ABSTRACT
When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President in 1932, the United States had withheld diplomatic recognition from the Soviet government for 15 years. American business contacts with the Soviets, however, had become extensive since the Bolshevik Revolution, even without government support in the form of loans or credits to back exports. Roosevelt established relations with the Soviet Union in his first year in office. He also set up an Export-Import Bank to finance trade. As part of the recognition accord, the Soviet Union pledged to negotiate the repayment of the Tsarist debt.
