Professor Emeritus Robert Rupen, 87, who was invited to speak at the 50th anniversary commemoration last fall of the first International Mongolian Congress held in 1959 but could not go because of advanced age, is one of the not many speakers at that first Congress still alive. He recalls it addressed Mongolia“s relations with Russia, China, and the world. Most of the speakers were Russian and Chinese, and most attendees were from communist nations. Professor Rupen”s speech 50 years ago took its cue from the portrait of a famous Mongolian scholar, Jamtsarano, who had been a victim of Joseph Stalin”s 1939 purge. Delegates from Soviet Russia attacked Rupen for “unjustified” interference in internal Mongolian affairs.

Professor Rupen retired from University of North Carolina in 1990. In 1964 Indiana University published his landmark book, “Mongols of the Twentieth Century”, in two volumes. Communists in Mongolia, Russia, and elsewhere attempted and failed to discredit the book. Communist rule in Mongolia ended in 1990. In 2004, Professor Rupen returned to Mongolia to receive the Chinggis Khaan award for contributions to the Mongol nation and people over many years.

Professor Rupen’s contacts with Mongolia began in Munich, Germany, where he interviewed refugees from the Soviet Union. Mongolia in 1959 was primitive. Its population was about 600,000, spread over an area larger than Alaska and Texas combined. Ulaanbaatar had a population of less than 100,000. Streets were unpaved. Yaks pulled carts. Camels roamed the streets. By 2004, on Professor Rupen”s last visit, Mongolia“s population was about 3 million. One million lived in Ulaanbaatar. Out of his hotel room, he saw nomads on horseback having a terrible time in truck and automobile traffic. Girls using cell phones and wearing bare midriff garb and stiletto heels were not uncommon.

In 1959 when Professor Rupen attended the first International Mongolian Congress, Stalin had died, and China was taking an independent course from the Soviet Union. This was reflected at the Mongolian Congress when the Chinese delegation refused to eat with the Soviet delegation and the Chinese ignored Russian proposals for handling Mongolia. The Chinese delegates also refused to reside in the same quarters with the U.S. delegate, Professor Rupen. Today, China and Russia continue to have significant differences over Mongolia. The U.S. recognizes Mongolia and maintains an embassy there. To some extent, the U. S. is aligned with Russia in protecting Mongolia from Chinese expansion. There are thousands of Americans now living in Ulaanbaatar in all kinds of capacities.

Professor Rupen regards his contribution as providing the Mongols an objective or independent view of their history over the 70 years of Soviet and communist rule. Internally, the Mongols did not have access to such a view because of strict communist censorship. At the Mongolian Historic Museum in Ulaanbaatar in 2004, government officials, museum curators, and Mongolian scholars consulted with Professor Rupen about their history during that period.