The Man from Kuibyshev

Looking wan after a grueling, 13,000-mile flight, suffering from a sore tooth and with a head full of secrets, Laurence Steinhardt arrived home from Russia.

Almost as turbulent and dangerous as the two years he has spent as Ambassador to Russia was his 14-day trip back to Washington. In a howling blizzard he had flown from Kuibyshev, Russia's auxiliary capital, to Teheran in Iran. At one time his party, which included newly appointed Ambassador to the U.S. Maxim Litvinoff, was reported lost. In Teheran, Litvinoff was left behind, while Steinhardt flew on to Cairo because he had broken a tooth, and there was no good dentist short of Egypt.

On the other side of Africa, in British Nigeria, he boarded Pan American Airway's Cape Town Clipper, which was homeward bound on a test flight to the Belgian Congo and back. One day last week, Steinhardt landed in New York. For newsmen, the tall, angular man who has been observing the agony of Russia from inside had only: "Until I report in Washington I have nothing to say." At the White House, before the President left for Warm Springs, Steinhardt began his report. This week, with the President's return, he will read on from his diplomatic book of secrets.

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