Khrushchev : the man and his era by Taubman William

Author:Taubman, William
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971, Chruscëv, Nikita S, Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971, Heads of state, Política e governo, Presidente
Publisher: New York : Norton
Published: 2003-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

The Berlin Crisis and the Aynerican lYif) ■ 141 ■

Since the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had no golf course, Khrushchev had one built for his guest. Wlien Eisenhower asked to use his own plane within the Soviet Union, KJnushchev overrode the objec-dons of the military. The KGB feared the plane would take secret photographs of Soviet bridges, highways, and railroads—and they were right. High-resoluUon cameras were soon being built into the bellv of Air Force One in a secret hangar at Andrews Air Force Base.'"'

Although not all preparations for the Eisenhower visit were made public, the Soviet people got the message. Whole neighborhoods in Moscow and Leningrad got face-lifts (streets repaved, facades repainted, etc.). So did a small village in the hinterland through which an American diplomat happened to travel. The village wasn't anv'vvhere near the presidential itinerary, but it was spruced up anyway just in case the president decided to drop in. 'You know," said a local official, "when that president of yours gets here, we will give him a welcome the likes of which no Soviet leader has ever had."'^''

For decades Muscovites hadn't dared telephone Americans for fear their lines were tapped. Now Americans suddenly got calls from Soviet friends proposing that they get together. Moreover, all this genuine enthusiasm could only be expected to swell into a tremendous pro-American crescendo once Eisenhower arrived. Soviet ideological watchdogs were alarmed. The image of the United States as the "class enemy," carefully cultivated for forty' years, was proving hollow. A massive, spontaneous, public ideological defection was in effect taking place.

Khrushchev was worried too, his son recalled. "All his hopes were now linked with the upcoming summit and even more with President Eisenhower's visit to the Soviet Union." Since he was laving the foimdation for a new era, "it was particularly important not to stumble at the start of the process when everyone's nerves were on vd^^v. One ialsc moNc. one wrongly understood step, and all his labois would go \\\) in smoke."

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