Monday, Nov. 20, 1933

Horse-Trading

Baring his canine teeth in a merry grin, round little Maxim Maximovich Litvinoff. shrewd, sly Foreign Commissar of the U. S. S. R., arrived in the U. S. last week. He promptly reminded the Press that President Roosevelt had "taken the initiative in addressing Mr. Kalinin." repeated the statement he had made in Berlin that as far as he was concerned it would take "less than half an hour" to conclude recognition negotiations between his country and President Roosevelt's. Commissar Litvinoff and the world at large had been beguiled by the friendliness of Franklin Roosevelt's invitation. Cartoonist David Low of the London Evening Standard pictured a "Russian Ballet--International Pas de Deux," with President Roosevelt prettily handing a bouquet to coyly pirouetting Litvinoff (see cut*).

At Washington, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, wearing a business suit out of deference to the Commissar's proletarianism, emerged through a cordon of vigilant police with a warm greeting. Also present was Ahmet Muhtar, Turkish Ambassador, who two days later made up for the parties Comrade Litvinoff had missed when he deferred his trip to Angora (TIME, Nov. 6) by a sumptuous banquet in his honor. Footmen in red livery and gold buttons served caviar and champagne, there were crimson roses on the dinner table to honor the Soviet visitors, the turkey was called "Dindoneau a la Moskva" and Mmes Borah and Pittman, whose Senator husbands were respectively out of town and ill, attended.

As the week wore on, as State Department conferences followed one another, Commissar Litvinoff came to realize that the trip was not to be entirely a bed of Red roses. He wanted to sign first and talk about details later. The State Department wanted to talk first, for an inquisitive Senate would have many a ticklish question to ask before it passed a recognition treaty, and sign later. When Secretary Hull sailed away to the Pan-American Congress, President Roosevelt took formal charge of the negotiations.

Commented famed Correspondent Walter Duranty of the New York Times, who had accompanied Litvinoff from Moscow: "It is a Yankee horse trade. M. Litvinoff is a pretty shrewd trader himself, but old-fashioned Dutch-American stock has done some trading, too."

*The placard at the left of the stage reads: "Twinkletoes MacDonald will not appear this evening owing to sore feet."

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