1974
Kennan Institute Founded
The Kennan Institute was founded as a division of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in December of 1974 through the joint initiative of Ambassador George F. Kennan, then Wilson Center Director James Billington, and historian S. Frederick Starr. Named in honor of Ambassador Kennan's relative, George Kennan "the Elder," a nineteenth century explorer of Russia and Siberia, the Kennan Institute is committed to improving American expertise and knowledge about Russia and Eurasia.
Ambassador Kennan was one of the most distinguished diplomats of the 20th Century. He relied on his intimate understanding of Russian history and culture to help shape the US national security strategy for the Cold War. The Kennan Institute has followed his example for five decades by putting knowledge into public service. Learn more about Kennan's enduring legacy.
Left: Kennan Institute cofounders S. Frederick Starr, George F. Kennan, and James Billington.
Above: George Kennan "the Elder"
Alumni Highlights 1974-8
1975 - Nikolai Bolkhovitinov (1930-2008)
Bolkhovitinov (pictured left) was a prominent historian, pioneer of American Studies in the USSR, Honorary Foreign Member of the American Historical Association, and known as “the best Russian friend of American historians.” Read Nikolai Bolkhovitinov's biography by fellow Kennan alum Sergei Zhuk.
1977 - Andrei Voznesensky (1933-2010)
Voznesensky (pictured right) was one of the greatest modern Russian poets, an iconic figure of the Khrushchev Thaw, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, who had been referred to by Robert Lowell as “one of the greatest living poets in any language.”
1979
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
In December 1979, the Soviet Union began a full-scale invasion of Afghanistan to help its client Marxist-Leninist government consolidate control amid an intensifying political crisis in the country. The Soviet military campaign marked the beginning of a nine-year civil war which killed or displaced millions of Afghans and was a contributing factor to the decline and fall of the Soviet Union.
The Kennan Institute was an important hub of research and debate on the Soviet Union’s actions in the region, and their consequences for the United States and the rest of the world.
Listen to a clip of President Jimmy Carter's remarks on the Soviet invasion from 1980.
Left: A unit of Soviet soldiers pictured prior to their withdrawal from Afghanistan, 1989.
1983
Creation of Soviet-Eastern European Research and Training Act / The Title VIII Program
The Soviet-Eastern Europe Research and Training Act of 1983 (22 U.S.C. 4501-4508, as amended), also known as Title VIII, marked a major step forward in developing America’s knowledge of the Soviet Union. The act authorized the State Department to provide grant funding to advance research on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Title VIII funding led to the creation of fellowship programs for Eastern European studies, scholar exchange programs with the Soviet Union, language training, and other research activities.
Thanks to Title VIII, The Kennan Institute was able to greatly expand its resident scholar program to include younger scholars in the early stages of their careers. Today, in addition to approximately 900 American alumni, mainly supported by Title VIII, the Kennan Institute has over 400 alumni from Russia and over 120 from Ukraine.
Left: President Ronald Reagan delivers the State of the Union address to Congress in 1983.
Alumni highlights 1979-83
Vasily Aksyonov (1932-2009)
Aksyonov (pictured far left) was a renowned novelist and one of the last dissidents to be expelled from the Soviet Union. He was a winner of the prestigious Russian Booker Prize and author of Generations of Winter, which the Washington Post called “the 20th-century equivalent of War and Peace.”
Yuri Nagibin (1920-1994)
Nagibin (center, top) was a novelist and screenwriter, “author of understated, lyrical short stories in the tradition of Turgenev, Chekhov and Bunin” according to the New York Times, and co-author of the screenplay for Akira Kurosawa’s Dersu Uzala, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1976.
James P. Scanlan (1927-2016)
Scanlan (center, bottom) was a Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Slavic and East European Studies at Ohio State University from 1988-1991. A scholar of Tolstoy’s and Dostoevsky’s philosophical ideas, Scanlan authored more than 170 publications in English and Russian and mentored several generations of Russian philosophy students.
Vladimir Soloukhin (1924-1997)
Soloukhin (right) was a prominent writer and one of the founders of the “village prose” movement in Soviet literature, famous for nostalgic depictions of Russian nature and rural life.