150 years of cooperation between Russian and American Fleets

Special events to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the cooperation between American and Russian marine forces have been held in Washington DC, reports TASS.

The Army and Navy Club has given a reception to celebrate the occasion. The event was arranged by the American-Russian Cultural Cooperation Foundation (ARCCF). The 41st President of the U.S. George Bush congratulated the participants on the occasion underlining that the past events could become a good example to follow by present-day diplomats.

A delegation of the American Navy headed by a special representative of the American President Andrew Johnson the Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox visited Russia in 1866. Foreign navy men visited Saint Petersburg, Moscow and a number of other Russian cities and towns then. The delegation brought a joint resolution approved by both houses of parliament and a greeting to the Russian Emperor with them. Alexander II gave a reception to the American envoy and asked him to give his thanks to President Andrew Johnson. Gustavus Fox was the first foreigner to be conferred upon the freedom of Moscow.

Three years before the visit of the American Navy delegation to Russia, two Russian squadrons had visited New-York and San Francisco. The historical event took place according to an agreement made by the Russian Emperor Alexander II and American President Abraham Lincoln. The visit of Russian navy forces to America contributed to the containment of the foreign intervention to the U.S. and played an important role in the Civil War between the North and the South.

Besides, the Russian Navy men helped San Francisco residents to manage a massive fire caused by the earthquake of 1863. Risking their lives they took part in rescue activities.

The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the State Historical Museum of Russia, the Glinka State Central Museum of Musical Culture and the Museum of the Bolshoi Theatre took part in the arrangement of that commemorative event from the Russian side. Such American cultural institutions as the Congressional Library and Washington DC Smithsonian museums were engaged into the arrangement of the event as well.