United States Government and OER Research: Foreign Relations

The Foreign Relations of the United States series is the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication. The series, which is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian, began in 1861 and now comprises more than 350 individual volumes. The volumes published over the last two decades increasingly contain declassified records from all the foreign affairs agencies.

FRUS volumes contain documents from Presidential libraries, Departments of State and Defense, National Security Council, Central Intelligence Agency, Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs agencies as well as the private papers of individuals involved in formulating U.S. foreign policy. In general, the editors choose documentation that illuminates policy formulation and major aspects and repercussions of its execution. Volumes published over the past few years have expanded the scope of the series in two important ways: first by including documents from a wider range of government agencies, particularly those involved with intelligence activity and covert actions, and second by including transcripts prepared from Presidential tape recordings.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries provides access to digitized editions of the FRUS volumes from 1861-1960, with browsing and searching options. See the State Department website for volumes covering the administrations of Presidents Truman (1945-1952), Eisenhower (1953-1960), Kennedy (1961-1963), Johnson (1964-1968),  Nixon (1969-1974), Ford (1974-1976), Carter (1977-1980), and Reagan (1981-1988). Volumes in the series since 1952 are organized chronologically according to Presidential administrations, and geographically and topically within each subseries.

In addition to the online volumes linked on this page, J B Coleman Libraries have many print volumes which may be found via the library catalog.