Latest news with #LeeFarrow
LeMonde
3 days ago
- Politics
- LeMonde
Alaska, a hint of Russia in America
When historian Lee Farrow traveled to Russia with support from the US State Department to promote her book on Tsar Alexander II's 1867 sale of Alaska, Seward's Folly: A New Look at the Alaska Purchase (2016), there was always someone in the audience who claimed that the United States had not paid the agreed sum or that it was only a temporary concession. "There's been a very popular perception that somehow Russia was not given a good deal in all of that, and that maybe we'd even done something a little bit dishonest," explained the historian from Auburn University in Alabama. "[In] the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian people [were] looking for some sense of their former greatness. And so (...) reclaiming lost territory would go along with that (...) idea." In short, a certain "Alaska-is-ours" sentiment thrives in Putin's Russia. Ahead of Friday's summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, moderation is the order of the day. Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov described Alaska as a "logical place" for the August 15 meeting between the two leaders, citing the proximity of the two countries, separated by 82 kilometers across the Bering Strait (2.4 kilometers, if you count the two Diomede Islands − one Russian, the other American), and the shared economic interests in Alaska and the Arctic region.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump-Putin summit: A look back at when the US purchased Alaska from Russia
Before President Donald Trump sits down with Russian President Vladimir Putin for a highly-anticipated summit in Alaska to discuss Moscow's war on Ukraine, experts emphasize the historical significance of this meeting location, specifically how the United States purchased the land from Russia back in 1867. "I think that what's missing in a lot of our political conversations in the world right now is history, and there's a history behind a lot of what's happening not only in this Russian-American relationship, but also this war," Lee Farrow, history professor and chair of the Department of History and World Cultures at Auburn University at Montgomery, told ABC News. Prior to Alaska becoming the 49th state of the U.S., the territory was under the control of Russia after Czar Peter the Great sent explorer Vitus Bering to the Alaskan coast in 1725, according to the U.S. Department of State's Office of the Historian. Afterward, "Russia had a keen interest in this region, which was rich in natural resources and lightly inhabited," the office of the historian's website said. As the United States was expanding westward in the 1800s and Russia was dealing with a lack of financial resources and military presence in Alaska due to its involvement in the Crimean War, Czar Alexander the Second decided "perhaps it might be a good idea to go ahead and get rid of this faraway colony," Farrow said. "The stars kind of aligned at the right moment for this sale to occur," Farrow told ABC News. Russia officially offered to sell Alaska to the U.S. in 1859, "believing the United States would off-set the designs of Russia's greatest rival in the Pacific, Great Britain," the office of the historian said. But, Russia had to "beg" the U.S. to buy the colony, as the Americans were not initially interested in acquiring the land, Andrei Znamenski, history professor at the University of Memphis, told ABC News. MORE: NATO Secretary General Rutte says Trump-Putin summit is about 'testing Putin' "If we don't do anything, England, which is our enemy, she will come and take it over. So they decided to beg the United States [to] please buy this ice box. Eventually, a few Congress people actually had to be bribed," Znamenski said. After a delay due to the American Civil War, then-Secretary of State William Seward agreed to a renewed proposal to pay $7.2 million in exchange for the land on March 30, 1867, the office of the historian said. The Senate approved the treaty of purchase on April 9, President Andrew Jackson signed it on May 28 and Alaska was "formally transferred to the United States on Oct. 18, 1867," the office of the historian said. After the treaty was signed, people on Capitol Hill argued "whether or not this was a good purchase" or if it "was a wise move at that particular time," with people later referring to the acquisition as "Seward's Folly," Farrow said. This perception changed once discoveries of gold, silver and other natural resources in Alaska were found, Farrow said. "It was actually quite a very good deal for the United States," Farrow said. Only after the increase in discoveries of natural resources, the federal government began to take more interest in the land, with Alaska finally becoming a state on Jan. 3, 1959, Farrow said. MORE: Trump warns Russia of 'severe consequences' if Putin doesn't agree to stop war "Americans turned out to be incredibly lucky by purchasing the so-called ice box, but little did they know that they would be so happy. It turned out to be the greatest investment in terms of territory," Znamenski said. Regardless of what comes out of the meeting between Trump and Putin on Friday, Farrow told ABC News it's crucial for political leaders to remember the historical context when it comes to conflict and relationships between countries, since "it's not just about things that have happened in the last 10 years." "The Russian-American relationship has been so fraught with ups and downs, and there's always a way of looking at the past and focusing on the positive if we're going to try and mediate a war between Russia and Ukraine and actually have any hope of achieving something," Farrow said.
