Sentence:  Their kind created an American culture superior to any in the world , an industrial and technological culture which penetrated Russia as it did almost every corner of the earth without a nickel from the Federal treasury or a single governmental specialist to contrive directives or program a series of <WSD>consultations</WSD> of interested agencies . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a conference between two or more people to consider a particular question