CITY OF DIXON TO CITY OF DICKSON

Mayor James E. Dixon of Dixon, Illinois, USA, invited the Mayor of Dickson, Siberia, USSR, to begin a citizens' exchange program between the two cities. "This is not a statement of foreign policy", said the Mayor, "but a suggestion from one small community to another that our nations may have a better opportunity for peace if their people can get to know one another and become friends".

Participants in the exchange program will be "adopted" by families in their sister city for the summer, living in the homes of their Russian and American counterparts as family members rather than guests. The program is open to residents of the two cities between the ages of 20 and 35. The exchange is proposed for July 1 through August 15 of this year.

Mayor Dixon has also invited Russian Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to support the proposal. Dixon told Gorbachev that he believed the best road to peace is through the development of a personal relationship between the peoples of the USA and USSR.

Nikolai Kardamyshev, Chairman of the District Executive Committee of the Soviet of Peoples' Deputies for Dickson, Siberia, roughly the equivalent of Mayor in America, sent a letter to Mayor Dixon and the people of this small midwestern community in January. Dixon, Illinois, is the boyhood home of President Ronald Reagan. Kardamyshev told Dixon of the concern that residents in Dickson, Siberia have about world peace.

Dickson, Russia is a small port city and hydrometeorological center in far northern Siberia. It is located northeast of Archangel on the Kara Sea and has a population of approximately 5,000.

Dickson was named after Oskar Dickson, a Swedish merchant who developed a trading post for the Siberian trade route at that site. It is only a two hour flight from the North Pole. Winter in Dickson lasts ten months, and for two of those months the sun never comes above the horizon.

Assistance in the project was given to the Dixon Mayor by Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Letters to Premier Gorbachev and the people of Dickson were sent in both English and Russian language versions. Translations of the response were made by the Slavic Department at Northwestern.

Mayor Dixon suggested that the sister cities "mutually dedicate themselves to seek friendship and peace" for Russia and America by setting an example for other communities to follow. •

Page 16 / Illinois Municipal Review / May 1987