113. Memorandum of Conversation0
PARTICIPANTS
- Henry Cabot Lodge
- Mr. Khrushchev
- Mr. Sukhodrev
- Mr. Akalovsky
SUBJECT
- Car Tour of Washington
After the Press Club luncheon I took him to the Lincoln Memorial where he gave every indication of being much impressed. He said Lincoln was a great man. He stood in front of the statue and bowed his head.
Then when I read to him the last paragraph of the Second Inaugural—stressing the part about firmness” in the right and the part about a just” peace—which I stressed on purpose—he said, those are beautiful words”. When we drove away he showed great interest in Lincoln and the Civil War.
On Constitution Avenue we went by the statue of the Third Division and he asked what it was.
I said—it is a monument to the Third Infantry Division.
He asked if they had fought against the Germans and I said yes that in both World War I and World War II that outfit had an outstanding record and I said possibly many people would tell him that the First Division, Second Armored and Third Division had had more engagements, casualties and decorations than any other divisions in the army.
He said—that monument is very warlike. In our country there is nothing like that.
I said the money was raised by the veterans and it was decided by them not the government.
(That struck him as very peculiar coming from a country where everything is done by the government.)
- Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1472. Confidential. Drafted by Lodge and initialed by Scranton. A handwritten notation on the source text reads: CAH saw.”↩