The U.S. government is notably thorough in recording its negotiations, treaties, conflicts, and other activities with other nations but not so great on making the information easy to find. Being that many different agencies can be involved in these transactions, the challenge is in knowing where to find what you need.
Prepare your research strategy by noting all the terms, topics, and people involved.
- Nations can change name (Siam->Thailand) and boundaries (the break up of the USSR)
- Translation of a name can take many forms (NPR claims there are at least 37 spellings for Muammar Gadhafi/Khadaffi/Ghadaffi)
- The state of a relationship and negotiations will change under different leadership
- Who has influence and interest in the relationship (both inside and outside the government)
What terminology should you use? 'Foreign relations' is a start but there are other terms that are worth a search...
- International relations
- Agreement
- Treaty or treaties
- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
- Cooperation
- Imperialism
- Expansionist
- Foreign policy
Where and what sort of documentation should you look for?
- Treaties, agreements, MOUs
- Congressional debates and votes
- Presidential messages
- Newspaper and magazine interviews and reports
- National polls
Keep in mind that not all historical documents have been digitized and some are not released due to national security issues. Materials not available locally or digitally can generally be borrowed through Interlibrary Loan.
Of course, reach out to me any time for help!