Envoys from the East

The U.S. caught a glimpse last week of two new envoys from behind the Iron Curtain. The two envoys got a brief glimpse of the U.S. Neither the envoys nor the U.S. seemed to like what they saw.

From Harry Truman's office waddled a barrel-shaped man with a round, glistening face and a bushy mustache. He was Dr. Emil Weil, who gave up his job as government director of Hungary's physicians to become Hungary's new minister to Washington. He had just called to present his credentials. The President barely touched Weil's hand, listened coldly to his prepared statement. Outside the office, the doctor faced a double line of waiting reporters. He put his head down and waddled through them. They tried to get him on the wing. What could he tell them about his visit with the President? Said the doctor over his shoulder: "I have nuzzing." On the White House steps he stopped to glare back through thick-lensed spectacles, then ducked into a waiting White House limousine and rolled away. The burden of his statement to the President: Hungary's desire for peace. The burden of Harry Truman's reply: "This desire is fully reciprocated."

Aboard the liner Caronia, coming into New York, another man with thick-lensed glasses stared owlishly at reporters. He was Dr. Vladimir Prochazka, new ambassador from Czechoslovakia. The newsmen asked him: What about the trial and imprisonment of Associated Press Reporter William Oatis? "I have been at sea for six days and have been out of touch with things," said Dr. Prochazka mildly. What part had Prochazka had in writing Czechoslovakia's "Communist" constitution? "I don't call the American Constitution capitalistic," Dr. Prochazka reproved. "Don't call our constitution Communistic." On the dock, a Czech-born, naturalized American ranged up beside the doctor and shouted in his ear: "How dare you show your face in America, you traitor to Czechoslovakian democracy!" Dr. Prochazka, who appeared surprised and hurt by his reception, was bundled into a State Department auto, whisked past marching pickets and signs accusing him of setting up concentration camps for political prisoners, put safely aboard a train and transported to Washington.

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