Interview with Richard Hottelet, 1986

Hottelet, Richard C. · April 4, 1986

Richard C. Hottelet was a journalist mentored by Edward R. Murrow. He worked for CBS News from 1941-1985. After presenting his early background, the interview turns to his time in Moscow shortly after the war. His impression was one of discouragement – air defense was still being conducted and the population was surprisingly anxious and reluctant to speak openly. During his brief stay he conducted a now-famous interview with former People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs Maxim Litvinov who gave an unexpectedly grim picture of Soviet intentions. Mr. Hottelet also discusses Joseph Stalin’s apparent disinterest in the atomic bomb at Potsdam, and disinclination to participate in the Baruch Plan. He contrasts the atmosphere in Moscow and the Soviet leadership’s actions in 1946 with the warm interactions between Soviet and Western armies meeting at the Elbe River at war’s end. In terms of the arts, Mr. Hottelet recalls the onset of the Zdanovshchina, named after Andrey Zhdanov who was in charge of Soviet cultural policy, which amounted to a “cultural revolution” designed to place the arts in the service of the regime.