Between 1917-1920 - from the Bolshevik Revolution to the definitive statement of American opposition to Bolshevik Russia - Soviets and Americans searched for ways to effect meaningful interaction between the nations in the absence of formal diplomatic relations. During these years wide-ranging discussions occurred on a variety of serious issues, from military collaboration and economic relations to the comprehensive settlement of political and military disputes. At the same time extensive debates took place in both countries about the nature of the relations between them.
As McFadden shows in this pathbreaking book, based on research in Soviet archives, as well as previously unused private collections and government archives in the United States and Great Britain, a surprising number of concrete agreements were reached between the two countries, including continued operation of the American Red Cross in Russia, the transfer of war materials from the Russian army to the Americans, the sale of strategic supplies of platinum from the Bolsheviks to the United States, the exemption of a number of American corporations from Soviety nationalization, and the numerous trade contracts betwen the Soviet government and American firms. Numerous imkportant diplomats and politicians were involved in these negotiations. Most of the details, characters and nature of these discussions and their efforts have previously been overlooked or downplayed by historians. In the post-Cold War era, such a re-evaluation should have special relevance. re-evaluation of this critical period, McFadden shows how a surprising number of concrete agreements were reached between the two nations, and the relevance of this in light of current events such as glasnost.