Sample Images

Featured below are sample rights-free images from the collections relating to the Cold War illustrating the variety of formats, including photographs, cartoon drawings and posters.

Photo showing the three leaders seated with uniformed officials behind them.

U.S. Signal Corps, photographer. Crimean Conference--Prime Minister Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Marshal Joseph Stalin at the palace in Yalta.1945. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Photo showing explosion smoke cloud over water and strip of land.

Mushroom cloud with ships below during Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons test on Bikini Atoll. 1946. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Photo showing uniformed men covering up behind rocks to shield themselves from exploding mortar shells, explosions visible in the background.

U.S. Army Signal Corps, photographer. Korean Conflict. Men of the 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division. 1951. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Photo showing people looking at refrigerator and kitchen equipment display at the USSR Exhibition in Sokolniki Park, Moscow, next to the American National Exhibition

Thomas J. O'Halloran, photographer. U.S.S.R., Moscow, temporary Russian exhibit. 1959. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Photo showing man standing on street facing sign, arches and sculpture in the background.

Warren K.Leffler, photographer. Man near the Brandenburg Gate near a sign: "You are now leaving British Sector," East Berlin.... 1959. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Photo shows group of men standing on steps, photographers in the background.

John T. Bledsoe, photographer. President Dwight D. Eisenhower with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and others, steps of Blair House, Washington, D.C. 1959. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection. Prints & Photographs Division.

Photo showing man carrying cross on street, Berlin, West Germany, structure (probably Brandenburg Gate) in background.

Toni Frissell, photographer. Berlin, October 1961. 1961. Toni Frissell Collection. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Photo shows woman standing in brick structure with stocked shelves and pots hanging in background.

Marion S. Trikosko, photographer. Woman in bomb shelter which is stocked with food and other supplies; bunk bed in corner. 1961. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Cartoon showing two groups of men huddled in trench coats and slouch hats meeting midway on a bridge.

Edmund S. Valtman, artist. Better relations through trade. 1962. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Poster showing cartoon-like red dragon whose tail encircles the globe, with women marching in the foreground.

Mothers' Crusade for Victory over Communism Why should we help communists kill Americans? Between 1965 and 1973. Yanker Poster Collection. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Photo showing McNamara standing at podium using a pointer to point to a wall map of VIetnam.

Marion S. Trikosko, photographer. Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara pointing to a map of Vietnam at a press conference. 1965. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Poster showing cartoon of a hand holding bars and another holding a flower, surrounded by text.

Drundell, artist. ...FTA, Freak the Army and other services Show GI-civilian solidarity, stop the Vietnam massacre. 1969. Yanker Poster Collection. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Color photo showing men and women marching on street holdings signs, including

Bernard Gotfryd, photographer. Anti Vietnam war demonstration New York. 1969. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Cartoon showing dragon with caricatured Chinese face and label

Edmund S. Valtman, artist. Chinese dragon breathing fire on Soviet bear. 1978. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

Photo showing three men holding signs saying

Warren K. Leffler, photographer. Members of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Study Group (SALT II) holding signs for the group. 1979. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Please note that terminology in historical materials and in Library descriptions does not always match the language preferred by members of the communities depicted, and may include negative stereotypes or words some may consider offensive. Item descriptions often include direct transcriptions of original captions. Suggested search terms may reflect such language. The Library presents the historic captions because they can be important for understanding the context in which the images were created.

Cold War: Finding Images in the Prints & Photographs Division

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