The Dogs of Camelot by Margaret Reed & Joan Lownds

Author:Margaret Reed & Joan Lownds
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781493031627
Publisher: Lyons Press
Published: 2018-02-04T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

The Soviet Space Dog and a Cold War Romance

This is the story of a famous romance that seemed to bridge the divide between the US and the USSR during the height of the Cold War. It started with a little white dog named Pushinka.

Pushinka’s saga at the White House can be traced to June 1961, when President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev met in Vienna, Austria. Tensions between the two nations were escalating and would soon be pushed to the brink with the Cuban missile crisis, which was less than one year away. The Berlin Wall was in the process of being built. Photographs of the talks between the two world leaders at this time capture the strain and acrimony in their expressions.

By contrast, at a state dinner given by Austrian President Adolf Schärf at the Schöenbrunn Palace in Vienna, the photos show a smiling Mrs. Kennedy, dressed in a glimmering gown and her trademark long-sleeved gloves, sitting beside a laughing and visibly delighted Khrushchev. According to an interview with Mrs. Kennedy by historian Arthur Schlesinger, in his book A Thousand Days, the First Lady “remarked to Krushchev that she had read that one of the Soviet dogs that had gone into space had recently given birth—and jokingly said to Khrushchev, ‘Why don’t you send me one?’”

A few days after the Kennedys flew back to Washington, they received a rather startling visit from Soviet Ambassador Mikhail Menshikov. He was carrying in his arms a small white puppy named Pushinka (Russian for “little bit of fluff”), who was clearly terrified.

“How did this dog get here?” asked a bewildered President Kennedy, according to the Kennedy Library transcript.

“I’m afraid I asked Khrushchev for it in Vienna when I was running out of things to say,” Mrs. Kennedy replied. Along with Pushinka, Premier Khrushchev also sent some other gifts, including a photo album of Moscow, liqueur, nine bottles of perfume, and a golden tea set.

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