In October 1962, during the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ordered Soviet ships to turn back before they reached the American blockade of Cuba.
Various opinions of the move spread in the Soviet Union, including the idea that this move signaled submission to the United States. However, those opinions are far from how the Soviet leader viewed it, according to his son Sergei Khrushchev, who recently spoke at a symposium at American University.
"We have an expression about who blinks first, and my father knew this expression. Sometimes you blink first not because you’re weaker, but because you’re wiser," Khrushchev said.
The event, titled "The Strength in Dialogue in Russian-American Relations" and sponsored by the Initiative for Russian Culture, took place on Saturday, April 13th at American University. It was one of many events scheduled to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 commencement speech at AU, "A Strategy of Peace." Khrushchev joined James W. Symington, former Congressman; John Beyrle, former U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation; Eric Lohr, Susan E. Lehrman Chair of Russian History and Culture; Anton Fedyashin, IRC Executive Director; and graduate student Allen Pietrobon in a discussion about the legacy of the Cold War.
“As the son of the Soviet Premier, Khrushchev had a front-row seat to history,” said Assistant Professor Anton Fedyashin, executive director of the IRC. Khrushchev was one of his father's closest advisors and as such very aware of the events that led up to the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962, which brought the two nations to the precipice of war.
Kruschchev gave a detailed account of the years he spent observing his farther during key times of his reign. He was 28 when President John F. Kennedy's influential speech, "A Strategy of Peace," was reprinted in Russian in its entirety by the Soviet news agency, TASS.
That speech served as a pivotal catalyst for his father, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who viewed Kennedy’s remarks as a clear signal that relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were shifting. There was hope that the agression between the two nations might simmer.
That hope was realized when the U.S. and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty on August 5, 1963, which banned all atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. The younger Khrushchev, who at the time served as an engineer for Soviet military and space programs, was a witness to it all.
Because of the positive effects from key dialouges between U.S. and Soviet leaders during the precarious years of the Cold War, the symposium focused largely on historic relations between Russia and the U.S. over the years and the interchange between the two countries. "It was about the slow, meticulous, painstaking exchange of ideas. It was about the fact that dialogue isn’t a sign of compromise or weakness," Fedyashin said. "When dialogue takes place, good things happen."
While the conversation was largely about Russian-American relations, the panelists also related historical issues to what is happening today in Iran and North Korea. They used Kennedy’s seminal peace speech to illustrate the endless possibilities within the realm of diplomacy.
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Cold War Symposium: Remembering How Dialogue Averted Disaster
April 21, 2013
In October 1962, during the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ordered Soviet ships to turn back before they reached the American blockade of Cuba.
Various opinions of the move spread in the Soviet Union, including the idea that this move signaled submission to the United States. However, those opinions are far from how the Soviet leader viewed it, according to his son Sergei Khrushchev, who recently spoke at a symposium at American University.
"We have an expression about who blinks first, and my father knew this expression. Sometimes you blink first not because you’re weaker, but because you’re wiser," Khrushchev said.
The event, titled "The Strength in Dialogue in Russian-American Relations" and sponsored by the Initiative for Russian Culture, took place on Saturday, April 13th at American University. It was one of many events scheduled to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 commencement speech at AU, "A Strategy of Peace." Khrushchev joined James W. Symington, former Congressman; John Beyrle, former U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation; Eric Lohr, Susan E. Lehrman Chair of Russian History and Culture; Anton Fedyashin, IRC Executive Director; and graduate student Allen Pietrobon in a discussion about the legacy of the Cold War.
“As the son of the Soviet Premier, Khrushchev had a front-row seat to history,” said Assistant Professor Anton Fedyashin, executive director of the IRC. Khrushchev was one of his father's closest advisors and as such very aware of the events that led up to the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962, which brought the two nations to the precipice of war.
Kruschchev gave a detailed account of the years he spent observing his farther during key times of his reign. He was 28 when President John F. Kennedy's influential speech, "A Strategy of Peace," was reprinted in Russian in its entirety by the Soviet news agency, TASS.
That speech served as a pivotal catalyst for his father, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who viewed Kennedy’s remarks as a clear signal that relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were shifting. There was hope that the agression between the two nations might simmer.
That hope was realized when the U.S. and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty on August 5, 1963, which banned all atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. The younger Khrushchev, who at the time served as an engineer for Soviet military and space programs, was a witness to it all.
Because of the positive effects from key dialouges between U.S. and Soviet leaders during the precarious years of the Cold War, the symposium focused largely on historic relations between Russia and the U.S. over the years and the interchange between the two countries. "It was about the slow, meticulous, painstaking exchange of ideas. It was about the fact that dialogue isn’t a sign of compromise or weakness," Fedyashin said. "When dialogue takes place, good things happen."
While the conversation was largely about Russian-American relations, the panelists also related historical issues to what is happening today in Iran and North Korea. They used Kennedy’s seminal peace speech to illustrate the endless possibilities within the realm of diplomacy.
