ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 29, 2007 - ProQuest CSA is advancing the study of the Cuban Missile Crisis with the first-ever digital release of documents that provide new insight into what went wrong at the Bay of Pigs, the decision making process of President Kennedy and his top national security team, strategic planning of the U.S. military, and previously unidentified confrontations with Soviet forces during the nuclear crisis.

The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited: An International Collection of Documents, from the Bay of Pigs to the Brink of Nuclear War will be available in ProQuest CSA's widely-respected Digital National Security Archive (DNSA) mid-April 2007.  A follow-on to the critically-praised The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 (Chadwyck-Healey, 1992), the collection looks beyond the conventionally understood "13 days" of the missile crisis in October 1962.  It covers the policies, operations, and conflicts that preceded and precipitated this famous tri-power confrontation, as well as the events that took place during the crisis and in its aftermath. 

In addition to many new U.S. documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits, a singular highlight of this important publication is its inclusion of materials from other nations involved in the events of 1962.  Chief among them were Russia and Cuba, whose critically important perspectives have never before been incorporated into the scholarly debate in such detail.  Many of these materials were made available for the world headline-generating 40th anniversary conference on the missile crisis in Havana, Cuba, organized by the National Security Archive.  That historic meeting featured Fidel Castro, former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and the late Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Gen. Anatoly Gribkov, among other former leading figures from the Kennedy administration and the Cuban and Russian governments. 

"For nearly 20 years, the National Security Archive has systematically obtained, compiled, organized, and disseminated the documentation that records the history of the most dangerous episode of the Cold War-the Cuban missile crisis," said Tom Blanton, Director of the National Security Archive.  "This collection contains extraordinary new insights on the Cuban missile crisis that will enhance historical research for years to come."

The recently released Russian records shed light on the decision making of the Soviet Politburo, on previously unknown military deployments of tactical nuclear weapons, and on the type and tenor of communications with Fidel Castro.  Cuban documentation provides historians with a better understanding of Castro's independent actions during and after the crisis, as well as the capabilities of Cuban intelligence to track and counter the covert efforts of the John F. Kennedy administration to roll back the Cuban revolution.  

From ProQuest CSA's Chadwyck-Healey brand, DNSA is the most comprehensive resource available of primary documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945. More than 61,000 of the most important declassified documents -- totaling more than 475,000 pages -- are included in the database. Many are published for the first time.

DNSA now comprises 28 subject areas, each containing a diverse range of policy and intelligence documents including presidential directives, summit meeting transcripts, memoranda of conversation, diplomatic dispatches, interagency meeting notes, national intelligence estimates, briefing papers, internal White House communications, email, confidential letters and other formerly secret material. Additionally, detailed contextual and reference supplements are provided for each subject area, including general introductory material, an essay, a bibliography, a chronology, and glossaries.

Documents have been selected and identified by leading scholars in each of the research areas covered and have been indexed to permit item- and page-level searching across more than 20 combinable fields. In its totality, DNSA offers the most powerful primary research and teaching tool available in the areas of U.S. foreign policy, intelligence and security affairs during a pivotal period of twentieth-century history.

For further information on The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited: An International Collection of Documents and the Digital National Security Archive, please visit http://nsarchive.chadwyck.com/.

About ProQuest
ProQuest creates specialized information resources and technologies that propel successful research, discovery, and lifelong learning. A global leader in serving libraries of all types, ProQuest offers the expertise of such respected brands as Chadwyck-Healey™, UMI®, SIRS®, and eLibrary®. With Serials Solutions®, Ulrich's™, RefWorks®, COS™, Dialog® and now Bowker® part of the ProQuest brand family, the company supports the breadth of the information community with innovative discovery solutions that power the business of books and the best in research experience.

More than a content provider or aggregator, ProQuest is an information partner, creating indispensable research solutions that connect people and information. Through innovative, user-centered discovery technology, ProQuest offers billions of pages of global content that includes historical newspapers, dissertations, and uniquely relevant resources for researchers of any age and sophistication—including content not likely to be digitized by others. Inspired by its customers and their end users, ProQuest is working toward a future that blends information accessibility with community to further enhance learning and encourage lifelong enrichment.

For more information, visit www.proquest.com or the ProQuest parent company website, www.cig.com.