Glasnost and Goodwill Exhibit/Russian Deli Trip

group. Afterward, we will be going to the Marvel Deli, a Russian deli in Auburn. You can also join us for just the deli part of the event. This should be a very interesting exhibit, especially for those of us who lived through the Cold War and saw how organizations in the Pacific Northwest helped bring peace between the USSR and the US. From the official write-up about the exhibit from the Washington State History Museum: “By the 1980s, there were thousands of nuclear weapons aimed at the United States, and an equal number targeted at the Soviet Union. Only a vague notion of “mutually assured destruction” stood between war and peace for the world’s superpowers. And yet, citizens did not sit idly by. Quietly a movement formed, built by citizen diplomats who reached across the Pacific to engage their neighbors, one conversation at a time. Washingtonians, in particular, saw an opportunity to bring peace with their nearby neighbors through business partnerships, sister-city relationships, and cultural exchanges. Glasnost and Goodwill: Citizen Diplomacy in the Northwest is a fascinating, in-depth exploration of how citizen diplomacy in Washington and the greater Northwest contributed to the thawing of the Cold War. Visitors will learn about people from Washington traveling behind the Iron Curtain with thousands of letters expressing wishes for peace; elementary school children competing cross-culturally in chess tournaments and swimming competitions; fishermen supporting one another in international business ventures; and finally, the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle and the greater Puget Sound region–a major undertaking that further cemented the special relationship between Washington and the Soviet people.”

How to find us: We will meet in front of the entrance to the museum at 12:30 PM.