Pietro A. Shakarian, a PhD candidate at Ohio State University, will deliver a guest lecture titled “Detente! In the Western Reserve! Cyrus Eaton, Anastas Mikoyan and the Visit that Rocked Cleveland, 1959.” Hosted by the history and modern languages and literatures departments, the event will take place Thursday, March 7, at 4:30 p.m. in Mather House, Room 100.
About the lecture
During the 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union confronted each other in the depths of the Cold War. In this era of high tension, Cleveland saw one of the decade’s most significant exchanges between West and East when Soviet Vice-Premier Anastas Mikoyan met with Cleveland industrialist Cyrus Eaton.
Putting aside their ideological differences, Eaton, a protégé of John D. Rockefeller, and Mikoyan, a Bolshevik revolutionary, pursued their strong interest in dialogue and détente in order to avert nuclear disaster.
Shakarian’s talk will examine this remarkable local episode in the history of the Cold War.