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Margaret Thatcher Toasts Vaclav Havel

On March 21, 1990 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher hosted a delegation from Czechoslovakia, including the newly elected president Vaclav Havel. One of Prime Minister Thatcher's major initiatives following the collapse of communism was the creation of the "Know How Fund," a fund created to assist economic, political, and cultural development in Eastern Europe.

Margaret Thatcher discusses the fall of the Berlin Wall

Margaret Thatcher held an impromptu press conference outside of her official residence, No. 10 Downing Street, on the morning following the initial opening of the Berlin Wall. In her remarks, it is clear that she is hesitant to reply directly to the idea of a unified German state.

Prime Minister Thatcher's Press Conference in Moscow

In the spring and summer of 1989, Chinese protestors occupied Tiananmen Square in Beijing in order to achieve some political concessions from the Chinese Communist Party. At the same time, the Soviet Union under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev continued to follow along their path of political reforms with glasnost' (openness) and perestroika (restructuring).

Hungary's Prime Minister discusses the Future

As part of a public demonstration of support for the newly-elected governments in Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom's Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, traveled throughout the region in September 1990.

Reagan's Support for Human Rights

By the summer of 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev's reform policies, glasnost' (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), had begun to change the political landscape of the Soviet Union. When President Ronald Reagan visited Moscow in the summer of 1988 for a political summit, he gave a series of speeches applauding the progress of Soviet reforms but also demanding further achievements.

Continuing Arms Reduction after the INF Treaty

In order to reform the Soviet economy, Mikhail Gorbachev believed it was necessary to cut spending on the Soviet military. As part of this process, Gorbachev actively pursued arms reductions in a series of negotiations with the United States. In December 1987, President Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in Washington, DC.

President Reagan's Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate

On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan delivered a major speech on the Cold War with the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall as a back drop. In staging this speech, President Reagan hoped to draw a parallel with the historic speech delivered in Berlin by President John F. Kennedy in July 1963.

President Reagan's "Evil Empire" Speech to the National Association of Evangelicals

Ronald Reagan began his presidency in 1981 confident that the policy of détente with the Soviet Union—initiated by Richard Nixon in May 1972 and terminated in January 1980 by Jimmy Carter as a response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan—was misguided. During his first three years in office, Reagan substituted a confrontational approach that he mediated occasionally with pragmatic policies.

Peace for Afghanistan

On 25 December 1979, the Soviet Union deployed its army in Afghanistan, in support of the Afghan Communist government against a group of Muslim opponents. For the next nine years, the Soviet army was involved in a long-drawn out military conflict without a victory, creating a constant embarrassment for Soviet military might.

Writers of the Heian Era: Diary, Lady Sarashina

The Sarashina nikki (Sarashina Diary, ca. 1059 CE) is the memoir of a woman called “Takasue’s Daughter,” also known as “Lady Sarashina” from the translator Ivan Morris’s name for her. Her father, Sugawara Takasue, was governor of Kazusa Province (modern Chiba, southeast of Tokyo) in what was then the remote Eastern region, where she spent some three years as a girl of nine to twelve years.

Writers of the Heian Era: Fiction, The Tale of Genji 1

The greatest work produced during the Heian era was The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, lady-in-waiting to Empress Akiko. Considered the world’s first novel, Genji is written as an absorbing portrait of Heian court life, the splendor of its rituals, and aesthetic culture.

Writers of the Heian Era: Diary, Sei Shônagon 4

Sei Shônagon, a lady-in-waiting to Empress Teishi (or Sadako), left a journal of anecdotes, impressions, and commentary called The Pillowbook (covering the years 986-1000 CE) that has become a valuable source for the court society and cultural life of the Heian Period.

Writers of the Heian Era: Diary, Sei Shônagon 3

Writers of the Heian Era: Diary, Sei Shônagon 2

Writers of the Heian Era: Diary, Sei Shônagon 1

Puerto Rican Labor Movement: Newspaper, Needle Worker Strike

This is an excerpt from article published in the newspaper, La Democracía. This article shows how the labor press was an important source of information for the working class. The use of the press created a sense of solidarity among the workers on the island and around the world.

Puerto Rican Labor Movement: Magazine, Eleanor Roosevelt

After her trip in the Caribbean in the summer of 1934, Mrs. Roosevelt, who had a column in the magazine Women’s Home Companion, recorded her impressions of Puerto Rico, including the island’s people and culture. She assessed the precarious living conditions of the islanders, and the impact of the Depression. Mrs. Roosevelt also highlighted the role of Puerto Rican women in the labor force.

Gender and Health in Latin America: Personal Account, Education (Honduras)

Access to education and the willingness to learn are crucial ingredients to improve the health of women throughout the world. Good health depends on an understanding of the human body, but also requires the knowledge to maintain a healthy lifestyle. However, access to that knowledge is often dictated by social and economic standing within a society.

Gender and Health in Latin America: Interview, Violence Against Women (Uruguay)

Violence against women may take place within families as well as in settings outside of the domestic environment. Policy makers, academics, and activists have long sought to identify root causes of violence. These efforts have included strategies to help the victims of violence and to terminate violent behavior.

Gender and Health in Latin America: Interview, Reproductive Rights (Brazil)

In the 1950s, when the first contraceptive pills were tested in Puerto Rico, politicians, health administrators, and Church officials worldwide began to discuss human reproduction in new ways. The understanding that pregnancy could be prevented by “scientific” means stimulated debates on the regulation and control of human reproduction.