President. the Senator from Minnesota. with the very thoughtful intervention. spoke of the annual ticket punching. as he put it. in which the Ambassador of this particular country would come around and inquire about constituents. those of us who are on the Trade Subcommittee of the Committee on Finance. and I am well familiar with this and the Senator describes it very adequately. This is part of one of the corruptions I fear on which democratic states have exposed themselves in dealing with totalitarian regimes in this postwar period. The term "quiet diplomacy" was once the banner under which this particular policy sailed and it was a continued pleasure of Secretaries of State and deputies and even down to Deputy Assistant Secretaries to obtain the release of this prisoner or that person desiring to emigrate or whatever in one or another of these countries. and these would be represented as genuine achievements. But you always knew that every time a particular individual was released from prison in the Soviet Union as a consequence of the Secretary or whomever. it was easy enough for the Ambassador of that nation here in Washington to send back a cable saying release Mr. Voronson. or whomever you will. and arrest his cousin. because there is quite an unending supply of political prisoners or persons who wish to emigrate and are not allowed or persons who wish to educate themselves or worship in certain ways that are not allowed. Perhaps the most macabre form of this trading in bodies. if I may use that word. is the custom that has arisen. almost pagan. of accepting not human sacrifice on the occasion of a ceremonial visit but the gift of human souls. You can almost measure the status of an American public figure by the number of living persons presented to him on his or her arrival at Moscow Airport.
Keywords matched
emigrate