Foreign Relations: New Man from Moscow

Soviet Russia's ambassadors to the U.S. have a fine talent for adapting to the Kremlin's mood of the moment. Alexander Troyanovsky, the first (1934-39), was squat and jolly, symbolizing an era when the two nations resumed relations after a 16-year lapse.* But as suspicions and ill-feeling grew between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. and Communist intriguing spread throughout the hemisphere, Constantine Oumansky, a schemer and conniver, took over. Then, in the critical years of World War II, when Russia desperately needed U.S. help, grandfatherly Maxim Litvinov became ambassador. He was pro-Western,...