Anjali Oza and Melissa Gonzales discussing their documentary, From Hope to Despair: The Cold War Gets Colder

As two of the 150 local high school students chosen to participate in the Young Leaders Forum, Melissa Gonzales and Anjali Oza had the opportunity to hear President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s granddaughter, Susan, speak in Houston about the Cold War. As a result of the Houston World Affairs Council’s program, the two students became fascinated with the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States and produced a documentary film titled From Hope to Despair: The Cold War Gets Colder.

Ms. Anjali explains, "The theme that year for the National History Fair was turning points in history. We decided to make a film that focused on Khrushchev’s visit to the United States in 1959 and how it thawed the Cold War. The second part of the film is about the U2 incident and how it shattered all the hope and optimism that Khrushchev’s visit had inspired. We were able to incorporate both perspectives, compare them and create an unbiased view so that neither Eisenhower nor Khrushchev could be blamed for the deterioration in the relationship between the two nations."

The film won first place in the National History Fair. Ms. Gonzales and Ms. Anjali also won $5,000 from the History Channel for the best entry on an international theme. Ms. Anjali, who also was the recipient of a 2000 Mary Gibbs Jones Scholarship, now attends M.I.T. Ms. Gonzales attends Rice University. Both young women are studying history, economics and filmmaking.

"Because of our project, we had to do a lot of research about historic events, foreign policy and diplomacy," Ms. Gonzales offers. "We were able to connect that to current events, which has changed and enlarged our view of the world."

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