The purpose of this article is to examine Shostakovich’s trip to the United
States in 1949: why he went, why he experienced such extreme discomfort—
‘‘I still recall with horror my first trip to the USA’’
—and what it suggests about the paradoxical position of the creative artist from a Communist country during
the early Cold War. Using Shostakovich as its primary focus, this article will
reveal the contradictions between his officially sanctioned role and his private
doubts and misgivings. Because the first subsumed the second, the costs were
considerable: his creative work diminished and his self-respect suffered. This
public/personal disjuncture was most acute from February 1948, associated
with the ideological assault on his music led by Soviet functionary Andrei
Zhdanov, until the death of Stalin in March 1953. In March 1949 it reached
its apotheosis.