U.S.-Soviet Relations in the Era of Détente, 1969–1976

The U.S. Department of State Announces a Conference:

"U.S.-Soviet Relations in the Era of Détente, 1969–1976"

East Auditorium, George C. Marshall Conference Center
320 21st Street NW, at Virginia Avenue
United States Department of State
Washington, D.C.

Monday, October 22, 2007:

9:00–9:55: Registration

9:55–10:00: Welcome and Introductory Remarks: Dr. Marc J. Susser, The Historian, U.S. Department of State

10:00–10:20: Keynote Address by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [Transcript and Video]

10:25–12:00: Roundtable Discussion of Former Government Officials [Transcript]

Chair: Dr. Marc Susser, The Historian, U.S. Department of State

Dr. Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor, 1969–1975; Secretary of State, 1973–1977

General Alexander Haig, Jr., U.S. Army (ret.), Military Assistant to the National Security Advisor, 1969–1970; Deputy National Security Advisor, 1970–1973; White House Chief of Staff, 1973–1974; Secretary of State, 1981–1982 (Unable to attend)

Dr. James Schlesinger, Director of Central Intelligence, 1973; Secretary of Defense, 1973–1975

Question and Answer

12:00–2:00: Lunch

2:00–2:20: Welcome and Introduction of Joint Volume: Dr. Marc J. Susser, The Historian, U.S. Department of State and Ambassador Konstantin Provalov, History and Records Department, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2:20–3:50: Scholarly Interpretations of the Joint Volume and Détente

Chair: Dr. Edward Keefer, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State

Dr. Sergey M. Rogov, Director of the USA and Canada Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Unable to attend)

Professor Robert Schulzinger, University of Colorado at Boulder

Professor Jeremi Suri, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Professor Vladislav Zubok, Temple University

4:00–6:00: Reception (by invitation only)

Tuesday, October 23, 2007:

8:15–8:55: Registration and Breakfast - Enter from Virginia Avenue and 21st Street

8:55–9:00: Welcome

9:00–10:30: Panel 1 – Détente and Europe: Transnational Perspectives

Chair/Commentator: Professor Thomas Schwartz, Vanderbilt University

"Recognizing the Soviet Sphere of Influence? U.S.-Soviet Détente and Eastern Europe, 1969–1976," Professor Douglas Selvage, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

"Operation Hullabaloo: Henry Kissinger, British Diplomacy, and the Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War," Dr. Stephen Twigge, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

"The 'Confidential Channel': Documenting the Secret Diplomacy of Détente, 1969-1972," David C. Geyer, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State

10:30–10:45: Break

10:45–12:15: Panel 2 – Selling the End of the Cold War at Home

Chair/Commentator: Professor David Engerman, Brandeis University

"Voices from Below: Public Opinion and U.S.-Soviet Dialogue, 1969–1973," Professor Andrey Edemskiy, Slavic Studies Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences

"The Legitimation of the Nixon-Kissinger Grand Design and Grand Strategy," Professor Dan Caldwell, Pepperdine University

"National Security Centrism and the Politics of Détente, 1969–1976," Professor Julian Zelizer, Princeton University

12:15–1:45: Lunch

1:45–3:15: Panel 3 – Détente in Theory and Practice

Chair/Commentator: Dr. Bernd Schaefer, German Historical Institute/Woodrow Wilson Center

"A Sea of Confusion: The US, the USSR, and the Mediterranean, 1969–1974," Dr. Effie G. H. Pedaliu, University of West England-Bristol

"Détente, Entente, or Linkage? The Helsinki CSCE in U.S.-Soviet Relations," Professor Angela Romano, University of Florence

"Vietnam as an Irritant to U.S.-Soviet Détente and Sino-American Rapprochement, 1971–1973," Professor Lorenz Lüthi, McGill University

3:15–3:30: Break

3:30–5:00: Panel 4 – Détente by Other Means: Science, Culture, and Human Rights

Chair/Commentator: Dr. Christian Ostermann, Woodrow Wilson Center

"The Politics of Détente-Era Cultural Texts, 1969–1976," Professor Kathleen Parthé, University of Rochester

"The Cold War as a Science Race: Examining the Consequences of the Biological Revolution on Détente, 1969–1975," Professor Shelley Hurt, Vassar College

"Human Rights, Détente, and the Making of the Helsinki Final Act," Michael Morgan, Yale University