After the Visit: Khrushchev's 'Hard Sell'

...That was not surprising cither, for his publicity grew as he went along, and he became more and more of a celebrity...

...It helped that he was often provided with a foil for dramatic effect, whether it was Lodge or Mayor Norris Poulson of Los Angeles...

...it was not discussed between the President and Khrushchev...

...It is doubtful that even the topmost American officials know all they talked about...

...In propaganda for Eastern Europe, Khrushchev wrapped himself in the mantle of the Great Peacemaker who had personally forced this exchange of visits on a reluctant President Eisenhower...

...At 10:45 AM on Saturday...

...Herter revealed his own incomplete knowledge of the conversations at his press conference on October 6. Disarmament was discussed only in general terms, "as I understand it...

...Khrushchev happened to be in Poland when the final invitation came, and it soon "leaked out" that he had told Wladyslaw Gomulka, the Polish Communist chief, something along the following lines: "This is the turning point...

...If one judges by his speeches, his attitudes about this country have been modified in three important respects...

...Khrushchev was misjudging the reception somewhat...

...The people at the station pressed forward to see him...

...Somebody pick him up...

...If Eisenhower had any reservations about Khrushchev's persuasive explanations, he did not indicate them...

...I trust I shall not be wounding Khrushchev's vanity when I say that to many Americans he was not a peace leader, but a plain and simple curiosity...

...I was in the crowd at Santa Barbara as it surged forward for a sight of the Number One Communist...

...He has said that people do not live badly under capitalism, that there is an identity between the Government and the people, and that this country can disarm without disrupting its economy...

...He's too small...

...After the Visit–Two Articles KHRUSHCHEV'S 'HARD SELL' By Daniel Schorr Daniel Schorr, Columbia Broadcasting System foreign correspondent, followed the career of Communism's top salesman at first hand from 1955 through the summer of 1957, when he was stationed in Moscow...

...She waved at me because she knew I was one of the men who could help to preserve peace...

...than for visiting Poland last July...

...the best deadpan in the business, explained that Khrushchev had previously signified interest in inspecting a bowling alley, and this seemed to be a good time to do it...

...Unable to judge in advance what success he would have in his talks with the President, he was in effect appealing over the head of the government to the people, hoping to achieve a sort of psychological disarmament of America, or at least to strike a blow in that direction...

...He told the President that Russia "made better use of the incentive system . . . than we.' He explained to Eisenhower how the application of Communist doctrine "has been changed very greatly in modern usage...

...In the afternoon, the President took Khrushchev by helicopter to see his farm and meet his grandchildren...

...During parts of the conversation, there was no American interpreter present...

...In Eastern Europe, the invitation was exploited to show that Khrushchev had planted the banner of Soviet equality with the U.S...

...to try ever to fight...

...On Sunday, after the close of the conference (two hours behind schedule), they had another hour–and–a–half together driving back to Washington...

...This conclusion was accepted with no great enthusiasm in Eastern Europe...

...And it may not necessarily work to our advantage in Berlin, since the East Germans could block access without resort to force and it might be we who would have to use force to get through...

...They started a sort of "Be Kind to Khrushchev Week," as though he were some powerful, but not wholly rational, figure who had to be kept placated lest he unleash some terrible vengeance...

...It was another for the Soviet leaders to obtain American acknowledgment of this view...

...it was only a minor aim as far as the Soviet Premier was concerned...

...In fact, it is doubtful that Khrushchev has any real impression of this country at all...

...In Poland, from which I came to cover the Khrushchev tour, he won more plaudits for going to the U.S...

...They walked back to Aspen Lodge, they continued conferring alone on the sun porch so long that lunch was delayed an hour...

...Thus, the President appeared to divide the Khrushchev trip into two phases—the sightseeing part and the talking, if not negotiating, part...

...on the whole, the peacemaker posture paid great dividends at home...

...Hagerty...

...The message was spread that the President's acceptance of Khrushchev meant acceptance of Soviet domination in Eastern Europe...

...Exceptions must be made for Czechoslovakia, whose unrefurbished regime believes that Communism runs better on tension than on relaxation, and for the East German Communists, who feared that the drive against West Berlin might get a lower priority—though Khrushchev assured them it would not...

...September 26, the two principals broke off the Conference and took a walk to see a bowling alley in the Camp David recreation hall...

...When Khrushchev arrived at Andrews Air Force Base on September 15, shook hands with the President, dumped his baggage at Blair House and crossed Pennsylvania Avenue for his first visit to the White House, he had already accomplished a large part of his mission...

...On Saturday night, after the first full day of talks, Hagerty made the interesting statement that it could not be determined whether progress had been made until the talks concluded next day...

...He received an unfortunate impression, in Los Angeles, that statesmen could be cowed by his threat to go home...

...Whether he sold his message is something that is hard to judge immediately, but he felt he had done well...

...Actually...

...Second, to give him, face to face, the basic convictions of our people on the major issues of the day, including West Berlin, and to hear from him directly his own views on those issues...

...It would appear, from the President's account, that Khrushchev ran the gamut of his debating postures, from "negative, difficult" to "affable, genial...

...And, obviously aware that the way to Eisenhower's heart is through his budget, the Premier "deplored the need for spending so much money on defenses...

...However, Eisenhower, who, it will be recalled, disclosed in 1957 that "he had a very tough time trying to defend our position" against Marshal Georgi Zhukov in their wartime talks in Berlin, made clear at his own press conference that he had been deeply impressed by Khrushchev and by his arguments...

...He seemed sometimes to regard our democracy as some strange form of anarchy...

