The Cold War has had a lasting impact on Americans' perception of Russians, and on Russians' perceptions of Americans. The threat of nuclear war between the world's two military superpowers, which arose out of the disintegration of their alliance in World War II, colored two generations' sense of their identity and their future. Old stereotypes and genuine security concerns continue to impact the two countries. While scholars have researched the response of ordinary Americans to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the analogous attitudes of ordinary Soviet citizens remain largely unexplored. By examining how Soviet citizens understood America during the Cold War era (1945-1980s) my project draws more informed conclusions on how they processed the conflicting official and unofficial images of the U.S. available to them. Overall, I attempt to answer the following questions: What was the public reaction to the United States and related Cold War issues in the former Soviet Union in the years following World War II? Did the public’s attitude change over time, and if so, why? In what ways did the government attempt to influence its citizens on these issues and to what degree were such attempts successful? What impact did alternative sources of information, such as Western radio broadcasts, illegal magazines, underground publications, have? How did popular perceptions differ, if at all, from official portrayal of America by the Soviet government?
Konstantin Avramov, of the University of Kansas, was a 2010-2011 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) [8] fellow.
