Гуманитарные и юридические исследования (Sep 2021)
«WILL POLAND, THE CRADLE OF EUROPEAN FREEDOM, BECOME THE CEMETERY OF WORLD DEMOCRACY»: THE POLISH QUESTION IN THE SOVIET-AMERICAN RELATIONS (1944-1945)
Abstract
The paper is an attempt to analyze the Polish question and its influence on the development of Soviet-American relations. The revision of the future post-war foreign policy in the USSR and the USA began during World War II. In the United States, the question of the future world system, the return of governments in emigration, the creation of coalition governments of national unity were discussed both in the White House and the State Department, and on the Capitol Hill. One of the most important issues of the postwar world order was the Polish question, which for a long time was a hindrance in the Soviet-British relations, but not Soviet-American relations. In the article, the Polish question is presented as a set of problems (the issue of territory and the question of forming the Government of National Accord) related to the future post-war arrangement of the world. The article demonstrates the evolution of the US attitude as caused not by a change of head of state, as usually believed. It is an attempt to study this issue both from the position of heads of state and diplomatic agencies, and from the position of American legislators, namely: the presence of a large Polish diaspora put pressure on senators and congressmen representing states with a compact residence of Polish Americans.
