Width Of

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29008, 24 September 1959, Page 13

Width Of

It is not going to be easy, as things look today, unless Mr Khrushchev has been impressed by the solidarity of this country and its industrial strength and remembers his remarks on arrival that nuclear war would be appalling and must never happen. Amiable, But . . .

On tour, his amiability when his conversation has been restricted to generalities has been beautiful to behold and has given millions who have seen him in person or on television the impression that one could reach an agreement with this rather jolly man who talks of having come with an open heart. But this impression is broken into a thousand pieces before it really crystallises if a question on concrete policy is asked, for in a flash the sunny smile fades, eyes and jaw harden and he replies as if, in a well-known American phrase, he were spitting carpet tacks.

He is not accustomed to being crossed in public with millions looking on in television and he nas resented it. He may well be all smiles when he reaches the east coast again on Friday, but the fact remains that basic differences between East and West remain to be negotiated. Nowhere on his tour has Mr Khrushchev shown that he is prepared in any way to change Russian policy. Mention of these differences has brought only a show of temper and made him act as if his prestige were infringed. If his reactions are the same when they are discussed at Camp David, it might be better if he had never come and it would augur ill for Mr Eisenhower’s visit to Russia, a country where protocol seems to call for strict reciprocity in its reception of foreign dignitaries. If the Camp David talks produce little or no progress and lay no foundation for continued talks during the President’s visit to Moscow and if Mr Eisenhower is given the same rough verbal treatment there as several people here have given Mr Khrushchev, then public reaction in America might be very forcefuL

In needling Mr Khrushchev, Americans feel they have been handing out only a little bit of what is due to a man they regard as an enemy tyrant and even worse, whereas they look upon Mr Eisenhower as the father image in the White House. >