The first of many problems faced by

The first of many problems faced by Robinson and Morrison was to recruit a staff of competent analysts, no easy task given the weakness of Russian studies in the United States in 1941. There simply were not enough people who were both trained in the field and who had a command of the language. The subject never attracted many converts in the 1920s and 1930s. with perhaps only twelve scholars studying Russian language and the Soviet Union.42 Recognizing that one of their biggest problems from the outset was the "acute scarcity of qualified personnel in the United States," Morrison and Robinson worked together to produce a remarkable staff.43