Nikita, the Devil & the Ballplayer

As if rehearsing his invective for the big Party Congress, Nikita Khrushchev chose U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith as target for Moscow's crudest and weirdest verbal blockbuster of the week. What angered the Russian was Republican Smith's Sept. 21 Senate speech chiding Democrat John F. Kennedy for "turning to emphasis on conventional weapons" when the U.S. needs to increase its nuclear superiority over Russia. Khrushchev's reply went to Britain's former Defense Minister Emanuel Shinwell and 58 other Labor M.P.s who had urged Russia to stop nuclear testing.

Roared Nikita: "Who can remain calm and indifferent to such provocative statements made in the United States Senate by this woman, blinded by savage hatred toward the community of Socialist countries?" Shrilly, Nikita went on, "It is hard to believe how a woman, if she is not the devil in disguise, can make such a malicious man-hating appeal. She should understand that in the fire of nuclear war millions of people would perish, including her own children, if she has any. Even the wildest of animals, a tigress even, worries about her cubs, licks and pities them."

Back home in Maine, Senator Smith, a childless widow, shrugged off the blast, suggested, "Mr. Khrushchev is angry because American officials have grown more firm since my speech." But Laborite Shinwell was sorry that the U.S. took so little heed of Moscow's noise, commented, "Although Khrushchev makes a slashing attack on Americans in his letter, he emphasizes that he wants peace. I am convinced he means it if we will play ball with him."

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