Monday, August 10, 2009
A Comment from Richard Jirus
I well remember the day Khrushchev visited Iowa State University. It was the same day I was discharged from the Air Force in Kansas City, MO. I decided it would be the only time I would see a Russian world leader, and hustled up to Ames. I made the mistake of wearing my discharge uniform, and got to the campus about the same time an ROTC class discharged. I have never saluted so many people in such a short time in my entire career in the Air Force. The thing I remember the most was waiting outside the home economics building for the Russian delegation to exit. About four college students walked down the middle of the street in rain coats, slouch hats, and carrying violin cases. They actually walked right up to the waiting limousines before secret service grabbed them and hustled them away. At home the next day I read in the paper that they were actually carrying violins in the cases, and were released with warnings. You have to love college humor.
A Comment from Jay Cole Simser
Thanks for the invitation. I probably won't attend anything but it did remind me that 50 years ago when I was just out of High School I saw Mr. Khrushchev on the campus at Iowa State University. I also remember that three young guys (scalliwags) were running around in trench coats carrying violin cases.
I wonder what the security would be if he were to have come to America today. Seems a long time ago and a much simpler time.
I wonder what the security would be if he were to have come to America today. Seems a long time ago and a much simpler time.
A Comment from Stan Eckert
This was one of the events that helped shape my involvement in the world around me. When we found out that the caravan would go down Highway 141, past Granger, two of my Dallas Center High classmates and I asked for a field trip to see the caravan. Of course, we were denied the right. So in protest, we went anyway. At first we were to be suspended then it was changed to stay after school for, I think three days. When we reported to the study hall for our punishment one of the things we were to do was spell the name of the person we went to see. Naturally we never had spell check then and I mumbled something. The High School principal, who was a person I respected, looked me in the eye until she had my attention, then looked at a copy of The Des Moines Tribune, which had a headline "Khrushchev Visits Iowa." I learned that not everyone 'on the other side' is against you. I really feel that she was the reason it was changed from suspension to stay after school.
Thanks for allowing me this stroll down memory lane.
Thanks for allowing me this stroll down memory lane.
A Comment from Lou Licht
In 1977 I was selected as one of 14 Americans on an exchange to USSR for a Young Agricultural Specialist Exhange Program. I'm from an Iowa farm, got my MS in Ag. Engineering from Oregon State back in 1978, and now plant trees all around the U.S. through my company called Ecolotree.
Just wanted to pass on:
1. When traveling for 3 months all around USSR and meeting with agricultural officials in 1977, they were still talking about the Garst event. Corn! Being the only delegate from Iowa, the Kruschiev/Garst meeting was a source of many proud moments.
2. The core concept on what I do - phytoremediation that uses plants to clean pollutants - was first introduced to me by the Ukranians outside of Kiev where they were using wetlands for wastewater treatment.
I hope I can come. Contratulations for this great event which acknowledges yet again the importance of Iowans in supporting the quest for world peace.
Just wanted to pass on:
1. When traveling for 3 months all around USSR and meeting with agricultural officials in 1977, they were still talking about the Garst event. Corn! Being the only delegate from Iowa, the Kruschiev/Garst meeting was a source of many proud moments.
2. The core concept on what I do - phytoremediation that uses plants to clean pollutants - was first introduced to me by the Ukranians outside of Kiev where they were using wetlands for wastewater treatment.
I hope I can come. Contratulations for this great event which acknowledges yet again the importance of Iowans in supporting the quest for world peace.
