The Kremlin is backing an ambitious effort to make the B-sides of the Russian literary canon more accessible to a global audience. Is it a boon for cultural understanding — or propaganda? [...] They (U.S. and Russia) were joining forces to publish a treasury of Russian literature in English, at least 100 volumes strong, spanning three centuries and possibly more.

“One of the policies adopted by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in the new period is cultural diplomacy, since we believe culture is able to make the societies closer to one another and book first for why the opportunities for the active cultural diplomacy." [...] "We think of attending Moscow event as an overture to our next activities in the other international book fairs, as we try to turn these activities into the landmarks for our cultural exchanges. 

In 1956, near the end of this first term, Eisenhower convened a White House conference on citizen diplomacy.  Out of that grew Sister Cities International, a non-profit organization with the mission to “promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation – one individual, one community at a time.” [...] Durham joined the growing Sister Cities movement toward people-to-people diplomacy.