"Captive Nations" is a term that arose in theUnited States to describe nations under so called 'undemocratic regimes', mainly countries deemed threatening to American interests. During theCold War, when the phrase appeared, it referred to nations underCommunist administration, primarilySoviet influence.
As a part of the United States' Cold War strategy, ananti-Communistadvocacy group, theNational Captive Nations Committee, was established in 1959 according to an act of Congress (Pub. L. 86–90) byPresidentDwight D. Eisenhower. The American economist and diplomat ofUkrainian heritageLev Dobriansky played a key role in it.[1] The US branch of theAnti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations also lobbied in favor of the bill.[2]
The law also establishedCaptive Nations Week, traditionally proclaimed for the third week in July since then. The move aimed at raising public awareness of the problems they saw in nations under the control of Communist and certain anti-American non-democratic governments.
The original Public Law 86-90 specifically referred to the following as Captive Nations:[3]
Russian émigrés living in US, criticized P.L. 86-90 because in speaking of "Russian communism" and the "imperialistic policies of Communist Russia" the law by implication equated the terms "Russian", "Communist", and "Imperialist". Specifically, theCongress of Russian Americans argued that P.L. 86-90 wasanti-Russian rather than anti-Communist since the list of "captive nations" did not include Russians, thus implying that the blame for the Communist crimes lies on the Russians as a nation, rather than on the Soviet system. According to the Russian writerAndrei Tsygankov, the suggested reason for this is that the law was designed by Lev Dobriansky, viewed by manyRussian Americans as aUkrainian nationalist.[4] Members of Congress have campaigned for nullification of the Captive Nations law.[5][page needed]
A group of American historians issued a statement stating that PL 86-90 was largely based on misinformation and committed the United States to aiding ephemeral "nations" such as Cossackia[a] and Idel-Ural.[8]
Gregory P. Tschebotarioff,Stephen Timoshenko,Nicholas V. Riasanovsky,Gleb Struve, andNicholas Timasheff were among vocal opponents of PL 86-90.[citation needed]
In a 1959 news conference, President Eisenhower stated "Well, of course they don't admit there are any captive nations. They have their own propaganda. They present a picture to their own peoples, including the world, so far as they can, that we know is distorted and is untrue."[9]
American leaders continue the tradition of celebrating Captive Nations Week and each year issue a new version of the Proclamation. Contemporary Proclamations do not refer to particular nations or states. The latest US president to specify a list of countries with "oppressive regimes" wasGeorge W. Bush, whose last Proclamation, given in 2008, mentionedBelarus,[b]Burma,Cuba,Iran,North Korea,Sudan,Syria, andZimbabwe. Bush characterized these countries' leaders as "despots".[10][non-primary source needed]
When declaring the July 2010 Captive Nations Week, PresidentBarack Obama stated that while the Cold War was over, concerns raised by President Eisenhower remained valid.[11][12][non-primary source needed]
In his 2022 proclamation, PresidentJoe Biden named several officially communist countries (Cuba, North Korea, andChina) and several non-communist countries (Russia, Iran, Belarus, Syria,Venezuela andNicaragua) among captive nations with "repressive regimes" but did not mention two officially communist countries,Laos andVietnam, the latter notably having better relations with the US.[13][non-primary source needed]