Cultural Exchanges with Soviet Russia

Report Outline
Growth of American-Sovient Contacts
Policy Shifts on Cultural Exchange
Reciprocity in U.S.-Soviet Exchanges

Growth of American-Sovient Contacts

National exhibitions in the summer of 1959—the one designed to show Americans how Russians live and the other to show Russians how Americans live—are intended to carry the benefits of the U.S.-Soviet cultural exchange program to masses of people not directly affected by tours of musicians, dancers, students, or technical experts. The Soviet exhibition which opened at New York City's Coliseum on June 30, like the American exhibition opening in Moscow on July 25, is expected to attract visitors by the millions.

Efforts to acquaint the American people and the Russian people with each other's way of life seem paradoxical at a time when there is no sign that grave political differences between their countries can be reconciled. Nevertheless, the willingness of both Washington and Moscow to promote projects whose main purpose is to contribute to better mutual understanding may be an indication, however slight, that a better climate can be hoped for in the long run.

The summer exhibitions obviously have a propaganda tinge, as does the whole business of cultural interchange. But the chief reason for existence of the programs is the conviction that people-to-people contacts and the resulting fuller knowledge of one people by another will improve prospects for enduring peaceful relationships. President Eisenhower has repeatedly supported that theme. And Soviet First Deputy Premier Frol R. Kozlov said upon arriving in New York, June 28, to open the exhibition there: “We are confident that the Soviet exhibition in New York as well as the American exhibition in Moscow … will promote better understanding between our peoples, the development of friendly relations between the Soviet Union and the United States, and consequently the consolidation of peace throughout the world.”