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US Public Opinion and the Carter Administration's Response to Charter 77

Featuring Vilem Precan, chairman of the board of the Czechoslovak Documentation Center, whose book on the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, written using Czech archival materials, infuriated the Soviet government, and led to his exile. Mark Kramer, director of the Harvard Project on Cold War Studies and a Senior Associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University. He has worked extensively in newly opened archives in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Germany, and Poland. Dr. Kramer is also the author of numerous books and articles on Cold War history.And Thomas S. Blanton, director of the National Security Archive at The George Washington University in Washington DC. Blanton served as the Archive's first Director of Planning & Research beginning in 1986, became Deputy Director in 1989, and Executive Director in 1992. His books include White House E-Mail: The Top Secret Computer Messages the Reagan-Bush White House Tried to Destroy. Blanton co-authored The Chronology, on the Iran-contra affair, and served as a contributing author to three editions of the ACLU's authoritative guide, Litigation Under the Federal Open Government Laws, and to the Brookings Institution study Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940.

Date & Time

Wednesday
Nov. 28, 2007
3:00pm – 4:30pm ET

Overview

Vilem Precan, Mark Kramer, and Thomas S. Blanton will discuss the interaction between US public opinion, and the Carter administration's response to Charta 77, a grass-roots group of Czechs who were united in their desire to see the Czech government grant its citizens the human rights that were guaranteed by the Helsinki Final Act, the Czech constitution, and other agreements which Czechoslovakia had signed.

Featuring Vilem Precan, chairman of the board of the Czechoslovak Documentation Center, whose book on the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, written using Czech archival materials, infuriated the Soviet government, and led to his exile in Germany.

Mark Kramer, director of the Harvard Project on Cold War Studies and a Senior Associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University. He has worked extensively in newly opened archives in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Germany, and Poland. Dr. Kramer is also the author of numerous books and articles on Cold War history.

And Thomas S. Blanton, director of the National Security Archive at The George Washington University in Washington DC. Blanton served as the Archive's first Director of Planning & Research beginning in 1986, became Deputy Director in 1989, and Executive Director in 1992. His books include White House E-Mail: The Top Secret Computer Messages the Reagan-Bush White House Tried to Destroy. Blanton co-authored The Chronology, on the Iran-contra affair, and served as a contributing author to three editions of the ACLU's authoritative guide, Litigation Under the Federal Open Government Laws, and to the Brookings Institution study Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940.
 

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Cold War International History Project

The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.  Read more

History and Public Policy Program

The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs.  Read more

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