The Formation of the “Atoms for Peace” Gestalt in the Soviet and American Information Field (in English and Russian)

Abstract

This article allows us to trace the origin of the information impact of the “atoms for peace” gestalt in the Soviet and American information field taking the speeches by D. Eisenhower and I.V. Kurchatov as an example. The paper attempts to study the public opinion dynamics in the information field regarding the countries’ nuclear potential, as well as to lay the foundation for future research in view of the current events in the international political arena. Recently, scholars have been paying special attention to the axiological form of the symbol, which allows us to consider in more detail the means of linguistic influence on human perception. Taking into account the phenomena of sociotechnical imaginaries, the authors expand on the concepts associated with the process of conceptualization, cognitive structure of the gestalt, frame basis and achievement of the goal of forming the “atoms for peace” concept. A gestalt must have a solid foundation in the perception of the individual, which is achieved by combining not only the rational features of the symbol but also its emotional component. The rhetoric of the socio-political style contains special linguistic means aimed at clearly separating the concepts of nuclear weapons and “atoms for peace”. However, even though Eisenhower and Kurchatov pursued common goals, they used different connotative linguistic means to achieve them. Having performed the cognitive matrix and comparative analyses, the authors were able to trace the organization of the media space in the 1950s in the USA and the USSR as a consequence of the persuasive potential of Eisenhower’s and Kurchatov’s speeches. This kind of research is relevant due to the close attention paid by the public and researchers from various fields to the international nuclear rhetoric as an element of both information confrontation and cooperation between the countries.