One U.S. diplomat who can claim to have bested the U.S.S.R.'s Premier Nikita Khrushchev in a face-to-face cold-war skirmish is Careerman James W. Riddleberger. Time: May 1955. Place: Belgrade, at a Yugoslav dinner party in honor of visiting Premier Khrushchev. Busy at his favorite party game of U.S. baiting, Khrushchev attacked the U.S.'s "positions of strength" policy. Retorted U.S. Ambassador Riddleberger: "I had some personal experience with Soviet efforts to act from a position of strength. I was in Berlin during the blockade." Khrushchev switched to deploring the sad plight of the workers in the capitalist U.S. When Riddleberger countered that...
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