This article is a historiographic review of the literature on the Olympic Games and the Cold War. The topic has been a growth area among scholars of both diplomatic history and the history of sports over the past three decades. Most of the literature has been in English, but a significant amount of work has appeared in French, German, and a few other languages. Despite the proliferation and richness of the historiography, some large gaps in coverage still exist, and some important issues still need to be explored.

Star Trek has been a major American cultural phenomenon. In the 1960s, when the original series was in production, the producers, directors, and writers attempted to use it as a forum to comment on a number of political issues. They intentionally designed some episodes to critique U.S. foreign policy in the belief that the United States should seek to foster democracy and refrain from using force that would undermine the country's positive role in international affairs.In part, then, Star Trek was a running effort to reshape the foreign policies of the United States.