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ON THE EDGE OF THE COLD WAR
American Diplomats and Spies in Postwar Europe
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ON THE EDGE OF THE COLD WAR
American Diplomats and Spies in Postwar Europe
A BOOK DISCUSSION WITH AUTHOR
IGOR LUKES
WITH COMMENTS BY
BENJAMIN FISCHER AND PETR GANDALOVIC
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
5TH FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM
Woodrow Wilson Center
www.wilsoncenter.org/directions
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Media guests, including TV crews, are welcome and should RSVP directly to Kristina.Terzieva@wilsoncenter.org
Media bringing heavy electronic equipment – such as video cameras – MUST indicate this in their response, so they may be cleared through our building security and allowed entrance. Failure to indicate your intention to bring video cameras 24 hours before the event may result in being denied access to the Wilson Center building, please err toward responding if you would like to attend.
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In 1945, both the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Intelligence saw Czechoslovakia as the master key to the balance of power in Europe and as a chessboard for the power game between East and West. Washington believed that the political scene in Prague was the best available indicator of whether the United States would be able to coexist with the Soviet Union. Drawing on archival documents and testimonies of high-ranking American diplomats and intelligence officers, Igor Lukes, author of On The Edge of the Cold War, explores the postwar political crisis from the perspective of the U.S. Embassy under Laurence Steinhardt and of U.S. Intelligence under Charles Katek and Spencer Taggart.
The book paints a critical portrait of Ambassador Steinhardt. It shows that his groundless optimism caused Washington to ignore signs that democracy in Czechoslovakia was in trouble. Although U.S. Intelligence officials who served in Prague were committed to the mission of gathering information and protecting democracy, they were defeated by their Communist opponents. The book reveals that the deputy commander of the Intelligence section was turned by the Russians. Consequently, when the Communists moved to impose their dictatorship in 1948, the U.S. Embassy and its CIA section were unprepared and powerless.
The fall of Czechoslovakia in 1948 helped deepen Cold War tensions for decades to come. The book offers vivid portraits of previously unknown American diplomats and intelligence officers at a crucial stage of the Cold War.
Joining Igor Lukes will be Benjamin Fischer, former Chief Historian of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Petr Gandalovic, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States. Christian Ostermann, director of the Wilson Center's European Studies and Hisotry and Public Policy programs, will chair the discussion.
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