An American Car on the Road in the USSR, 1972

Today's post was written by David Langbart, archivist in the Textual Records Division at the National Archives at College Park. The tight restrictions on travelers in the USSR closed more than 97% of that country to most foreigners.  The travel restrictions particularly affected diplomats from the Western Powers.  Nevertheless, from time to time, staff of … Continue reading An American Car on the Road in the USSR, 1972

Soviet Intelligence in the United States, 1971

Today’s post is written by David Langbart, an Archivist in the Textual Records Division at the National Archives at College Park. The extent of Soviet espionage in the United States was a perpetual question of the Cold War.  From the time of the Bolshevik Revolution in November 1917, but especially during the Great Depression, many … Continue reading Soviet Intelligence in the United States, 1971

The Presidential Election of 1972: Analysis of Soviet Bloc Opinion

Today’s post is written by David Langbart, an Archivist in the Textual Records Division at the National Archives at College Park. The presidential election of 1972 came in the midst of the U.S. rapprochement with the USSR known as detente.  Earlier in the year, President Richard Nixon traveled to Moscow for a major summit with … Continue reading The Presidential Election of 1972: Analysis of Soviet Bloc Opinion

Nikita Khrushchev’s Memoirs: Fallout?

Today’s post is written by David Langbart, an Archivist in the Textual Records Division at the National Archives at College Park.  Three previous posts discussed the publication of the two volumes of memoirs by Nikita Khrushchev, the second volume appearing in mid-1974. The journalist Strobe Talbott served as editor/translator for both books. It appears that Soviet … Continue reading Nikita Khrushchev’s Memoirs: Fallout?

Window into the Soviet Union, 1951/Introduction to CREST

Today’s post is written by David Langbart, an Archivist in the Textual Records Division at the National Archives at College Park. Recently, I located the following 1951 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report analyzing Soviet nylon stockings: When I first saw this, I was amused that the CIA would spend time on what appears to be … Continue reading Window into the Soviet Union, 1951/Introduction to CREST

One Village in Five Countries

By Ashby Crowder In her 2005 study Drawing The Line: Nature, Hybridity and Politics in Transboundary Spaces, geographer Juliet Fall recounts a parable from a tumultuous corner of Europe: “A local tale told of a man who was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, christened in Czechoslovakia, married in Hungary, had his first child in the … Continue reading One Village in Five Countries