Today’s edition of the public radio program The World included an interview with Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Nikita “We Will Bury You” Khrushchev. He says that Soviet citizens weren’t as afraid of Americans as we were of them during the Cold War - he claims it’s because they expected the news was all propaganda, but I think it might be because they were too busy with internal dilemmas (e.g., the failure of Communism leaving people poor unless they were valued, like athletes).

I remember a little bit of the hatred of Soviets that was rampant before the end of the cold war. I was very young, of course, but I do have some memories of it. Mostly I didn’t understand, I think. I do remember being interested in Soviet Life magazine, which was carried by my local library.