An exchange that took place at an international exposition in San Francisco in 1977 between Alex Manoogian and Armenia’s vice-prime minister Aleksan Giragosian offers a perfect illustration of the limits on the assistance that the AGBU could envisage providing Armenia during the Cold War. The construction of the famous Arpa-Sevan tunnel, a plum that Nikita Khrushchev had awarded to Armenia, was then underway. The tunnel had been presented as the solution to all Armenia’s agricultural problems. The lack of up-to-date technology was slowing the construction work down. Giragosian, who knew of Manoogian’s reputation for generosity, asked him if Armenia might not be able to acquire two vehicles manufactured by the Caterpillar Corporation, at a cost of half a million dollars each. He never received a clear answer, for good reason: the United States government had put the vehicles on the list of goods whose export to the USSR was punishable by law.1
The AGBU’s margin of maneuver was, in contrast, much wider when it came to helping the Holy See in Echmiadzin. Relations of reciprocal esteem and personal friendship had been established between Vazken I, the Catholicos of ... Read all
Armenia and the Presidency of Louise Manoogian Simone
Louise Manoogian Simone, sixth president of the AGBU (Arch. Bibl. Nubar/ Paris).
Louise Manoogian Simone in Yerevan shortly after the 7 December 1988 earthquake, accompanied by Bishop Karekin Nersisian, future Catholicos of All Armenians, and a representative of the Italian Red Cross (AGBU arch./New York).
Revival of AGBU-Armenia Connections after Spitak Earthquake of 1988 and Armenia’s Independence in 1991 (Video)
7 December 1988 earthquake in Spitak (coll. Photolur, Erevan)