“Fireman on the Devil’s Train”: Image of the Soviet Leaders in American Popular Music during the Cold War

Abstract

The aim of this article is to determine the place and role of American popular music in the process of formation and evolution of the images of Soviet leaders in the context of the Cold War based on the constructivist approach. Popular culture reflects ideas and views deeply rooted in the public consciousness, and at the same time creates such ideas and stereotypes through the formation of spontaneous images and their consolidation in popular culture. In this regard, the analysis of the repertoire of images replicated by American popular music of various genres allows us to contribute to the historiography of the Cold War from the point of view of studying it as an image confrontation between the two powers. In addition, identifying the evolution of ideas about Soviet leaders in American popular culture makes it possible to expand our understanding of the socio-cultural context of the development of Soviet-American relations. This article examines the lyrics of songs by popular US performers as a source for understanding the set of values through the prism of which the authors gave characteristics, assessed the personalities and activities of their characters, thereby actually acting as actors in the ideological confrontation between the two systems. The evolution of the images of Soviet leaders in American popular music from the second half of the 1940s to the 1960s clearly demonstrates how their perception changed radically three times in a relatively short period of time. Due to the tradition of personifying countries through the images of their rulers, this change reflected the transformation of ideas about the possibility of interaction with the Soviet Union as a potential international partner. The transition from the allied relations of the Second World War to the confrontation in the conditions of the Cold War was accompanied by the demonization of the image of I.V. Stalin. A short-term “thaw” in the domestic and foreign policies of the Soviet Union gave rise to hopes for the possibility of cooperation between the two countries in ensuring peace and security. These hopes and the associated humanized image of N.S. Khrushchev were replicated both by the American mass media and the work of musicians working in various genres of popular music. However, in the context of the aggravation of Soviet-American relations during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which put the countries on the brink of a nuclear conflict, hopes were replaced by new disappointment. This disappointment was compounded by high expectations from the new Soviet leadership, which resulted in a return to the radical rhetoric of the Cold War.