The United States had broken off diplomatic relations with Russia shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Woodrow Wilson refused to recognise the new government due to its seizure of American property in Russia, alongside its refusal to pay back debts incurred by the Tsar or honour existing international treaties.
As the Bolshevik government consolidated its power in the Civil War, America remained concerned that the new Soviet Union was a threat to American values. Nevertheless the two countries maintained and expanded commercial links throughout the 1920s, with the Ford Motor Company even collaborating with the Soviet government to provide parts and establish the Gorky Automobile Plant.
Shortly after taking office in March 1933, President Roosevelt began to explore establishing formal diplomatic relations. Hoping to limit Japanese expansion in Asia and develop American commercial interests in the Soviet Union, he commissioned a survey that showed 63% of the public in favour of recognizing the USSR. Consequently he called on advisor Henry Morgenthau and Russian expert William C. Bullitt to initiate contact.
The following month the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Maxim Litvinov, travelled to Washington to meet with Roosevelt. He agreed to religious and legal rights for U.S. citizens living in the Soviet Union, and promised not to aid the U.S. Communist Party. Meanwhile both sides agreed to return to the debt question in the future. Roosevelt announced the establishment of formal diplomatic relations with the USSR on 16 November, and appointed William C. Bullitt as the first Ambassador to the Soviet Union.
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