Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-07-10
Reyerie in Woshinqton

oIlCIlCN. buO LAC pIdCCiCC 10 OCCOAllIlB q
sort Of one-way street. Senator Full
bright might be persuaded to set up a
new exchange system, under which every
interview between Mr.. Khrushchev and
a rowing American politician would be
balanced by an interview between some
travelling Russian and Mr.. Eisenhower
One beneflt would be that instead Of
merely confusing American citizens, the
Russian citizens would also be confused
and we could thus do away with uni
lateral confusion in favor of bilateral
confusion.
At any rate, our thoughts along such
lines took form in fantasy - and an
imaginary article that Ojezn, the great
Moscow magazine, recently printed about
the exciting report of v. Averfrol Harri-
manshikov on his conversation with
President Eisenhower. Mr.. Harrimanshi-
kov once served as Russian Ambassador
to the United States. Later he was Com
missar of the Province of Omsk- Tomsk,
and hoped to become Russian Premier
But he was thrown out by Nelsiviski
Rockefellotoff, who also has his eye on
being Premier. Travelling in the United
States Mr.. HarrimanShikov had two long
talks in early June with Mr.. Eisenhower
one at the White House and the other
at the Presidents retreat in Gettysburg.
Well, Mr.. Harrimanshikov now has writ
ten long article about these talks for
the Moscow magazine, and here are some
Of the things he says:
Ora % l. -
host, affable and friendly. He was gra-
ciouS enough to talk with me for 3k
hours at the White House, and for Az
hours at his dacha-a total of hours,
which is quite lot Of time. He
served good Scotch in moderation and
fine food in abundance. He seemed to
be full Of vim and vigor, though he was
slightly cocky, thought. He ex-
pressed boundless admiration for the
people Of our country, and he repeatedly
spoke of his burning desire for peace in
the world, provided, of course, that we
help him shape the sort of world he
wanted, and for cordial, warm, COM
pletely trustworthy, yet one-sided spirit
Of togetherneSs in Americans Soviet rela-
tionS. -. Nevertheless, and this startled
and even alarmed me, there were mo-
mentS when his rudy, pleasant face
would darken and he would use harsh
and almost savage language. :.
'"The President at one point (thiS
was at his handsome dacha, which he
modestly calls a farmhouse) banged the
table with his fist, shook his finger at me,
roared like lion, and declared as fol-
lows, in what struck me, frighteningly,
as sinister tone: Your Nikita Khru-
shchev and your. other bigwigs talk
menacingly about places like Berlin and
Formosa Well, let me tell you some
thing: That's no way to ease tension
or promote peace, and If you start
war, you can be sure that we'll fight
back. Well fight back, and we'll finish
it, with everything we've got, if neces-
Sary-everything including our rockets,
our PolariS submarines, our Strategic
Air Force and all our other instruments
of massive retaliation. Make no mistake
about it, my friend. We can lick you
with our hands tied behind our backs.
If we don't wipe you of the earth with
our missiles with wild monkeys in
them) we'll crush you by the superior
strength Of our economic development
But then, according to the Harri-
manshikov account, "Mr. Eisenhower re-
Taxed, smiled, told several good Ameri-
can jokes, and insisted, with what
seemed to be genuine fervor, that there
was no reason why our two great coun-
tries could not become the dearest
friends in the world" AS for the harsh
and almost savage" language, Mr.. Har-
rimanShikov warns the Russian people
in his. magazine article that it should
not be shrugged off as mere bluff, and
he urges Premier Khrushchev to do
everything possible to cultivate friendly
relations with the PreSident-or else.
What we find interesting in our
dream about Mr.. Harrimanshikov is the
: idea. of the press of the USSR opening
up its pages to hot-off the -griddle mem
oirs by Soviet dignitaries returning from
chats at the White House. American
readers are accustomed to this sort of
thing, the other way around. Why not
let the Russians in on it? The cause of
peace would be served.
Maybe, just maybe. Nearly anything
seems possible in reverie.