What is it about?
The article examines the personal relationship that developed between Brezhnev and Nixon as a result of their encounters at three Summit meetings and how this contributed to detente and to world peace during this third decade of the Cold War.
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Why is it important?
The importance of the essay lies in the fact that it uses heretofore untapped or little used primary sources, including Brezhnev's diaries, Soviet archival material, and the recently released White House tapes. Methodologically, it seeks to apply the "emotional turn" in studies of the Cold War. It also coins a new term, the historical significance trope, which both world leaders used to justify their behavior and its importance.
Perspectives
While realizing the difficulty of seeking to understand cross-cultural friendship between political opponents during the Cold War, I nonetheless benefited from attempting to "read" behavior and to underscore why Brezhnev deserves a reputation that is emerging about him as a "Soviet" man of peace.
Professor Donald J. Raleigh
University of North Carolina System
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: “I Speak Frankly Because You Are My Friend”: Leonid Ilich Brezhnev’s Personal Relationship with Richard M. Nixon, The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review, April 2018, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/18763324-20171286.
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