Mad, Bad, and Dangerous

Memories of Russia as Seen from the U.S. During the Cold War
Richard C. Burke Ivanovo State University October 2013 . 2013

 The Times We Were Living In Anti-Communist Fervor Nuclear Threat Ordinary Russians Space Race Russias Artistic Heritage

Outline

THE TIMES WE WERE LIVING IN

 It amazes me that I am in Russia, land of the enemy!

Journal Entry: Leningrad, May 6, 1973

 What did I expect to find in Russia?

Visiting the USSR

 in the 1950s and 1960s, we thought a lot about the USSR

American attitudes

Post-War Building

ANTI-COMMUNIST FERVOR

 ENEMIES

In one word . . .

 Allies in World War II Great Depression and the War Desire for peace and prosperity USSR was trouble we really did not want

Recent history: WW II

1942

1947

 Free world Communist nations Dictatorships Underdeveloped countries

Four-part world

 American view of the Warsaw Pact nations Iron Curtain

Satellite Nations

 J. Edgar Hoover Joseph McCarthy John Birch Society Loyalty Oaths Blacklists

Anti-Communist fervor

 Nikita Khrushchev: We will bury you. ( !)

Hostile opposition

Religious hostility

NUCLEAR THREAT

 Cuban Missile Crisis K

October 15-28, 1962

CUBA

Threat of nuclear war

 Nike bases BMEWS and DEW Line Strategic Air Command Conelrad

Nuclear war worries

 In public buildings and private homes

Bomb shelters

 Air-raid drills Duck and Cover

At school

ORDINARY RUSSIANS

 Not to be truste d

Ordinary Russian people

 Political Economic Cultural Moral

Multiple errors

 Books Movies TV

Russia in popular culture

 Olympic rivals

Russia in sports

SPACE RACE

Sputnik, October 4, 1957

Space Race

 Animal in space Man-made object to photograph hidden side of moon Man in space Woman in space Two men in space Two flights at once Space walk

Space Race: Russian firsts

 Weather satellite Communications satellite Spy satellite Geosynchronous orbit satellite Moon landing

Space Race: American firsts

RUSSIAS ARTISTIC HERITAGE

 Writers Composers Artists Circuses

Russias artistic heritage

 USSR believed to be both

terrifically powerful and self-destructively weak

American ambivalence

 Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

Radio speech, 1939

Winston Churchill

 Regardless of what some people in the States might think about Russian people, I can say that they are just like other people theyre friendly, sympathetic, curious. . . . citizens of supposedly enemy countries are normal, friendly people who have no reason to dislike each other.

Journal Entry: Leningrad, May 6, 1973