In the Wake of the U2 Spy Debacle That Brought the Cold War to Its Hottest Point, Outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower Describes the Position of U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union As “surely one of the most difficult diplomatic jobs in the world”

Soviet relations with the United States chilled after World War II as the Soviet Union exerted its influence – or simply imposed its will – on the satellite states of Eastern Europe.  Then came the Communist takeover of China, which the Soviets applauded. The Korean War began in 1950, and the Soviets gave their support to the Communist government in North Korea.  When American nuclear research produced the hydrogen bomb in 1952, the Soviets followed suit in 1953. The “Big Four” Geneva Summit in July 1955, in which Ike met with Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin, did little to ease world tensions, and the Cold War really got frigid when the Soviet Union sent troops to crush the Hungarian Revolution in late 1956, driving some 200,000 refugees to flee the Communist regime. In July 1959 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev confronted then-Vice President Richard Nixon, who was in Moscow to open the American National Exhibition, engaging him in a series of impromptu and highly publicized, hard-hitting ideological debates that covered the range of Soviet-American relations – which political system was better, the threat of atomic war, and who was making economic progress.  Then came the iciest moment of the Cold War: the Soviet Union shot down a CIA U2 spy plane over Soviet territory in May 1960, just before another scheduled “Big Four” summit, and then publicly humiliated the Americans (who were denying, and lying to cover up the mission) by parading American pilot Gary Powers alive and on television. Anti-American sentiment in the Kremlin exploded.  Eisenhower and Khrushchev went to Paris, but Khrushchev left the day after the meeting began when Eisenhower refused to apologize for the espionage.  To Eisenhowerʼs disappointment, Khrushchev publicly withdrew his previous invitation for Eisenhower to visit the Soviet Union.

Khrushchev, who led the Soviet Union as First Secretary of the Communist Party and later Premier throughout Eisenhower’s eight years as President, was a volatile man with whom the United States had continual difficulties. Yet Khrushchev himself was no less anxious to avoid nuclear war than Ike, but had to deal with Politburo hard-liners who distrusted the United States and pressured him not to take the conciliatory steps that he sometimes took. The extent of this pressure, and of Khrushchev’s struggle within Russia to avoid war, became clear when Khrushchev’s son, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1991 and is now a professor at Brown University, disclosed the story.

Anti-Communist hysteria in the United States also contributed to the difficulties. Senator Joseph McCarthy’s unsubstantiated charges of Communist infiltration in the American government, particularly in the State Department, and hearings by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, fueled the anti-Soviet atmosphere. Another example of the tenor of things back then was the appearance around the country of billboards and advertisements urging impeachment of Chief Justice Earl Warren as a Communist in 1957.

Lewellyn E. Thompson was one of the most important American diplomats of the 20th Century.  He was the United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, serving two separate tours in the administrations of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and then acting as advisor to Richard M. Nixon.  His stint as Ambassador to the Soviet Union began in 1957 when President Eisenhower appointed him to the post.  President Kennedy reappointed him in 1961, which was a tribute to Thompson, as new presidents usually name their people to the top diplomatic posts. Thompson’s diplomatic skills were, however, legendary, and stemmed from his philosophy, as he said, of being “a great believer in quiet diplomacy.  I think that in the long run it gives a better chance for finding successful solutions to our problems.”  His friendliness and willingness to talk, combined with both patience and perseverance, made him extraordinarily effective in the often difficult Cold War dealings with the Soviet Union. Thompson became well acquainted with the Soviet hierarchy, including Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, Premier Alexei Kosygin, Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, and Anatoly Dobrynin, his counterpart as the Soviet Ambassador to the United States.  He knew Khrushchev very well and had stayed at Khrushchevʼs private country dacha – which was highly unusual for a foreign diplomat – and had spent many hours with Khruschev, both alone and in meetings with other Soviet officials. So Eisenhower relied on his advice in U.S./Soviet matters.

Thompson had been in the epicenter of the Cold War storms at their worst. As Ike prepared to leave office to make way for the presidency of John F. Kennedy, he paused to write Thompson a letter of appreciation, one in which he gave his parting thoughts on working with the Soviets.

Typed Letter Signed, on White House letterhead, Washington, January 11, 1961, to Thompson, just nine days before he left office. “Dear Tommy, Thank you so much for your note of the fifth, and for your good wishes for Mrs. Eisenhower and myself.  For my part I want officially to express my admiration of the way you have handled yourself in what is surely one of the most difficult diplomatic jobs in the world.  With warm regard to you and Jane…” With original envelope, which was sent via diplomatic pouch and therefore has no postal markings.

Thompson ended his first tour in Moscow in 1962, when President Kennedy brought him home to Washington to become his Ambassador-at-Large, as a member of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (ExComm), advising the President on Soviet affairs. President Johnson reappointed him to the ambassadorship to Moscow in 1967, and he served until 1969.  He came out of retirement to advise President Nixon on the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) negotiations with the Soviet Union and represented the United States in the SALT talks from 1969 until his death in 1972. He thus was able to provide valuable insight into Soviet thought to four American presidents. Secretary of State William P. Rogers called him “one of the outstanding diplomats of his generation.”

Few if any American ambassadors faced as many crises as Thompson did in his years in Moscow and advising presidents on Soviet matters: the U-2 incident, the confrontation between the U.S. and Soviet Union over Berlin and the building of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the difficult summits and cancelled summits between Soviet Premier Khruschev and Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, the August 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, and tensions over the Vietnam War. But there were also steps toward better relations. At Thompson’s suggestion, Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet leader to visit the U.S. in 1959. Thompson helped arrange (and was present for) the 1967 summit in the U.S. between President Johnson and Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey, after the Six-Day War in the Middle East exacerbated tensions. Also in 1967, the Soviet Union and U.S. agreed to begin cooperation in space, with the joint Soyuz-Apollo program. The first treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was signed on July 1, 1968, and then the successful SALT talks put a finis to Thompson’s extraordinary career.