Marvin Kalb: The Year I Was Peter the Great: 1956 - Khrushchev, Stalin's Ghost, and a Young American in Russia

During my time in Moscow as a correspondent I covered the U-2 incident in 1960, the Berlin crisis in 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. I was also the first American network correspondent to visit Mongolia, in August 1962. Six months later I was transferred to Washington, D.C., where I was named chief diplomatic correspondent, the first such post at any network. Over the next thirty years I covered the many faces of the Cold War: the ups and downs of U.S.-Soviet relations, the costly, tragic Vietnam War, Henry Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, and the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. Most of the time I loved my assignment. When my reporting passion ebbed in the late 1980s, however, I switched to teaching and writing more books.

Not too long ago a TV producer posed an innocent question: “What’s your hobby?” I think he was expecting a short, inconsequential response, like “golf.” His question, though, threw me into speechless embarrassment. I suddenly realized I had no real hobby. I didn’t play golf or tennis, nor did I go on cruises. I could only think of one activity that could possibly be construed as a hobby.

“I write books,” I replied. “I really like to write books.”

A memoir emerges from many interrelationships. Family members, friends, teachers, even strangers play a role. I thank them all.

This book focuses on my time in the Soviet Union in 1956, a very special year in modern Russian history, each day a seminar in the awkward dismantling of Joseph Stalin’s dictatorship. I was a translator/interpreter/press officer at the U.S. embassy in Moscow. For a budding scholar it was, without doubt, an extraordinary experience.

While I was in Moscow, few colleagues were more helpful to me than Anna Holdcroft, a British expert on Soviet politics, and U.S. ambassador Charles Bohlen, the model diplomat at a challenging time in East-West relations. Unbeknownst to him, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev also helped me to understand how Kremlin politics worked, to the degree that it did.

Before reaching Moscow, I studied Russian history and language at City College of New York and Harvard University. Among my professors were Hans Kohn, Michael Karpovich, and Richard Pipes. Each was an inspiration, opening the door to a fresh appreciation of a very complicated country.

Many Russians shared their life stories with me, and I also learned much about the differences between Soviet theory and practice from the many diplomats and journalists I met in Moscow. CBS’s Dan Schorr was at the top of my list, becoming my first mentor in broadcast news.

This is the first book in a projected three-part memoir. I have many to thank, but I start with Valentina Kalk, the former director of the Brookings Institution Press, who encouraged this ambitious project. I am grateful for her friendship and wise counsel. Others, also helpful, were William Finan, Janet Walker, Carrie Engel, Adam Juskewitch, Elliott Beard, and Yelba Quinn. They composed a friendly, cooperative team of professionals.

Jon Sawyer, executive director of the Pulitzer Center, where I hang my hat, was always encouraging, as was his wife, the incomparable Kem Sawyer, who read the manuscript and offered important editorial advice. I also extend my heartfelt gratitude to Nathalie Applewhite, Tom Hundley, Ann Peters, Akela Lacy, Jin Ding, and everyone else at the Center for their help and support, which came in many ways and was always appreciated.

I have benefited greatly from the wisdom and guidance of many at the Brookings Institution, where I am a nonresident senior fellow in foreign affairs. Among them are Strobe Talbott, Martin Indyk, Bruce Jones, Michael O’Hanlon, Fiona Hill, Stephen Hess, and my dear friend Vassilis Coutifaris, always prepared to extend a helping hand.

Mike Freedman, executive producer of The Kalb Report , helped enormously, more perhaps than he realized, often by simply listening to my ramblings about Russia and then offering a nugget of advice or opinion.

A number of friends read early drafts of the manuscript and offered incredibly valuable suggestions. Among them: Andrew Glass, Garrett Mitchell, James Masland, and Walter Reich.

My gratitude to my immediate family is without measure, each member contributing handsomely in his or her own way.

As always, with all my books, my brother, Bernard, read and edited the manuscript with his usual dedication to accuracy, clarity, and style.

My daughter Deborah, a writer, blogger, and editor herself, was always there, from beginning to end, with wise counsel and guidance.

My daughter Judith, a scholar of Russian language and literature, read and edited the manuscript and then carefully transliterated Russian words or expressions into understandable English.

Deborah’s husband, David, a scientist, was a wonderful traveling companion during the tour for my previous book, Imperial Gamble , and a source of constant encouragement.

Judith’s husband, Alex, also a scholar of Russian language and literature, provided invaluable editing and, as important, came up with the title for this book.

My wife, Madeleine, an author and specialist on Russian foreign policy, has been at my side for more than sixty years, and so knowledgeable about global history that in the family she is playfully referred to as Ms. Google. With her, everything is possible. She has my eternal gratitude.

To my grandson, Aaron, and my granddaughter, Eloise, both wise beyond their years (he’s twelve, she’s nine), both loving, helpful, and inspiring, I offer my hope that they will continue to live without fear in a land that cherishes individual freedom and democratic rule.

Aaron, Johnny, 276

African Americans: on City College basketball team, 18, 19–20; City College race discrimination, 14–15; Soviet interest in, 154, 177

Aiken, Conrad, 249–50

Alsop, Joseph, 49–50

Alveolar ridge, 24–25

American poets, 249–50

Amerika (monthly magazine), 194

Anti-Semitism: at City College, 14–15; in Klin, 115; in military, 40–41; of Stalin, 119–20

Armenians, 119, 134, 141, 143, 149, 161–62

Astoria Hotel (Leningrad), 248

Atheism, 190–92

Azerbaijan, 157–59. See also Baku

Azeri people, 160, 162, 165

Babi Yar, 122

Bachner, Lester, 7, 13

Bachner, Miss, 7

Baku, 157–64; Armenian in, 161–62; de-Stalinization effects in, 162; limited access in, 157–60; “Nina” printing press in, 163–64; oil industry in, 158–59; sightseeing boat trip in, 161

Baku Historical Museum, 160

Bandung Conference, 200, 242

Barrès, Maurice, 13

Basketball, 9–10, 15–24, 101–03, 148

Basmachi (Islamic opposition to Russians), 129–30, 136, 172

BBC broadcasts, 199–200, 224

Begin, Menachem, x

Beirut, Boleslav, 73

Bell, Daniel, 11

Belsky, Abraham, 22

Ben-Gurion, David, 212

Berkov, Alexander, 246

Berlin Airlift (1948), 12

Berlin crisis (1961), 277

Bigos, Adolph, 22

Black Sea, 123, 180, 182–84

Bogolyubovo, travel to, 111–13

Bohlen, Charles, 70, 74, 88, 98–100, 103–04, 123, 169–70, 222

Bolshevik Revolution, celebration of thirty-ninth anniversary of, 214–15

Boston Symphony Orchestra, 252

Bourgeois ideology, 198, 224, 260–61

Bradley University basketball team, 20, 23

Brezhnev, Leonid, xiii

Brezhnev Doctrine, 229

Britain: demonstrations over Suez Canal against, 213–14; embassy party celebrating Queen’s birthday, 90–91; JPRS funding from, 45; Suez Canal crisis and, 212, 242

Brovman, Grigory, 233–35