Word: khrushchev
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...most somber talks were on the subject of Germany and Berlin. I made it clear to Mr. Khrushchev that the security of Western Europe and therefore our own security are deeply involved in our presence and our access rights to West Berlin, that those rights are based on law, not on sufferance; and that we are determined to maintain those rights at any risk and thus our obligation to the people of West Berlin and their right to choose their own future. We are not seeking to change the present situation. A binding German peace treaty is a matter...
...Generally, Mr. Khrushchev did not talk in terms of war. He believes the world will move his way without resort to force. Most of all, he predicted the triumph of Communism in the new and less-developed countries. He was certain that the tide there was moving his way, that the revolution of rising peoples would eventually be a Communist revolution, and that the so-called wars of liberation supported by the Kremlin would replace the old methods of direct aggression...
...banning explosive nuclear tests. No progress was made. For that matter, none had been made during the exasperating 31 months of discussion. And none was likely to be made in the foreseeable future. Said President Kennedy in his television report to the U.S. on his Vienna sessions with Nikita Khrushchev: "No hope emerged with respect to the deadlocked Geneva conference seeking a treaty to ban nuclear tests . . . Our hopes for an end to nuclear tests, for an end to the spread of nuclear weapons, and for some slowing down of the arms race, have been struck a serious blow...
There are all too many reasons why Nikita Khrushchev might want the Geneva talks to continue unsuccessfully forever. The U.S. has a much bigger and better variety of nuclear warheads than the Soviets. The Soviets can only close that gap by continuing with secret tests while U.S. tests stand suspended. Central Russia has plenty of underground salt mines where nuclear explosions would make hardly a quiver on a far-off seismograph. And at least one top U.S. official says that the West has lately recorded some "pretty big bangs" inside the U.S.S.R.-although whether they were of nuclear nature remains...
Best expression of Khrushchev's current mood-amiable but implacable-is his new troika tactic. Deceptively attractive, the troika seems to promise something for everyone: a committee of three (one Communist, one Westerner, one neutral) to take over every major world problem. Why not? smiled Soviet Delegate Georgy Pushkin to the U.S.'s Averell Harriman at the Laos peace talks last week. "Troika means three beautiful horses moving smoothly in stride, pulling a sled." The catch is that the three must be unanimous, thus guaranteeing the Russians a veto at every step...