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Khrushchev's Son Speaks

Written by Phillip Bowden

Tuesday, 25 September 2007 11:19 PM

Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, son of the late Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, speaks about his father’s involvement in the Sputnik satellite in Nedderman Hall Tuesday night. The lecture was in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Russian Space Program. Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, son of the late Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, speaks about his father’s involvement in the Sputnik satellite in Nedderman Hall Tuesday night. The lecture was in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Russian Space Program. (The Shorthorn: Fabiola Salinas)

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s son sheds light on his late father and the genesis of the Russian space program.

Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, senior fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies, took the lectern in Nedderman Hall Tuesday night to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Russian space program and the launch of Sputnik, the first man-made object to orbit the earth.

Jay Miller, American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum’s former director, was involved in bringing Khrushchev to UTA. He expressed great interest in the content of the lecture.

“I think he’ll give us insights that we in the West are not regularly privy to,” Miller said.
Khrushchev peered through his glasses at the vast audience before him as he reflected upon his recent experiences in the city.

“Mr. Miller showed me around your city today, and of course, I had Texas barbecue. I’m still a bit full,” Khrushchev said to a roomful of laughter.

Khrushchev spoke briefly about the night he watched his father announce Sputnik’s launch to his subordinates.

“He came back smiling and said, ‘Gentlemen, I have very good news. We’ve launched Sputnik,’ ” Khrushchev said.

Following his father’s announcement, they listened to the small transmission from Sputnik on the radio to no great fanfare. Which was, apparently, in stark contrast to the reactions from other countries.

“The next day there was a very different reaction in the Soviet Union and the rest of the world, especially the United States,” Khrushchev said. “It generated fear and many different feelings. It was a shock for the nations.”

Khrushchev proceeded to gently poke at the American perception of Soviet secrecy as well as the American press’ reaction to the launch of Sputnik.

He recalled a KGB officer explaining Soviet secrecy regarding Sputnik, “They [U.S. intelligence services] are using their foreign intelligence capabilities to discover non-secret secrets.”

Khrushchev said all the publicity for Soviet achievement was in the U.S. newspapers.

“We didn’t know what the results [of Sputnik’s launch] would be,” he said. “It was like the science fiction of Isaac Asimov.”

University alumni Terry Meza said she was shocked about the lack of excitement in the Soviet Union over the launch of Sputnik.

“I was surprised to hear that they weren’t very impressed with their own achievements until they were in American newspapers,” Meza said.

Speaking about his father, Khrushchev said he was trying to show what was behind the Cold War perception of his father.

“I love my Father,” Khrushchev said. “He was not the same as the person whose image was created in this country — it was the Cold War after all.”

Prompted by questions about the actions of his father from the audience, Khrushchev was adamant about fostering a greater understanding between cultures of the world.

“We are different civilizations, Americans and Russians, Russians and Chinese, Americans and Chinese,” Khrushchev said. “We have to understand each other and other people’s mentalities. Even I still admire President Eisenhower’s people-to-people diplomacy.”

Khrushchev told The Shorthorn, in discussion relating his father to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent speech at Columbia University, “My father spoke with Americans many times, sometimes treated no better than the Iranian President,” Khrushchev said. “I think he tried to bring people together and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Learn More

Dr. Sergei Khrushchev's bio (The Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University)

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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 16 October 2007 03:05 PM )

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