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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 1963)
B SUNDAY. AUGUST 18, 1963 MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD. OREGON A yJlomnieinrii off YSdcdv in the Cold woo Cliiinnicitie : (Editor's Nola: For three . decades ,. Henry Shapiro, chief of the United Press International bureau in Moscow and dean of west ern correspondents in the . Soviet capital, has watched the ebb and flow of Kremlin polities-at home and on the international scene. In this dispatch, drawing on his personal experiences and observations, he analyzes the current "thaw" in the cold war.) By HENRY SHAPIRO United Press International Moscow - (UPD - "Peace," said a prominent American diplomat, "It's wonderful." And a , Russian military band played the Gershwin tune, ,"Love Walked Right , In." . ; , ' The occasion was the Krem lin ceremonial signing of the partial nuclear test ban agree ment between the Anglo American allies and the Soviet Union. . This diplomat's experience In Soviet affairs, like my own, has covered some 30 years of American-Soviet history. He was far from convinced that the millenium had arrived or that a period of sweetness and light was guaranteed. But he was acknowledging what was apparent: Moment of Thaw It was a moment of thaw in the murky climate of the cold war which at times in the past 18 years reached such points of danger that wona war seemed inescapaoie. Whether the thaw will de velop into a spring flood re mains to be seen in the course of the succeeding months when East and West will be discussing the melancholy realities of a profoundly di vided world. It does not take much to change the attitude of the Rus sian man -in -the -street from hostility to friendliness to ward Americans. The hostil ity, in spite of years of bitter propaganda warfare, has been only skin-deep. Although as an American I am a, citizen of the Soviet Union's number one antagon ist and as a journalist a mem ber o a much suspected and distrusted profession here, my life in .this country has been in serious danger only once in the past 30 years-and then not for reasons of hatred, but the reverse.' y Happened In 1945 It happened on May 9, 1945, -when Stalin's voice suddenly boomed from a thousand loudspeakers on Moscow's principal thoroughfares an nouncing the victorious end of the war. Within minutes hundreds of : thousands of Russians appear ed on the streets and began to surge towards Red Square, the traditional Russian center for popular demonstrations. . When I appeared on the square dressed In an Ameri can war correspondent's uni form somebody in the crowd shouted, "Vot Amerlkanets" -There goes an American. A dozen arms seized me and tossed me into the air three times while others shout ed "Long live Soviet-American Friendship" and "Long Live Peace." - I was pressed, squeezed and man-handled as I joined the throng which suddenly chang ed course and marched toward the American embassy on Makhovaya Square, five min utes from Lenin's tomb. I was grateful to be back on my own feet, and In one piece. Wanted Ambassador -, At the embassy a one-armed soldier shouted, "We want the American ambassador, echo ed by hundreds of voices of men, women and children. In the absence of Ambassa dor Averell Harriman, the charge d'affaires, George Ken nan, appeared on the embassy balcony and, addressing the crowd in flawless Russian, hailed the victory and urged. "Now let us work for peace." It looked then as if the suc cessful wartime coalition, con trary to all lessons of history, might become a permanent alliance for peace and prog ress. But only two years later, after the breakdown ot the Moscow conference of foreign ministers of 1947, the cold war was on full blast. In 1952, the gentle and scholarly Kennan, who had returned to Moscow as ambassador, was declared persona non-grata and not al lowed to remain in the Soviet Union. ' ...--: Bitter Campaign In the bitter anli-Americnn propaganda campaign that fol lowed, Harriman became one of the principal targets of ridi cule and hnte, a favored sub ject for cartoonists' carica tures of ' a "warmongering American imperialist." It was more than Ironic poetic justice for Harriman to return to Moscow last month as President Kennedy's special envoy and help to suc cessfully negotiate the first major East-West accord since the Austrian treaty of 1955.; The changing mood was best jTeflected in a photograph, taken last week, showing a happy and beaming Khrush chev and Harriman in a bear like embrace. On May 9, 1945, in the glow -'ir---1.- -'-- - i - t v M"-i , . ; v ' ' 'i i -. i SIGN TREATY U.S. .Secretary of- Slate Dean Rusk, So- vict Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. and British Foreign Secretary Lord Home, left; to right, seated, are shown in Aug. 8 picture signing the nuclear lest ban treaty, the first. major .East-West agreement, in almost eight years. Behind .' of a victorious Conclusion to war, I witnessed a rare, gen uinely ; spontaneous,; popular demonstration and. it, was pro-American. But in the suc ceeding years there wero at least four other demonstm tlons .outside-the American embassy -- all angrily: hostile. The. worst were on, the oc- casion of the landing of U.S. Marines In the Lebanon, and the time of .the- Bay of Pigs invasion. ' , ! Mais At Embassy .,, , ! In those riots thousands .of Russians massed, in front of the American ombassy'beeak lng windows,, disfiguring the walls with ink bottlcs.'-and shouting ..such,' slogans ;:, as Down, with " American Imr perlalism,": and '.'Shame; lo the American warmongers'.',' In the angriest 'clashes only last minute' -intervention- hv regular Red Arrny troops prol tected the embassy from'mnb Invasion and bodily injury to diplomatlc personnel. ''. ! Yet as I mingled with'-the street crowds during the Lobr anon demonstration I detected more sorrow - than : anger among the demonstrators. One remark I '! overheard came I '" J ' ' ' :,'' .i,- , ' - -Nl .... : N , - y- vx " .' , : :r-:r.. aa 5-' ' VV ac3 -v 'joocy u oocy. f . V: ' 1 " UU II: , . . J V . ... J from a middle-aged woman who said, "You cannot blame the American ambassador (Llewellyn Thompson) who loves his children.' as much as we do and he believes in peace.'