Cold War: I Like Him

A few days after the disastrous U-2 affair, Nikita Khrushchev spotted U.S. Ambassador Llewellyn E. Thompson at a diplomatic reception in Moscow. The Soviet Premier strode up to Thompson, then deliberately stepped on his foot. "That is what your President did to me," said Khrushchev. A crowd moved in to watch the hostility and perhaps to join in. "Stop!" shouted Khrushchev. "It is not the work of this man. I like him."

Last week, after five grueling years in Moscow—a record for a U.S. envoy—slender (5 ft. 11 in., 150...