The Constant Diplomat: Robert Ford in Moscow

by Charles A. Ruud

Overview

During his tenure as ambassador Ford was in frequent contact with Moscow's rulers and aware of their struggles, hopes, plans, and fears. Although they appeared powerful, Ford insisted that they sat uneasily on their Kremlin thrones. He showed their shortcomings and the flaws of their system at moments of apparent triumph and warned against miscalculating their strength. Shaped by centuries of Russian tsarism and by Communist ideology, Soviet leaders distrusted the world outside their borders and often failed to understand it, making mistakes and then compounding them, always without acknowledgment.

The Constant Diplomat uncovers the experiences that informed Ford's capacity to understand the Russians and provides a clear picture of the evolving Soviet domestic, political, social, and cultural scene from the late Stalin era through to the end of the Brezhnev regime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773535855
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Charles A. Ruud is a professor of history at the University of Western Ontario and the author of several books on Russia, including Fontanka 16: The Tsars' Secret Police.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xii

Illustrations xiii

Map: Soviet Sites Visited Robert Ford xix

1 The Ambassador in Training 3

2 Thereza and Encounters with Russia 17

3 Politics under Khrushchev 35

4 Brezhnev, the Flawed Leader 54

5 The Soviets under Threat 77

6 Trudeau's Opening 94

7 Trudeau in Moscow 109

8 Trudeau after the Peak 124

9 Soviet Meetings 141

10 The Decline of the USSR 155

11 The Soviet Embassy, Ottawa 173

12 Final Things 187

13 A Retrospective Look 207

Appendices

A A Soviet Province 213

B Early Travels with Ford, 1952-1953 219

C Travels with Ford, 1954-1972 235

D Travels with the Ambassador, 1978-1979 253

Notes 267

Bibliography 295

Index 299