.'-"' ,' The strange truth is that during the worst years of the long Stalin era nightmare few individual Americans resident here were subjected to per sonal indignities. I live in a large apartment house inhab ited entirely by Russians. Dur ing the Stalinist period many of my neighbors stopped talk ing to me, except to greet me politely but coldly when we came, face - to face. But no children threw: stones at, ray car or apartment windows, no one bothered me in. the . streets. Directed Politely ., .. Vjsiting foreigners,-looking for my.apartmnnt on. a small obscure street in mid-Moscow were always directed politely hy children .on.', the street or by neighbors to my door. : , The enormous reservoir of good will for foreigners gen erally and 'particularly for Americans was never drained here even by cold war bitter ness'. '- ' ' ''.' .-. J :'125Ll'fc L'L::::p'ku "tin Tetix the three, left to right, "re Sen. George Aiken; R-Vt.; Sen. William Fulbnght, D-Ark.; Sen. Hubert Humphrey, D-Minn.: U.S. Ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson; UN Secre-. tary-General U Thanl; and Soviet Premier Nikita.S. Khru-, shehev. (UPI) .":-.'.'.'' Nevertheless the wartime comradeship and cordiality cannot be easily restored un less "the first swallow"-the nuclear treaty -results in sub Chamber Action Results In Refund to Resident . Action by the Medford Chamber of Commerce helped secure a refund amounting to more than $140 for a , Jack son county resident, who had been "duped" into a sales or der :for magazines, the cham ber has reported. .The customer, who com plained to the chamber of commerce, said the sales crew member promised return of an amount signed for by the customer as soon as results of the competitive sales pro gram were calculated. . .The., chamber- called the matter' In trie attention- of Central Registry, , a, self-pol icing organization of maga zine publishers and circula tion companies in New York City. The circulation compa ny Involved promptly return 7r . - f , :::3 r, C:: - j t t i i j ' ' -J -z.:- - 1 . 7" . k ' ' , ""r J ft " I I stantial East-West agreements on wider fronts.' There is every indication - both sides hope this, is the real begin ning. " ; '.- ' . . ; . ':, . ed the check to the attorney representing the complaining party and dismissed the crew manager. Don McNeil, manager of the Medford Chamber, of Com merce, in reporting the case, issued a warning to local resi dents who wish to buy mag azines from traveling sales crews, urging them to check the chamber to determine whether or not the company is a member of Central Reg istry. : . -i : . -'. ; I.-. If they are not members of Central. Registry, :he'. em phasized, i "there is no re course." ' .. i There are local people, he added, who make their living through the sale of magazine subscriptions, and their names are in the telephone book. ; ' - . . j' C I have seldom seen a more beaming and cheerful Nikita Khrushchev -than when the Soviet Premier emerged from a , Kremlin side room, on "treaty day"' heading a ; pa rade of about 100 Soviet, Brit ish and American leaders into the Kremlin's magnificent St. Catherine hall to witness the ceremonial signing.- '. Escorts His Guests , : Bathed in kleighlights, with cameras whirring and 80 So viet and foreign correspond ents . watching, - Khrushchev escorted his guests to the mid dle of the vaulted hall to take their places behind a rectangu lar table covered by a cream colored velvet tablecloth. As Khrushchev, President Leonid Brezhnev, six Ameri can senators , and high rank ing members of the American and' British delegations stood in front of the malachite and marble . walls, host ' Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko showed his opposite numbers, U.S.' Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Britain's Foreign Secretary Lord Home, to their velvet'and gold framed'ehairs. . After, the signing, the gath ering broke into applause -led by Khrushchev - when the smiling ministers rose from the table to shake hands with each other, with Khrush chev, -. with U.N. ' Secretary General U Thant and others. Then, the 5 feet; 4 inch Khrushchev led his " guests past a Jong, oak, pannoled corridor to the adjoining mag nificent St. George's hall for a diplomatic reception.. Procession la Applauded - About 2,000 diplomats and a cross section of representa tives of Soviet society, poli ticians and marshals, writers and. scientists and leaders of the Russian Orthodox church, Moslem and Jewish religions applauded the procession, as it moved past tables groaning with delicacies to the end of the ballroom. They walked lo the tune of George Gershwin's . "Love Walked Right In," played by a 100-man military band. There were more and end less toasts to peace and friend ship, broad smiles and strong handshakes and mutual con gratulations. In the course of my Mos cow . years I have attended dozens of brilliant and gay Kremlin receptions. But with the exception of the welcom ing parties for the Soviet- as tronauts I have never seen . V ' GD9': Cuj such conviviality especially between leaders of the East ern and Western worlds. ' - Conspiciously missing from the celebrations were .the Chi nese, North Korean arid North Vietnamese ambassadors. The spirit of detente is in the air and seems to be grow ing almost in direct - propor tion to the deterioration of Soviet relations with Commu nist China. What the future may bring 1 cannot say, but I've never seen the cold war warmer. -. ; if I 1 1 -5' r;.'- . mm 1 .v.a -' i 4 LiicM Best deal .U- - ' H r given now! , ...'..- in . . . - " BEDFORD ROTORS 225 So. Riverside i irnr7 nhArr..: ' . rr I ' II ' ' : iH?iBS!!ilODil CJC3 HURRY! To Big Savings During Our ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION BEAVER Electric I Plumbing Supply 2740 North it com '-''.- makes everyone! situp and take notice! . MERCURY'S COMPACT : 4 DR. SEDAN .-. i L I . C SMALL C:?OSIT FC LAYAVAYS n C3 TC Pacific Hiway C T 2299 Phone 77261 57 . V - ''. - .1Y
