American diplomat Alfred Will Kliefoth and anti-Sovietism in the US government apparatus in 1920s

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The article is dedicated to studying the participation of a US State Department's employee - Alfred Will Kliefot - in determination of the Soviet-American relations. The topic is relevant due to highlighting how intradepartmental and interdepartmental contradictions and discussions in the state apparatus influenced the transition from a policy of sanctions against the USSR to an economic partnership. The purpose of the article is in reconstructing the influence of subjective and objective factors on U.S. foreign policy in the 1920s. The specifics of the functioning of the Division of Eastern European Affairs of the State Department are revealed in detail, as well as the role of the consulate in Riga in adjusting the directions of Soviet-American cooperation. During the research, the author used not only published documents and memoirs, but also materials from American archives. The research methodology is based on the principles of sociological constructivism. To characterize the processes in the US Department of State, the author of the article used historical-biographical and historical-genetic methods. Although A. W. Kliefot is best known for his diplomatic work in Italy, Austria, and Germany in the 1930s, the author has managed to reconstruct little-known aspects of his work in the Division of Russian Affairs and the Division of Eastern European Affairs in the 1920s. The author came to the conclusion that A. W. Kliefot since 1919 till 1929 not only significantly changed his views on the Soviet system, but also contributed to reducing the level of anti-Soviet sentiment in the State Department. Although the diplomat openly opposed the official recognition of the USSR throughout the period under review, he argued in favour of such a step in official correspondence, and also supported the development of Soviet-American trade.

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