Mr. Molotov Comes to Town

When his airplane landed at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Walter Bedell Smith was pale and tired. His limping but cheerful wife (she had strained a muscle playing badminton) was there to greet him, and so was a cluster of Western diplomats, generals, newsmen. But no Russians. Said Bedell Smith: "Fine weather you're having here."

Smith was one of three Western envoys who, after conferences in Berlin and London, had traveled to Moscow in search of peace. The others were Yves Chataigneau of France and tubby, popular Frank Roberts of Britain's Foreign Office, substituting for Britain's ailing ambassador. Their immediate purpose: to see Foreign Minister Molotov.

Their first greeting from their hosts was a bucket of cold water: the Soviet Foreign Office reported that Molotov was "out of town," on vacation. His second-in-command, Andrei Vishinsky, was also out of town--indisputably in Belgrade (see Conferences). Would the Westerners care to see the third-in-command, one Valerian Zorin? They would. One by one they saw Zorin, and though they left aide-memoire, they said emphatically that they wanted to see Molotov. Thereupon, from wherever he was resting his drop-forged constitution, Molotov came back to Moscow.

Loss of Face. Molotov's return was the single most important fact in last week's installment of the East-West crisis. It showed that his absence had not been planned as a rebuff and a "delaying action"; it showed that the Kremlin was not willing that the battle of Berlin should play itself out in the strong-arm terms of Western airlift v. Soviet blockade. It helped to dispel, or at least palliate, a war scare in London, where Foreign Minister Bevin had gravely briefed a grave House of Commons. In answer to a question from Winston Churchill, Mr. Bevin said that the demobilization of 20,000 men a month from the British armed forces could be stopped, and probably would.

In Moscow, the three envoys saw Molotov one by one; they told him they wanted to see Joseph Stalin. Purpose: to propose a four-power conference reopening all aspects of Germany's future. Prior condition: the blockade must be lifted.

The Russians had shown clear signs of interest in a four-power conference, and although they had said they would accept no "prior conditions," some preliminary deal might be patched up. The great and growing success of the airlift had made the Russians lose face, on top of other losses in the spring and early summer.

Night Work. Last fortnight they had offered food to the people of Berlin's Western sectors if they would register and buy their rations in the Soviet sector. This offer was denounced and ridiculed in the non-Communist German press. In the first ten days of registration, only 19,000 Germans (out of 2,225,000) had signed up. When a U.S. cargo plane crashed in a city street, near Tempelhof, killing two U.S. airmen but harming no hair of a German head, the Red press denounced the airlift as a menace to German lives. The German answer was to hold a memorial service for the dead flyers.

This week in Moscow, the three peace-seekers from the West got their audience with Stalin. They arrived at the Kremlin only minutes apart, and Stalin saw them together, for more than two hours. It was nearing midnight when they left, saying nothing.

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