General William V. Judson was Military Attache and Chief of the American Military Mission in Russia at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. His letters, memoranda, and reports constitute one of the most informed eye-witness accounts of war and revolutionary conditions under the Provisional and Bolshevik Governments of Russia after the February Uprising and abdication of Czar Nicholas II and shed light on the initiation of U.S.-Soviet relations.

Judson was convinced of the necessity of direct discussions and negotiations between the U.S. and the Trotsky-Lenin government following the Revolution. However, President Wilson and the three Republican administrations that succeeded him chose a different course. The publication of these papers will contribute to our understanding of both the Revolution and the American struggle to find an appropriate policy to guide relations with Bolshevik Russia.