...He was clearly interested in teaching rather than learning, in selling rather than buying...

...as he jubilantly put it to meet them...

...It was little enough...

...There was, however, genuine enthusiasm for the idea of relaxation...

...The President does not write very complete memoranda of conversation...

...BEFORE Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev arrived in the United Slates, President Eisenhower outlined his reasons for inviting him: "First, to give him the opportunity to see what Americans are like...

...But the reaction of the American people to Khrushchev may be less important, in Tealistic political terms, than the President's reaction...

...If the Soviet chieftain conveyed some momentous message, others who were present at Camp David are not aware of it...

...And as to a nuclear test ban, "as far as I know...

...And, from what I saw of the crowds along the way, I would say that about described America's reaction to him...

...His nation–wide exposure on television helped...

...Everything helped to heighten the drama of the performance—especially after his threat to go home...

...His trip was a public relations coup before it ever started...

...What would have been most useful would have been the application of this principle to Red China, and it has since become crystal clear that Khrushchev has had no success in getting Peking to subscribe to it...

...I heard remarks such as...

...It was one thing fur the Soviets to boast, as they have done since Sputnik I. that Russia now rivals, and perhaps surpasses, America as a world power...

...This little girl was waving at Communism...

...Then, Soviet resources can be turned more fully to economic expansion and competition with the West...

...There is no doubt that Khrushchev made some progress in selling himself...

...His plastic performance, his eloquent hands and his expressive face helped...

...What this meant emerged later—that Khrushchev had made some conciliatory remarks about Berlin, but was reluctant to put them in formal terms...

...It disappointed the advisers who had long felt Khrushchev had something of tremendous importance to tell the President when he met him...

...He had escaped "from house arrest...

...Thus, there was a feeling that Khrushchev's visit was inaugurating a new and more propitious era, and that Khrushchev deserved credit for having brought it about...

...This line, on the whole, proved immensely popular in the Soviet Union and the European countries under its sway...

...It would be difficult, at best, for a man of five feet, five inches in height to go around, constantly surrounded by hundreds of security men and newsmen three or four inches, taller on the average, and see very much...

...From the day the invitation to Khrushchev was announced, there was a new atmosphere—meaning that a new line had come down...

...From an ideological viewpoint, his concession that American hot dogs may be better than the Russian variety is of less importance...

...You know, there was one child, a girl of three in her mother's arms...

...If it was President Eisenhower's purpose that Khrushchev "see what Americans are like...

...He had himself billed as the only man who could end the cold war, with the discreet hedge that if he could not, it would not be his fault...

...From then on it seemed that Americans were a bit frightened...

...You will see that in two or three years the cold war will be over and coexistence solidly established...

...he said...

...It would seem more likely that they are verbal concessions in the name of coexistence, for which he would like to receive corresponding concessions from us—our recognition that people do not live badly under Communism, that his Government represents his people and that the Soviet Union is sincere in its efforts for disarmament...

...The agreement to avoid the use of force in settling outstanding disputes was not new, having already been implied in the nuclear stalemate...

...This may, in the long run, outweigh in importance the specific understanding on Berlin—if it can be called specific...

...It was at the railway station at Santa Barbara, on the way from Los Angeles, which had been the low point of his tour, to San Francisco...

...The final compromise was that the key agreement—negotiations on Berlin which would be without time limit, but not indefinite—would be excluded from the communique, but sanctified only by verbal statements on both sides...

...I doubt, however, that these statements represent a real awakening for Khrushchev...

...Khrushchev was obviously more concerned with America's reaction to him than with his reaction to America...

...There is a tendency, particularly in Poland, to feel that pressure on the satellites varies directly with East–West tension, and that the more relaxed Russia's relations with the U.S...

...the more elbow room Poland will have...

...It was hailed as an acknowledgment of the status quo...

...On the whole, it would appear that he was wowed by us, but not deeply impressed...

...What he was selling was the double–barreled proposition that the Soviet Union was peacefully inclined and that, in any event, it was too powerful for the U.S...

...The ebullient Premier probably also had these two phases in mind, plus one other that had already been completed when he arrived here...

...Khrushchev's greatest success in America may have been in selling Eisenhower on himself as the Communist liberalizer, peace–maker and budget– cutter...

...The crowds grew as he went from place to place...

...It was clear that there was some tough bargaining on this point...

...To one observing the Camp David talks from the vantage, or disadvantage, point of the press center at Gettysburg, the first significant point that seemed to emerge from the menus, guest lists and movement reports released b\ White House News Secretary James Hagerty was that the President was spending a singular amount of time alone (except for an interpreter) with the Soviet Premier...

...He picked up the trail again during the Soviet Premier's recent visit to Poland, and accompanied Khrushchev on his 13–day tour around the United States...

...Then, with little danger of Western interference, the Communists can complete the consolidation and economic integration of Eastern Europe...

...But she waved to me...

...The meeting had not been planned as a large conference, but it had been foreseen that Secretary of State Christian Herter, Gromyko and other key advisers would participate...

...I remember Khrushchev's moment of exhilaration the first time he felt crowds were reacting to him warmly...

...Her mother had probably told her I am a Communist...

...She didn't know who I was...

...to let him see and feel a great and thriving nation in real freedom...

...He gave evidence of being amused by the avidity and lack of discipline of our news media...

...On the train a few minutes later, I remarked to Khrushchev that he seemed in much better humor than the night before in Los Angeles (when he threatened in a speech to go home and actually sent Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko to see Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge and make the threat formal ). "Why shouldn't I be in better humor?'' he asked...

...I can't see him...

...Did you see that crowd at the station...