Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts
Year: 2023
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/5th.icsha.2023.12.103
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The Letters from the son of the “Captive Nations” to John F. Kennedy, R. Nixon, and R. Reagan
Tsira Chikvaidze
ABSTRACT:
Georgian emigrant Ivane (Vano) Nanuashvili (1902-1974), who lived in the US from 1951, sent the letters, article, brochure, and book: “The Middle East and the Cold War” (1958), “The Strength and Weakness of the U.S.S.R.” (1956), “What Everyone in the Free World Should Know about Russia” (1973) to J. Kennedy, R. Nixon, and R. Reagan. The letters and publications aim to convey to American politicians his vision of Russia’s aggressive policy and try to show the Western world the picture of the USSR from inside, saying that “Russia’s aggression is not solely an action of the Communist Party”. The aim of this research is to present V. Nanuashvili‘s unknown letters to American politicians and answers to them from his personal archive (K. Kekelidze Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts, Tbilisi) and his publications. To analyse these primary sources, historical research methods such as documentary, biographical, and archival methods were used. This article deals with V. Nanuashvili’s position regarding the origins and nature of the Russian state and society and Russia’s policy during the “Cold War.” It highlights the key question: What the representative of the Captive Nations wants to say to the free world about the political structure of the Russian Empire, the doctrine of “Cold War,” and the ideology of the Russian nation.
In N. Nanuashvili’s publications, Russia is presented as a state that will never relinquish the idea of the world domination and one of the biggest conquerors of the world, and that conquest is a characteristic of the Russian tradition. In order to fully analyse the sourses, here were used the general scientific (qualitative research) and the exploratory literature review methods too. Since V. Nanuashvili’s personal archive is still under development, his letters to American politicians have not been examined by scholars, and this article is the first attempt to do so. Also, one of his publications “The Middle East and the Cold War” (Nanuashvili, 1958) is being presented and analyzed for the first time.. These factors determine the novelty and relevance of the presented research.
keywords: “Cold War”, Georgia, Nanuashvili V., Russia, Soviet Regime