Robert Legvold narrates his personal history and how an admiration for the work of Marshall Shulman drew him first to Tufts and then to Columbia University and the Harriman Institute. Legvold briefly describes his time at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and its impact on his experience as Harriman's Director. Legvold discusses the confusion and uncertainty surrounding and following the colla pse of the Soviet Union, which occurred during his directorship of Harriman. He tells a number of stories about his personal experience of the collapse of the USSR, including his interactions with influential Soviet and American figures. He then describes his own influence on the internal structure of Harriman, especially the freestanding area studies master's program. The session closes with a comparison of the current state of US-Russian relations to the state of relations during the Cold War
College teachers; Russia (Federation) Study and teaching; Soviet Union Study and teaching; Soviet Union Politics and government 1985-1991; Russia (Federation) Relations United States; United States Relations Russia (Federation); Legvold, Robert; Shulman, Marshall Darrow; Harriman Institute; Council on Foreign Relations
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2016
Physical Description
45 pages
Note (Biographical)
Robert Legvold is the Marshall D. Shulman Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University, where he specialized in the international relations of the post-Soviet states. He was Director of the Harriman Institute from 1 986 to 1992. Prior to coming to Columbia in 1984, he served for six years as Senior Fellow and Director of the Soviet Studies Project at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. For most of the preceding decade, he was on the faculty of the Department of Political Science at Tufts University. Legvold's areas of particular interest are the foreign policies of Russia, Ukraine, the other states of the former Soviet Union, U.S. relations with the post-Soviet states, and the impact of the post-Soviet region on the international politics of Asia and Europe
Note
Interviewed by Mary Marshall Clark on May 23, 2016
Note (Provenance)
Robert Legvold, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2018