From Colony to Superpower,

apologies in advance, I am in China, my copy of the book is in Wales. I can't even remeber the authors name, or any direct quotes, but this is what I remember from the book.

The U.S had good relations with Imperial Russia, right up to the Revolution.

Russian and American interests hardly clashed. Infact they usually intertwined in their objectives in keeping Europe stable, aswell as internal reform. During the American Civil War, the Russian Empire was the first state to formally back the Union, and stationed a fleet in a U.S dock to show their solidarity. Russia also had problems with internal agitation at that time. There were also many American missionaries working in Russia, as in China, helping the poor and needy in the vast swathes of Russian territory. In additon to this there was a large famine in Eastern parts of Russia after the U.S Civil War, and the U.S donated massively. I'm struggling to remember what else was said in the book, I suggest you go to your library and take a look, it's a rather large volume, but it goes into some depth on the question you have raised. The only other point was the U.S sent an ambassador to St. Petersburg who loved bears and whisky.