ABSTRACT
The Chautauqua Institution-Eisenhower Institute Conference on US-Soviet Relations held in Jurmala, Latvia, on September 15-19, 1986, provided a forum for unprecedented public debates on the state of relations between Washington and Moscow, arms-control issues, regional conflicts, international terrorism, and the role of the media in influencing public opinion. In the course of the conference, Soviet security officers declared that they could no longer guarantee the safety of the American Latvians at the conference. Most of the American participants wore name plates and a lapel pin depicting the stars and stripes of the United States and the maroon-white-maroon colors of independent Latvia. In compliance with the accords reached beforehand, the Soviet Latvian press, radio, and television reported regularly and quite extensively on the political discussions and cultural events comprising the meeting. The conference was described as a unique forum for the open discussion of bilateral issues and as a step in the longer process of improving relations between Moscow and Washington.
