John Wayne _ The Man Behind the Myth - Michael Munn [104]
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JOHN WAYNE
“We decided to make the conversation more private by going to a private bar—with the interpreter—and Khrushchev said to me, ‘I am told that you like to drink and that you can hold your liquor.’ I said,
‘That is right.’ He said that he also liked a drink and could hold his liquor, and I said, ‘I had heard as much.’ We went on to compare the virtues of Russian vodka and Mexican tequila, and then we matched each other drink for drink. If he hadn’t been a Communist, the man might have impressed me. But even though he was no Stalin, he was still a Communist, and I’ll tell what’s bad about that. Khrushchev said something with a big smile on his face and laughed, and I was smiling as I said to the interpreter, ‘What did he say?’ The interpreter said, ‘He is the leader of the biggest state in the world and will one day rule the whole world.’ I laughed politely and said, still smiling, ‘And I’m gonna knock him on his sorry fucking ass.’ The interpreter said something and Khrushchev laughed, so I said, ‘What did you tell him I said?’ He said, ‘I told him you would buy him a drink the day he rules America.’ And then the guy said, ‘We have to maintain diplomatic relations here.’ So I just laughed and raised my glass.
“Three months later he sent me a large crate stamped with Russian letters CCCP [USSR]. Mary, my secretary, was uncertain about opening it, but I said, ‘Hell, Mary, open it up. It’s too damn big to be a bomb.’ So we opened it with a crowbar and inside were several cases of top-quality bottles of Russian vodka and a note which read,
‘Duke, Merry Christmas, Nikita.’ I reciprocated by sending him a couple of cases of Sauza Conmemorativo Tequila, and wrote a note saying ‘To Nikita. Thanks. Duke.’
“Bearing in mind that the Communists were still our greatest enemy, I felt that it would be great if all conflicts could be settled that way. Of course, that’s idealistic bullshit, but it’s kind of a nice thought. Anyway, it was a good piece of propaganda for the press.”
But Wayne didn’t tell me the real reason why he decided to meet Khrushchev and what they really talked about—apart from the virtues of alcohol. When I told Yakima Canutt in 1976 that Duke had related his meeting with Khrushchev to me, Canutt explained, “Duke called me and said, ‘What do you think? Khrushchev wants to meet me.
Says he liked my pictures.’ I said, ‘Maybe he does. I think it’s worth 21184_ch01.qxd 12/18/03 1:43 PM Page 195
DUKE MEETS NIKITA
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seeing him—if only to ask him face-to-face why he is trying to kill you.’ Duke said, ‘That’s just what I was thinking.’
“So when Duke met Khrushchev, once he got over the formalities and was able to speak to him in private, he asked him outright why he was trying the hell to kill him. And Khrushchev apparently looked very grim and said, ‘That was the decision of Stalin during his last five mad years. When Stalin died, I rescinded the order.’ Duke said,
‘Then how come after Stalin died some of your guys over here tried to bump me off ?’ Khrushchev said he knew nothing about it but that there had been a number of Communist cells around the world who refused to renounce Stalinism. He said that he had taken steps to remove those people.
“Duke was fascinated to hear about the machinations of Stalin’s government and its secrets, and Duke was impressed with Khrushchev because he was trying to make the Soviet Union a country based on pure Communism and not Stalinism. Of course, Duke didn’t think Communism was good in any form, and he told Khrushchev just that. So Khrushchev changed the conversation and brought up the subject of drinking.
“He warned Duke,