Before the Cold War, Russia and America Were the Closest of Distant Friends
History Unplugged Podcast
History Unplugged
4.2 • 4K Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nearly a century of Cold War tensions between the United States and Russia hide the incredibly close friendship that the two nations enjoyed before this period. From America’s colonial founding in the 1600s to the eve of World War One, the two distant nations relied on each other in a surprising number of ways. Each country was searching for allies on the world stage, and this culminated in a "blueprint for friendship" during the 1860s and 1870s, spurred by mutual conversations around the abolition of slavery and serfdom. However, this amicable distance dissolved following the Russo-Japanese War, which introduced cycles of mutual stereotyping and a damaging "war of images," where Americans saw Russian authoritarianism and Russians saw US imperialism and racism. Despite these emerging tensions, the relationship continued its characteristic oscillation, with both countries drawing inspiration from one another, leading to a brief "wartime honeymoon" at the start of World War I.
To discuss this forgotten chapter in Russian-American history is today’s guest, Victoria Zhuravleva, one of the authors of “Distant Friends and Intimate Enemies: A History of American-Russian Relations.”
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | For over 30 years, Point of Grace has shared music, faith, and friendship with listeners across the country. |
| 0:05.1 | Now Denise, Lee, and Shelley are inviting you into their circle. Welcome to Circle of Friends. |
| 0:10.1 | The podcast is Point of Grace. Each week they're talking real life, current events, stories of true friendship, wisdom from God's Word, and all their favorite things. |
| 0:18.3 | If you're looking for a little company, a few laughs, and a lot of Jesus to hold it together. Circle of Friends. The podcast is waiting for you. |
| 0:25.4 | Subscribe now wherever you listen or watch podcasts. And circle up with Point of Grace. |
| 0:34.6 | Sky here with another episode of the History Unplug podcast. |
| 0:40.9 | The United States and Russia have never been close friends in living memory. |
| 0:45.2 | There was a brief thaw at the end of the Cold War, but never anything like open friendship. |
| 0:50.8 | That was not the case in the first three centuries of Russian-American relations up to World War I. |
| 0:55.5 | From America's founding as a British colony in the 1600s, the two distant nations relied on each other in a surprising number of ways. |
| 0:57.4 | Each country was searching for allies on the world stage, and they usually had the same |
| 1:01.8 | enemies, especially Great Britain, and this culminated in a blueprint for friendship during |
| 1:05.8 | the 1860s and 1870s. |
| 1:07.8 | When, for example, Russia sold Alaska to the United States, because they saw America |
| 1:11.6 | as a partner in preventing British expansion into Asia, and they thought America would do more |
| 1:15.4 | good expanding the Western Hemisphere. The two nations also shared the mutual challenge of abolishing |
| 1:20.2 | slavery and serfdom, and they compared notes on how to do this in the most effective, peaceful way |
| 1:24.8 | possible. The United States supported Russia in its wars with the |
| 1:28.3 | Ottoman Empire in the 1870s when Russia supported independence movements in the Balkans, |
| 1:33.0 | where Christian nations were seeking self-determination from the Muslim Ottoman Empire. |
| 1:37.8 | But relations started to sour later when waves of Russian Mennonites and Jews fled the Tsarist regime |
| 1:42.6 | to the United States, and many in America |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Unplugged, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of History Unplugged and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.