Ambassador to the Soviet Union

In December 1951, President Truman nominated me as the next United States ambassador to the Soviet Union and this decision was strongly supported by the Senate. I felt a very warm swell feeling in my heart as I realized that people trusted my ways and workings, probably a feeling that the leaders of the Soviet Union probably never felt. Excitedly, I went to the Soviet Union to investigate what was going on, but my excitement soon declined. Police officers continued to follow me and I was limited on what I could discover (why those officers followed me, a trustworthy ambassador, I couldn’t ask). I learned through my trip that the United States and Soviet Union were not trying to tie better relationships but rather were competing with each other and backing down when they got too close to war. I did recognize that neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union were working their best for peace since they were not negotiating their differences, but I knew that the Soviet Union was the heart of the problem, not the U.S. The Soviet Union claimed that the United States was planning for a war against the Soviet Union. Hearing such terrible accusations, I grew angry and impulsively made a statement that offended the Soviet Union. I would not like to specify exactly what the statement was for now that I look back, I certainly did say something quite undiplomatic and worthy of the punishment of losing my position as ambassador. Apparently, what I had said sounded like a comparison to Nazi Germany and the Soviets prevented me from entering their state. Indeed, what a foolish mistake I had made that cost me a position I had longed for. Even so, I still felt many injustices in the accusations that the Soviet Union made against the United States. Perhaps it was because the Soviet Union was simply insecure of their government.