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Abstract: An American Book Mobile in Moscow: The Book Display at ANEM and its Impact on U.S. Perceptions of Censorship
In 1958, Nikita Khrushchev proposed a cultural exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union as an act of political goodwill. The Eisenhower government accepted this offer, which allowed the Soviets to create a large-scale cultural exhibition in New York City and the U.S. government to stage a similar event in Moscow. The American National Exhibition in Moscow (ANEM) of 1959 is primarily remembered today as the site of the impromptu “Kitchen Debates” between Khrushchev and Vice President Richard Nixon. However, ANEM also included a display of books and newspapers in a book mobile that was borrowed from an American public library, and this received significant press coverage at the time.
This presentation will re-create this story through historical research using contemporary newspaper articles and editorials, documents from the National Archives, and records from the archives of the Bethlehem Public Library outside of Albany, NY, which allowed their newly constructed book mobile to be shipped to Moscow for ANEM. One newspaper joked about the use of the “Inter-Continental Book Mobile (ICBM)” – a dark pun on Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile – as a new weapon of cultural diplomacy. However, press coverage increased with reports of visitors to the exhibit stealing books and other reading materials, resulting in discussions of Soviet censorship and the Soviet citizens’ eagerness to fight against this. The United States government took advantage of this moment, working with American publishers to dramatically organize an “air lift” of books to replenish the supply of pilfered books.
Beyond being an entertaining footnote in American history, this incident was an important moment in the domestic fight against book bans and censorship. Newspaper articles and editorials compared Soviet censorship efforts to those enacted by Joseph McCarthy and his followers in recent years, putting his surviving allies on the defensive and providing a strong counterargument to domestic attacks on public libraries. As an example, McCarthy ally Senator Styles Bridges attempted to seize control of the narrative, making an impassioned floor speech about Soviet government officials blocking approximately one-hundred titles from the American display, accusing “liberals” of caving to demands and allowing the Soviets to control the ideological narrative. However, newspaper coverage of his speech took him to task for his hypocrisy, pointing out that he had personally supported domestic censorship efforts in recent years. Likewise, several contemporary newspaper articles on library boards and local governments rejecting book ban attempts mentioned the ANEM incidents, displaying a clear line between rejecting Soviet ideology and domestic distaste for censorship. As such, the analysis of library history can help us navigate our present moment and find ways to push back against our current wave of library censorship.
This presentation will re-create this story through historical research using contemporary newspaper articles and editorials, documents from the National Archives, and records from the archives of the Bethlehem Public Library outside of Albany, NY, which allowed their newly constructed book mobile to be shipped to Moscow for ANEM. One newspaper joked about the use of the “Inter-Continental Book Mobile (ICBM)” – a dark pun on Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile – as a new weapon of cultural diplomacy. However, press coverage increased with reports of visitors to the exhibit stealing books and other reading materials, resulting in discussions of Soviet censorship and the Soviet citizens’ eagerness to fight against this. The United States government took advantage of this moment, working with American publishers to dramatically organize an “air lift” of books to replenish the supply of pilfered books.
Beyond being an entertaining footnote in American history, this incident was an important moment in the domestic fight against book bans and censorship. Newspaper articles and editorials compared Soviet censorship efforts to those enacted by Joseph McCarthy and his followers in recent years, putting his surviving allies on the defensive and providing a strong counterargument to domestic attacks on public libraries. As an example, McCarthy ally Senator Styles Bridges attempted to seize control of the narrative, making an impassioned floor speech about Soviet government officials blocking approximately one-hundred titles from the American display, accusing “liberals” of caving to demands and allowing the Soviets to control the ideological narrative. However, newspaper coverage of his speech took him to task for his hypocrisy, pointing out that he had personally supported domestic censorship efforts in recent years. Likewise, several contemporary newspaper articles on library boards and local governments rejecting book ban attempts mentioned the ANEM incidents, displaying a clear line between rejecting Soviet ideology and domestic distaste for censorship. As such, the analysis of library history can help us navigate our present moment and find ways to push back against our current wave of library censorship.