NEW YORK WELCOME

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29004, 19 September 1959, Page 13

NEW YORK WELCOME

“Squalid Scene At Station”

(Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 18.

New York’s reception to Mr Khrushchev at Pennsylvania railway station was described in a “Daily Mail” reports today as “squalid” and an “insulting welcome.”

Don Iddon, the newspaper's New York correspondent, referred to the “squalid scene” for the Soviet leader’s welcome in an underground station baggage room.

Iddon wrote: “After the pomp, the ceremony, the dignity of Washington, this was a crazy, zany day.” The Russian leader and his wife had been “shuttled with a total lack of courtesy” by a police squad into the baggage room. Iddon summed up by saying: “You could not move for police. New York ’ as an armed city. In my opinion it was a wretched and insulting welcome to the head of the Soviet Union.”

The correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph” said New York’s first official welcome to Mr Khrushchev was extended in a "grimy antiquated baggage-handling area. “He seemed to have entered this showpiece of what he likes to call the' ‘Kingdom of the Dollar’ by the tradesmen’s entrance."

Press reports, except that of the “Daily Worker” said that Mr Khrushchev had a cool and a silent welcome. Typical comments were: “The Times”: “No-one could say that he had a warm welcome.” The “Daily Herald”: “The reception was even cooler than in Washington.” The “Daily Sketch”: “An even cooler reception in New York than he had in Washington three days ago.” The “Daily Mirror”: “The streets were jammed with almost silent crowds.”