Fifty years later, Charles Gati, an expert in Soviet and Eastern European politics, revisits the Hungarian Revolution and its suppression by the USSR in his latest book, Failed Illusions. The book delves into questions such as why the Soviets changed course and decided to intervene in Hungary after initially pulling out, what effect the attitude of the United States (both the CIA and the propaganda of Radio Free Europe) had on the outcome of the revolution, and what role other world events played in forcing Hungary to be lower priority for the West. Despite the marked differences between the cold war and our current “war on terror” it is useful to look back at cold-war America for lessons about how to respond to the foreign policy challenges we face today. A recent article in the NYT here (with an audio interview with Charles Gati) discusses the relevance of events in 1956.
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