The Limits of 'Mutual Understanding': U.S.-Soviet Cold War Academic Exchange, 1960s-1970s

• In Event: From Industrial Imagination to Cold War Realities: Soviet-American Encounters and Perceptions

Abstract

Despite the widespread notion of the “Iron Curtain,” both the United States and the Soviet Union sought to expand mutual contact, especially following the pivotal Lacy-Zarubin agreement in 1958. This paper discusses the many dimensions and implications of the academic and student exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and the 1970s. In particular, it focuses on the implications of large-scale programs, as experienced by their participants. It also acknowledges the complexity of the exchange by exploring the significance of localized state initiatives that both reshaped and circumvented high-level channels. While it points to the evidence that the Cold War context served as a crucial framework for establishing contact, it identifies other factors that shaped class, gender, and intellectual aspects of the exchange.

Author

• Iana Shchetinskaia, SUNY Binghamton