The thaw as a turn to cultural diplomacy (based on Soviet-American cultural relationship

Aim. To identify the foundations for the emergence and conditions of the development of cultural diplomacy as a system during the Khrushchev’s «thaw» and to assess its effectiveness as a tool for foreign policy interaction between two opposing systems within the framework of the policy of «peaceful coexistence».
Methodology. Content analysis was the primary research method. Leading Soviet and American periodicals – Vechernyaya Moskva, Moskovskaya Pravda, Izvestia, and The New York Times – were analyzed. Researcher’s views on the phenomenon of Soviet cultural diplomacy were also analyzed. The following research methods were used in the work: synthesis, generalization, and narrative methods.
Results. The subjective and objective foundations for the development of a cultural diplomacy system in the USSR were identified, and the initial experiences of cultural exchanges in key areas of the emerging Soviet-American cultural diplomacy were analyzed. This allowed us to assess the effectiveness of cultural diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy cooperation.
Research implications lies in the contribution of the study to the academic understanding of cultural diplomacy as an instrument of the USSR's soft power and its characteristics during the Khrushchev’«thaw», as well as in the relevance to contemporary realities of assessing the possibilities of cultural dialogue in conditions of international tension.

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