m., "From the Ashes: The Marshall Plan and the Reconstruction of Europe," Hogan, and "Democracy Begins at Home: The African-American Response to the Truman Doctrine," Anderson.
A 7 p.m. panel discussion concludes the forum. Joining the four speakers will be Mississippi State historian Janos Radvanyi, a former Hungarian diplomat who now holds the university's Chair in International Security and Strategic Studies. Richard Damms, assistant professor in the history department, will serve as moderator.
For more information, telephone (601) 325-3604.