US-Soviet Relations Before the Cold War: From Non-Recognition to Wartime Alliance

This article outlines the development of relations between the US and the Soviet Union from the 1917 Russian Revolution to the beginning of the Cold War. For more than ten years, the United States did not acknowledge the Bolshevik government, finally recognizing it in 1933 under President Franklin Roosevelt. During the Russian Civil War, American forces joined Allied troops, but the Bolsheviks ultimately triumphed, establishing the Soviet Union in 1922. The 1920s experienced a Red Scare in the US, characterized by deportations and limitations, although humanitarian assistance through the American Relief Administration and discreet business connections maintained some communication. The 1933 recognition aimed to enhance trade and counter Japanese influence, yet suspicion remained. The 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact upset Washington, but following Hitler's 1941 invasion of the USSR, the US provided Lend-Lease aid, forming an alliance with Britain and the Soviet Union. Conferences in Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam focused on postwar arrangements, but conflicts over Eastern Europe and nuclear arms ignited the Cold War.