A Comment from Louise McCeery
Louise wrote in to Creating Great Places and we wanted to share her story:
(This is in reguard to) The articles in the Guthrie Center newspaper concerning the activities you are planning for the 50th Anniversary of Nikita's Historic Visit to Iowa on August 29, 1959. My daughter and I attended that event. We lived only a few miles from the Garst Farm which they visited. As we were waiting for the visitors to pass by us where we were standing, it stopped suddenly and one of the visitors from Russia got off of the hayrack and came over to where we were standing. He asked Mary, my daughter, if she would like to ride out to the field with them. He told us he has a little girl about her age and was homesick to see her. Mary was ready to go so (she) took his hand and went on the hayrack onto the Garst field of corn. When they came back, he asked if she would like to eat lunch with him at the farm house. She did, so away they went again, hand-in-hand. Mary was seven years old at the time and is now Mrs. Clarence Leighty. She lives on a farm close to Guthrie Center, and is the high school librarian at the school at Aububon. I am her mother and wanted you to know about our wonderful experience that day.
(This is in reguard to) The articles in the Guthrie Center newspaper concerning the activities you are planning for the 50th Anniversary of Nikita's Historic Visit to Iowa on August 29, 1959. My daughter and I attended that event. We lived only a few miles from the Garst Farm which they visited. As we were waiting for the visitors to pass by us where we were standing, it stopped suddenly and one of the visitors from Russia got off of the hayrack and came over to where we were standing. He asked Mary, my daughter, if she would like to ride out to the field with them. He told us he has a little girl about her age and was homesick to see her. Mary was ready to go so (she) took his hand and went on the hayrack onto the Garst field of corn. When they came back, he asked if she would like to eat lunch with him at the farm house. She did, so away they went again, hand-in-hand. Mary was seven years old at the time and is now Mrs. Clarence Leighty. She lives on a farm close to Guthrie Center, and is the high school librarian at the school at Aububon. I am her mother and wanted you to know about our wonderful experience that day.
A Comment from David Maxwell
David shared this with Creating Great Places as a comment to a previous post, but we thought it was great and wanted to make sure it front and center:
When I was 17 years old (1962), I traveled through the Soviet Union for 7 weeks as the bandboy for the Benny Goodman Band's tour of the USSR (my father was the first trumpet player). That trip led to me desire to become a diplomat (later channeled into a career as a professor of Russian literature and ultimately a university administrator) and my major at Grinnell College in Russian Area Studies (where I enrolled 6 weeks after returning from the USSR).On July 4th, 1962, the band was invited to the U.S. Embassy's "party house" on the banks of the river in Moscow. At one point, there was a tremendous outpouring of excitement: Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev had shown up to wish us "congratulations on the anniversary of your revolution." He made the rounds of the party and shook hands with everyone - including me -- and was particularly struck by the fact that the first trumpet player (who, at 6'5" and 240 lbs, towered over him), was able to greet him in Russian!Given the political environment of 1962, most people I knew found it hard to believe that I'd actually been in the USSR - shaking hands with Krushchev was well beyond the limits of credibility for most of them!The Goodman Band was the first American jazz band "behind the Iron Curtain," and was seen as an important early step in the cultural and educational exchanges that ultimately -- I believe--had a powerful impact on relations between the two countries, and on political change in the USSR..
When I was 17 years old (1962), I traveled through the Soviet Union for 7 weeks as the bandboy for the Benny Goodman Band's tour of the USSR (my father was the first trumpet player). That trip led to me desire to become a diplomat (later channeled into a career as a professor of Russian literature and ultimately a university administrator) and my major at Grinnell College in Russian Area Studies (where I enrolled 6 weeks after returning from the USSR).On July 4th, 1962, the band was invited to the U.S. Embassy's "party house" on the banks of the river in Moscow. At one point, there was a tremendous outpouring of excitement: Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev had shown up to wish us "congratulations on the anniversary of your revolution." He made the rounds of the party and shook hands with everyone - including me -- and was particularly struck by the fact that the first trumpet player (who, at 6'5" and 240 lbs, towered over him), was able to greet him in Russian!Given the political environment of 1962, most people I knew found it hard to believe that I'd actually been in the USSR - shaking hands with Krushchev was well beyond the limits of credibility for most of them!The Goodman Band was the first American jazz band "behind the Iron Curtain," and was seen as an important early step in the cultural and educational exchanges that ultimately -- I believe--had a powerful impact on relations between the two countries, and on political change in the USSR..
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