Word: pretexts
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Signs were evident that the Russians were planning to put the U.S. on trial rather than Powers, using him as a pretext for a propaganda spectacular. The Kremlin laid down a steady propaganda barrage designed to stir up anger and suspicion toward the U.S. among the Russian people (see FOREIGN NEWS). Said a Soviet radio broadcast: "Not only Powers, the immediate executor of the aggressive actions of the U.S. Government, will be in the dock, but his masters in Washington as well." Once the Russians get full propaganda use of him. Powers himself might get off with a light sentence...
Next, Khrushchev's rhetorical indignation was trained on the Congo. "It is not only Belgium, it is NATO," he shouted, "that is dispatching troops to suppress the people of the Congo by force, on the pretext of alleged disorder. This is an attempt to reduce them to colonial status again...
Part Two: Collectivization. Under the pretext of preparing for an invasion by U.S. Marines and "gangsters" from "that decadent democracy," the government crowd is herding Cubans into mass institutions-militias, cooperatives, government youth groups, and labor unions. The man in charge of collectivizing the economy is Che Guevara, head of the National Bank. A slender asthmatic with an un-Latin habit of curtness, he mastered the complexities of banking in a few months on the job, is all the more feared by anti-Communists for his efficiency...
...Evidence mounted that the Russians' line had hardened even before the U-2 incident when they saw that they had little prospect of having their way at the summit (see FOREIGN NEWS). The U-2 was seized upon as a useful pretext for breaking off negotiations. Khrushchev's later assurances that the Communists did not want a war crisis was obviously intended not so much to mollify the rest of the world as the Russians themselves. His internal popularity still rests on the promise of peace and a better life...
Vital Negotiations. "We handed Khrushchev the crowbar and sledge hammer to wreck this meeting," said he, in an angry speech in Chicago. "Without our series of blunders, Mr. Khrushchev would not have the pretext for making his impossible demand and his wild charges." Stevenson suggested that the Democrats could best negotiate with the Russians. "The Administration has acutely embarrassed our allies and endangered our bases," said he. "They have helped make successful negotiations with the Russians-negotiations that are vital to our survival-impossible so long as they are in power. We cannot sweep this whole sorry mess under...