Word: gromyko
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Unexpected satisfactions occur. Last year TIME ran a cover story on Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko that included a Picture Collection portfolio of his meetings with U.S. Presidents. Shortly afterward, Gromyko sent word that he would like to have copies, please, for his own picture collection...
...secret control center? The great gap in Soviet understanding of U.S. policies and practices sometimes means that even experienced message carriers and advisers of the Politburo like Anatoly Dobrynin, the longtime Ambassador in Washington, do not necessarily convey accurate information. Americans would be astonished if they knew how little Gromyko, who has lived in America and visits regularly, knows about day-to-day life in their country. One of Dobrynin's important functions has been to correct the limited and distorted picture Soviet rulers have of America. On a visit to New York, Gromyko, spooning honey into his tea, remarked...
...mission, in fact, had served the Foreign Minister the cheapest available honey, as I explained to him. He immediately wanted to know the price, which he thought was high, and then the cost of other goods--better honey, shirts, Manhattan apartments. As Dobrynin and I answered his questions, Gromyko expressed surprise at the expense of each item. He had never visited American stores and knew barely anything of the costs or real standard of living...
Dobrynin tried to enlighten him in a broader way. To please Gromyko, he agreed that prices were high (though he knew they were not, compared with the portion of their salaries Soviets must spend for food and consumer goods). But he also added that the variety of items available in American markets was extensive. Gromyko wrinkled his nose in a characteristic gesture of distaste for an inconvenient truth. "Maybe you're right," he admitted, "but they have so many problems too. Poverty. Massive unemployment. Race hatred...
Washington and Moscow last week moved another step closer to the arms-control bargaining table. Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko had agreed in Geneva three weeks ago that after more than a year of diplomatic deadlock, their governments would begin talking again about measures to regulate the arms race on earth and, if possible, avoid one in space. On Saturday, the White House and the Kremlin jointly announced a date and venue for the new talks: March 12 in Geneva...