THE COLD WAR: Khrushchev's Purpose

Three weeks ago, in a polite but damning note, Britain's Prime Minister Harold Macmillan wrote to Nikita Khrushchev, "I simply do not understand what your purpose is." It was not the kind of remark to provoke a humble confession of contrition from Khrushchev, and it didn't. Last week came his reply: a letter that blamed the West for the summit collapse, the Berlin stalemate, the RB-47 incident, the Congo crisis, the Cuban situation and a few other disturbances that crossed Nikita's mind.

As such, it was not a bad reflection of East-West relations...

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