Jack F. Matlock and American Diplomacy with Russia.

• Author: Krasnyak, Olga

Title: Jack F. Matlock and American Diplomacy with Russia

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Editor's note: Dr. Krasnyak"s research was supported by the Matlock Archives Short-term Fellows in Residence Grant. The grant was provided by the Center of Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies (CSEEES) of Duke University.

US-Russia relations are currently at a low point without promise for improvement in the short term. Russia and the US once again seem more likely to be talking about each other than with each other.

Research into the career of Jack F. Matlock, a long-term diplomat and an Ambassador to the Soviet Union, offers insights into ways to conduct diplomacy to advance American interests with Russia. Ambassador Matlock"s contributions to diplomacy are important for understanding the history of US diplomacy with Russia; the Matlock archive collection at Duke University is a rich source for researching and teaching diplomacy.

Specialization in Russian Literature

Matlock"s interest in Russian literature began when he was a student at Duke University and was bowled over by Dostoyevsky. His specialization in Russian affairs continued in graduate school at the Russian Institute of Columbia University and as an instructor in Russian language at Dartmouth College. While there, Matlock indexed the Russian edition of Stalin"s collected works, completed his first dissertation on the Union of Soviet Writers, and translated the nineteenth century novelist Nikolai Leskov and the poetry of AndreyVoznesensky, whom he later often welcomed at Spaso House, the residence of the American ambassador in Moscow. He later said that his knowledge of Stalin"s nationality policy proved useful when he took the Foreign Service test.

In a 1997 interview, Matlock emphasized that being a specialist in Russian literature allowed him to develop a rapport with writers and intellectuals at a time when making contacts was very difficult.[1] For Russian people, the reliability of "this American... who knew their language [and] their literature probably better than they did... subliminally cast a very useful image" and drew their interest.

Matlock understood that comprehending other societies is critical for communicating constructively and negotiating effectively, and is especially crucial for learning how to trust a counterpart and expecting the same in return.

Engaging the US Political Establishment

For Matlock, diplomatic communication meant both building relations with the Soviet leadership and a wider Soviet audience and engaging with the American political establishment in order to promote US interests in the Soviet Union.

Matlock"s postings in Washington and his short tenure as the deputy director at the Department of State"s Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in 1979-1980 gave him extended opportunities to form bonds with the American political establishment.

Given that a quarter to a third of US ambassadors are political appointees rather than career foreign service officers, Matlock attempted to build constructive relations with them and help them adjust to ambassadorial work.[2] In...