A Treat
I am as tired of challenging and distressing news as you. Today there is a treat instead. The treat is “the Tall Texan,” the American pianist Van Cliburn playing Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto at the first Soviet international competition in Moscow in 1958, which Van Cliburn won. Khrushchev, the General Secretary of the Communist Party, was present as was Mikoyan. You will see them applauding. See this.
After the performances, the judges approached Khrushchev, the ruling General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and asked if they might give the prize to Van Cliburn. Khrushchev asked the judges, “Was he the best?” The judges said, “yes.” “Then give him the prize.” The Soviet conductor could easily have ruined Van Cliburn’s performance, but he did not and the two went on together to make recordings. Today the sanctions would prevent both Van Cliburn’s performance and the subsequent recordings.
The cold war could have ended then, but Washington lacked the vision. The Soviet Audience poured flowers all over Van Cliburn. There were endless demands for encores. Van Cliburn, playing better than Russians the music of Russian composers, won their hearts.
The opportunity was lost. Washington thinking it had a monopoly on nuclear warhead delivery and conservatives fearful of the life of a dystopian novel being imposed on us by communism missed the opportunity. This was an extraordinary failure as it was Khrushchev who denounced Stalin for his crimes. A few years later it is Khrushchev who is working with President John F. Kennedy to peacefully resolve what is known as “The Cuban Missile Crisis” but just as well could be called the Turk
Article from LewRockwell
LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
