Summary: The study examines Bulgarian research on American problems from the Renaissance to the early 1990s. The author believes that the professional level of the research has been influenced by the political situation in Bulgaria at different stages of its historical development and the ideological views and dogmas prevailing during these periods. These views and dogmas negatively influenced the development of a particular field in history studies in Bulgaria. For a long time, the image of the enemy prevented an objective assessment of the history of the United States and the history of Bulgarian-American relations. The question of the civic responsibility of researchers, called through scholarship to promote mutual understanding and to dispel prejudice, to combat superstition and ignorance in spiritual contacts, is important for any field of study, but its significance for history and political science is enormous. Here, as nowhere else, researchers are obliged to always ask themselves the question (while remaining, of course, faithful to historical facts): What purpose does their research serve – the cause of peace, trust and cooperation, or the cause of war and the fomenting of enmity and hatred? In spite of the positive results achieved in the research on certain problems, and the undoubted achievements of individual researchers who have received recognition in Bulgaria and abroad, Bulgarian research on America did not clearly establish itself as an independent field of study until the early 1990s. The beginning of the 1990s was a turning point both in history studies in Bulgaria and in the field of American Studies in particular.
Keywords: United States, Bulgarian-American relations, Bulgarian Association for Ameri¬can Research
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