G.I. Joe commercial 1960's ( Hasbro )

I've been loooking out for toys that reflected some of the values (and paranoia)in the US during the Cold War. Being a girl, and having mostly girls who were relatives around my age, I didn't see many of these. But my cousin Jeff had some and I remember playing with him and his sisters in the backyard, although inevitably his sisters and I would drift toward the jumprope or inside to watch TV.








I've asked some of my Russian interviewees about their favorite toys during their Cold War childhoods. It surprised me to hear from a couple of them that Americans weren't the default "enemy" in playground play. I remember hearing boys (mostly) talk about "the Rooskies", although often their role-play adversaries were pretend Viet Cong. Russian kids in the 60s still had images in their head of the German Wehrmacht when they played with toy soldiers....at least my the people I've been speaking to. This was despite the fact that none of them were old enough to have remembered or seen any bellicose Germans...but of course the USSR suffered greatly under Operation Barbarosa, and parents and grandparents who had survived that era were still around to talk about it. Americans had not seen fullscale war within its borders over 100 years before GI Joe, and Soviets and Viet Cong ended up being the easiest target. And Indians, if we were playing cowboys.

Trailer Ischeznuvshaya imperiya (2008) - The Vanished Empire

Saw this film the other day on Netflix. If you don't have Netflix, you should. Not only have they made the late fee obsolete, but they have a lot of films from the world over set up so you can see them instantly on your computer (if you have an X-box, there is some way you can also get them on your TV). Actually there are quite a few cold war era Russian and American films. This was made later, but is a good coming-of-age movie set in Moscow in the 70s.

Some reviewers have said the settings aren't quite as bleak as in the real 70s Moscow & Black Sea, but they still look pretty austere.

RIA Novosti on the 65th anniversary of the bomb on Hiroshima

Although this isn't focused on kids in the US or the USSR, the Russian view of the beginning of the Cold War is certainly important to the discussion. Here is the article in Russian:

http://rian.ru/world/20100806/262346036.html

and a video on the same topic in English:

http://en.rian.ru/video/20100806/160097197.html

WELCOME BACK!

Although the book on children's experiences in USSR and the US during the Cold War is still underway, I've decided to advertise this blog and seek participation in it as another way to get this information out and to preserve it. Please feel free to comment on anything here if you have something to say about the issue.

I am still seeking participants, particularly those who were children in the USSR during the last half of the 20th Century, for interviews to be included in the book. Please e-mail me if you want more information at

maestrobabe@gmail.com
or at
klnorman@med.umich.edu

thanks!