From the S&S archives: Hearst arrives in Frankfurt, terms Bulganin 'no Stalin'

FRANKFURT, Feb. 13 — Three Hearst news executives revealed here tonight that their interview with Soviet Russia's new premier, Marshal Nikolai Bulganin, was a lucky break which came after they were already in Leningrad ready to board a plane for the West.

William R. Hearst, Jr,, Kingsbury Smith and Frank Conniff landed in Frankfurt en route from Russia to London. where they are to meet with Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden and Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.

They landed at Frankfurt Airport aboard a Pan American World Airways plane.

"When we arrived in Moscow," Smith said, "we asked to interview all the members of the Soviet Supreme Presidium, then meeting there. All meetings were okayed, but we were told that we couldn't talk to Bulganin until after the Presidium meeting had ended. It didn't mean anything to us then."

Smith said that since the Presidium meeting could have gone on indefinitely, they did as many interviews as they could and then flew to Leningrad.

"We had checked our luggage aboard a plane for Helsinki, the first leg of our trip home," Smith said. "Then a phone call came through telling us if we wanted to talk to Bulganin, we could. We took the next train back to Moscow."

Hearst said he felt Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev was the dominant man in Soviet Russia today. He said that Bulganin is not a Stalin and will never be a Stalin.

"Bulganin assured us that collective leadership will continue in Russia," Hearst said. "We felt we received less propaganda from Bulganin than from the others we spoke to."

"Soviet leaders were chiefly concerned with the Formosa problem," Smith said. "But in their long-range view the German problem predominated."

Smith and Conniff lauded the way Soviet press and radio reported their visit.

"They reported Hearst's quote to Bulganin that the U.S. had never waged an aggressive war," Conniff said, "and also that the Americans re-evaluate their government every four years and that it would be a good thing if the Soviet did the same. However, they did twist the latter slightly by , bringing In strikes as the re-evaluation method."