M.A. (Cantab.) in History; senior advisor, Institute of Modern Russia
The article provides a detailed account of the visit by Pavel Milyukov, member of the Russian State Duma for St. Petersburg and leader of the Constitutional Democratic (Kadet) Party, to the United States in January 1908. The reception organized for Milyukov in Washington, D.C. and attended by fifty-seven Members of Congress, including House Speaker Joseph Cannon, was a milestone in U.S.-Russia parliamentary relations. Yet Milyukov’s planned meeting with President Roosevelt was thwarted by the Russian ambassador, and upon his return to St. Petersburg the Kadet leader was chastised in the Duma and in the conservative press for urging “foreign interference in Russia’s affairs.” Milyukov’s trip to America prompted discussions on the nature of patriotism, and on whether criticism of the government should be equated with criticism of the country.
This article appeared in Tauride Readings 2014, an edited volume published by the Center for the History of Parliamentarianism at the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (St. Petersburg, 2015). It is available in Russian.
