Dictator Joseph Stalin, who disposed of his Russian opposition simply by shooting it, was once widely regarded in the democracies as a sort of unwashed Genghis Khan with blood dripping from his fingertips. But as his armies have provided the principal opposition to Adolf Hitler, Dictator Stalin has come to seem increasingly benign to his new democratic friends. Last week United Press Correspondent Wallace Carroll, just out of Russia, reported that one U.S. official, after being guest at a Kremlin dinner celebrating the completion of aid-to-Russia arrangements, described the Dictator as "a nice old gentleman."
At the dinner, grey-clad and booted, Dictator Stalin regaled his guests with a seven-hour, ten-course meal including cold and hot zakuska (hors d'oeuvres), bowls of caviar, flagons of cognac and vodka, which many of the Russians chose to lace with red pepper. Thirty-one bottoms-up toasts were drunk (some guests hazily estimated 37); Dictator Stalin preferred cognac. Among those toasted were Major Alva Harvey and Lieut. Lou Reichers of the U.S. Army Air Corps, who had flown the U.S. delegates to Moscow. They received the Dictator's handshake.
At length the Dictator himself proposed a toast to President Roosevelt, and added (his words translated by ex-Ambassador Oumansky): "May God help him in his task." Several Americans, unable to believe their ears, checked the translation of these words with their Russian table companions. They discovered that it was correct.
The dinner over, Dictator Stalin led his bulging, elated guests from the banquet hall. Turning to them, he courteously observed: "The lavatory is on the left." Mr. Oumansky again translated correctly.