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Title: Managing the Transition from Ally to Adversary: Reflections on an Earlier Era of U.S.-Russian Relations

Abstract

At the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union transformed from allies into adversaries and the Cold War began—a grim confrontation that lasted nearly half a century. After the Cold War, the U.S.–Russian relationship was by no means an alliance, but was relatively cooperative until the past few years. Under Russian president Vladimir Putin, a new chill has descended, and today there is talk that we are entering another Cold War. This essay examines an earlier era in U.S.–Russian affairs, when presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman managed America’s relationship with the Soviet Union, which essentially meant dealing with the Soviet premier, Joseph Stalin. The contents of that relationship—how it evolved, how it disintegrated, and how American leaders—reacted is the subject of this essay. Given the unsettled state of U.S.–Russian relations today and the many subplots that shape current policy, this paper makes no attempt to apply historical lessons to the management of contemporary problems; these are left for the reader to infer. Rather, we examine an earlier, though not necessarily simpler, era in which the U.S.– Russian relationship underwent dramatic change.

Authors:
 [1]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Center for Global Security Research (CGSR)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1424602
Report Number(s):
LLNL-TR-744757
DOE Contract Number:  
AC52-07NA27344
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS

Citation Formats

Wheeler, Michael O. Managing the Transition from Ally to Adversary: Reflections on an Earlier Era of U.S.-Russian Relations. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.2172/1424602.
Wheeler, Michael O. Managing the Transition from Ally to Adversary: Reflections on an Earlier Era of U.S.-Russian Relations. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1424602
Wheeler, Michael O. 2017. "Managing the Transition from Ally to Adversary: Reflections on an Earlier Era of U.S.-Russian Relations". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1424602. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1424602.
@article{osti_1424602,
title = {Managing the Transition from Ally to Adversary: Reflections on an Earlier Era of U.S.-Russian Relations},
author = {Wheeler, Michael O.},
abstractNote = {At the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union transformed from allies into adversaries and the Cold War began—a grim confrontation that lasted nearly half a century. After the Cold War, the U.S.–Russian relationship was by no means an alliance, but was relatively cooperative until the past few years. Under Russian president Vladimir Putin, a new chill has descended, and today there is talk that we are entering another Cold War. This essay examines an earlier era in U.S.–Russian affairs, when presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman managed America’s relationship with the Soviet Union, which essentially meant dealing with the Soviet premier, Joseph Stalin. The contents of that relationship—how it evolved, how it disintegrated, and how American leaders—reacted is the subject of this essay. Given the unsettled state of U.S.–Russian relations today and the many subplots that shape current policy, this paper makes no attempt to apply historical lessons to the management of contemporary problems; these are left for the reader to infer. Rather, we examine an earlier, though not necessarily simpler, era in which the U.S.– Russian relationship underwent dramatic change.},
doi = {10.2172/1424602},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1424602}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Dec 19 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Tue Dec 19 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}