The application of high-frequency acoustic devices to the enhancement of electronics saw an extraordinary growth in both Eastern and Western countries in the sixties and seventies. A major impetus for these developments was the tension existing between the Soviet Bloc countries in the east and the former Allied countries in the west. Government military spending on both sides provided funding to explore new acoustoelectronic concepts in universities, institutes, and major defense companies. The direct exchange of visits between scientists and engineers of the East and West was limited until the 1980s, when travel restrictions were lifted on both sides and authors that has previously only been names in the open literature became face-to-face contacts and enjoyed exchanges at conferences of mutual interest. This resulted in a new era of cooperative work between the East and West and a large number of device applications that are seen in electronic systems around the world today. This paper explores the major acoustoelectronic developments of the sixties and seventies from an eastern and western perspective.