The U.S. public opinion regarding the USSR at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war: religion aspect

The article deals with the attitude of predominantly religious American society to the atheistic USSR and the perspectives of military-political alliance with it at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war. The chronological boundaries of the study are the period from the German attack on the U...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Eduard Khodun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv 2022-12-01
Series:Американська історія і політика
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.americanstudies.history.knu.ua/en/the-u-s-public-opinion-regarding-the-ussr-at-the-initial-stage-of-the-german-soviet-war-religion-aspect/
_version_ 1797447487608324096
author Eduard Khodun
author_facet Eduard Khodun
author_sort Eduard Khodun
collection DOAJ
description The article deals with the attitude of predominantly religious American society to the atheistic USSR and the perspectives of military-political alliance with it at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war. The chronological boundaries of the study are the period from the German attack on the USSR on June 22, 1941, to the beginning of December 1941, when a number of important events occurred: the Soviet counteroffensive near Moscow, Japan attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet base in Pearl Harbor, Germany, and Italy declared war on the United States. The aim of the article is a comprehensive analysis and systematization of the religious aspect of the USSR’s reputation in U.S. public opinion at the beginning of the German-Soviet war. Methodology: the article uses the method of analysis to study various points of view of American society on the possibility of an alliance with the USSR in the second half of 1941. The author also applies methods of systematization and generalization to illustrate the conclusions. Scientific novelty: for the first time in domestic historiography, the religious factor in U.S. public opinion about the possibility of an alliance with the USSR is analyzed. The author comes to the conclusion that the religious consciousness of American citizens had a significant impact on the adoption of important political decisions, and on the issue of alliance with the USSR at the beginning of the German-Soviet war, the religious part of American society proposed two possible models of solution: the absolute exclusion of any support for the USSR from the United States and, on the contrary, the establishment of temporary cooperation for early victory over the common enemy. Despite the existence of mutually exclusive strategies, supporters of both of them regarded the USSR as an ideological opponent with whom it is fundamentally impossible to build long-term promising relations.
first_indexed 2024-03-09T13:56:43Z
format Article
id doaj.art-0cf7989a2e1f436ba5c4122272414236
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2521-1706
2521-1714
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-09T13:56:43Z
publishDate 2022-12-01
publisher Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
record_format Article
series Американська історія і політика
spelling doaj.art-0cf7989a2e1f436ba5c41222724142362023-11-30T13:45:43ZengTaras Shevchenko National University of KyivАмериканська історія і політика2521-17062521-17142022-12-0115869610.17721/2521-1706.2023.15.7The U.S. public opinion regarding the USSR at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war: religion aspectEduard Khodun0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2184-3571Sumy State Pedagogical University A. S. Makarenko, Sumy, UkraineThe article deals with the attitude of predominantly religious American society to the atheistic USSR and the perspectives of military-political alliance with it at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war. The chronological boundaries of the study are the period from the German attack on the USSR on June 22, 1941, to the beginning of December 1941, when a number of important events occurred: the Soviet counteroffensive near Moscow, Japan attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet base in Pearl Harbor, Germany, and Italy declared war on the United States. The aim of the article is a comprehensive analysis and systematization of the religious aspect of the USSR’s reputation in U.S. public opinion at the beginning of the German-Soviet war. Methodology: the article uses the method of analysis to study various points of view of American society on the possibility of an alliance with the USSR in the second half of 1941. The author also applies methods of systematization and generalization to illustrate the conclusions. Scientific novelty: for the first time in domestic historiography, the religious factor in U.S. public opinion about the possibility of an alliance with the USSR is analyzed. The author comes to the conclusion that the religious consciousness of American citizens had a significant impact on the adoption of important political decisions, and on the issue of alliance with the USSR at the beginning of the German-Soviet war, the religious part of American society proposed two possible models of solution: the absolute exclusion of any support for the USSR from the United States and, on the contrary, the establishment of temporary cooperation for early victory over the common enemy. Despite the existence of mutually exclusive strategies, supporters of both of them regarded the USSR as an ideological opponent with whom it is fundamentally impossible to build long-term promising relations.http://www.americanstudies.history.knu.ua/en/the-u-s-public-opinion-regarding-the-ussr-at-the-initial-stage-of-the-german-soviet-war-religion-aspect/public opinion of the united statesussrfreedom of religionamerican-soviet relationsf. d. roosevelt.
spellingShingle Eduard Khodun
The U.S. public opinion regarding the USSR at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war: religion aspect
Американська історія і політика
public opinion of the united states
ussr
freedom of religion
american-soviet relations
f. d. roosevelt.
title The U.S. public opinion regarding the USSR at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war: religion aspect
title_full The U.S. public opinion regarding the USSR at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war: religion aspect
title_fullStr The U.S. public opinion regarding the USSR at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war: religion aspect
title_full_unstemmed The U.S. public opinion regarding the USSR at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war: religion aspect
title_short The U.S. public opinion regarding the USSR at the initial stage of the German-Soviet war: religion aspect
title_sort u s public opinion regarding the ussr at the initial stage of the german soviet war religion aspect
topic public opinion of the united states
ussr
freedom of religion
american-soviet relations
f. d. roosevelt.
url http://www.americanstudies.history.knu.ua/en/the-u-s-public-opinion-regarding-the-ussr-at-the-initial-stage-of-the-german-soviet-war-religion-aspect/
work_keys_str_mv AT eduardkhodun theuspublicopinionregardingtheussrattheinitialstageofthegermansovietwarreligionaspect
AT eduardkhodun uspublicopinionregardingtheussrattheinitialstageofthegermansovietwarreligionaspect