Russia and America: Connecting the
Dots
At first glance, the two competing super-powers of the 20th
Century (Russia and America) would appear to be as far apart and
different as two nations could possibly be. As that century began,
Russia was an ancient and vast autocratic empire covering one sixth
of the earth's surface; the United States was not small, but it was
a growing democratic republic in the beginning of its second full
century, and it was just "beginning to feel its oats." Russia too
was still expanding - by armed conquest and political marriages;
while the USA was growing by immigration, and lately by armed
conflict as well. Back then, the idea that these two large nations
would "butt heads" seemed a very remote possibility indeed.
In fact, there were many 19th century connections with the two
countries. The most famous, of course, was "Seward's Folly", when
America purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. (In the 18th Century,
Russian fishermen, fur-trappers and Orthodox missionaries had
explored the Western Coast of North America, from the Bering Sea to
San Francisco Bay, leaving their influence in Icons of Our Lady of
Sitka, at Fort Ross (a mis-spelling of Fort Russ) and on Russian
Hill in San Francisco.) Not so well-known is why Seward was in a
"buying mood." Both countries were funding Western Union's
expedition to run a telegraph line from California to Moscow and
linking to European lines. When the Trans-Atlantic Cable was
completed before Western Union's project, Russia decided not to
continue funding the project. Instead, they sold their entire
interest in the land itself for 7 million dollars, or 2 cents an
acre.
Another well-known connection occurred in 1905, when American
President Teddy Roosevelt negotiated a settlement to the
Russo-Japanese War. The results: Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize for this treaty, signed in Portsmouth. NH. Japan became
a force to be reckoned with in East Asia. And the first of three
anti-tsarist revolutions took place in a humiliated Russian Empire
(The third, in October 1917, would, of course, usher in the Soviet
Union to "replace" Russia.).
But the connection goes back well-before then. In 1851, Teddy's
father, Theodore Roosevelt Sr, was taking the Grand Tour of Europe,
and visited Moscow. There he witnessed a large column of prisoners
being marched-off to penal servitude in Siberia. (Had he been there
just two years before, one of those 'Unfortunates" would have been
Fyodor Mikhailovitch Dostoevsky.) What struck him was not the
brutality of the scene, but rather the compassion of the people for
the convicts. And their willingness to help them in any way they
could. This lesson would be central in Theodore Sr's decision to be
a philanthropist. This need to help those less fortunate would also
be passed on to his son, Teddy (who would go to the Russian Banya
in Paris to help alleviate his asthma when he too visited Europe as
an adolescent).
Another connection involves Secretary of State Seward's superior,
President Abraham Lincoln and his landmark Emancipation
Proclamation of 1863. It's not coincidence that it follows Tsar
Alexander II's Abolition of Serfdom by just one year. There is
little doubt that the Tsar's long-awaited decision gave Lincoln the
final courage to end this moral blight on our own nation.
American expansion was Westward; Russia's was to the East. Russia
absorbed a multitude of cultures into its empire, while America
simply supplanted the sparse native culture with its own frontier
values. There are over 100 languages spoken in today's Russia. You
will hear that many, goes the local joke, in the hallway of one New
York apartment building. Russia begins as the land of the Tribe of
Rus; America really begins as the land of the "tribe" of W.A.S.P.s
- but a thousand years later.
Both countries spent much of their history nursing inferiority
complexes about Western Europe. America obsessed with English
culture; Russia with France and Italy. And to some extent, Germany
(after all, Catherine the Great was from Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg).
And don't forget that the last Tsar, Nicholas II, not only was a
cousin to the King of England, he and his family spoke English at
home.
Russia and the United States would fight as Allies in the two
monumental "World Wars" of the 20th Century. And emerge from each
of them as uneasy enemies. The more one thinks about it, the more
one believes that, considering our odd similarities, both nations
would've been better-off always being allies. Then again, maybe we
needed each other as adversaries, just to keep ourselves sharp and
powerful.
As a soldier serving in West Germany in the early Sixties, I
remember seeing those grey Mercedes filled with those red-tagged
tan-uniformed Russian Officers speeding through the streets of
Frankfurt, particularly when our unit was on training alerts. How
serious and grim they looked. When we saw them, we reported the
details of the sighting to our Division's G2 office. I remember
thinking: I don't want to fight those people. Mercifully, I never
had to.
Finally, there is the matter of Russia's magnificent contribution
to all the Arts in America. Music, of course. Tchaikovsky
premiering works in New York. Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev
living here to write their music. Rostopovich directing the
Washington, DC symphony. Baryshnikov dancing with the New York
Ballet. Anna Pavlova declaring that The USA had the "greatest
chance to develop great ballet because of the great diversity of
its people." And, of course the writers - Vladimir Nabokov teaching
literature at Cornell and writing best-selling novels in English,
Joseph Brodsky writing poetry in New York, Solzhenitsyn finishing
his Red Wheel epic in the woods of Vermont. But mostly, I think of
the greatest of them all; Dostoevsky. He would have an enormous
influence on 20th Century American writers. Conversely, he himself
was influenced by American Edgar Allen Poe, and introduced Poe's
writing to Russia in his literary magazine, Time.
Fyodor Mikhailovitch never set foot in America. Yet, I truly
believe he dreamt it. Certainly the unforgettable characters of his
timeless novels did. Shatov in The Demons has been there and his
philosophy is much impacted by it. Dmitri Karamasov escapes to
America with the help of his brother Ivan, after his unjust trial
for his father's death. Just as that great novel concludes, I say
"Hurrah for the Karamazovs!" And "Hurray for Dostoevsky! Hurrah for
Russia! Hurrah for America!"
Let us be friends. We cannot afford to be enemies.
RJ Fensterman
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