For peace and friendship of all countries: Soviet citizens' opinions of peace during the Cold War, May 1960 Public Deposited
- Last Modified
- March 20, 2019
- Creator
-
Hale-Dorrell, Aaron Todd
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of History
- Abstract
- This thesis analyzes a public opinion survey that sociologist Boris Grushin conducted in the Soviet Union in May 1960. His survey asked average Soviet citizens about war and peace immediately following a Cold War incident in which the Soviet military destroyed an American U-2 spy plane that had violated Soviet airspace. This thesis questions why, despite resulting heightened tensions between the superpowers, 96.8 percent of survey respondents expressed confidence that humanity could prevent war. I argue that, while propaganda promoting Khrushchev's peaceful coexistence policy influenced every respondent, some respondents emphasized different official policies and explanations for events, demonstrating a degree of independence from propaganda. Furthermore, respondents justified belief in peace and integrated themselves into a collective war narrative by describing experiences of World War II. Finally, I show that official interest in public opinion reflects Khrushchev-era political and cultural reforms, especially in Soviet journalism and sociology.
- Date of publication
- August 2009
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Advisor
- Raleigh, Donald
- Language
- Access
- Open access
- Parents:
This work has no parents.
Items
Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Visibility | Actions |
---|---|---|---|---|
|
For peace and friendship of all countries : Soviet citizens' opinions of peace during the Cold War, May 1960 | 2019-04-10 | Public |
|