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Frank StantonFrank Stanton
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were sitting around a round table--and he stuck out his hand and said: “Superpower. Superpower. Superpower,” meaning that we were the two superpowers. Then there was a woman, a physician, who represented the U.S.S.R., and she fell out with the administration and just disappeared. We never could find her. Very mysterious. A very warm, motherly kind of--full-bodied, large, matronly mother-image.

You could see that she was “Mother Russia” really, because she was big, and she spoke some English. She was an M.D., and I and correspondence with her. In fact, I think I saw her once in Moscow when I was over there. But then she just was gone. They never would answer any questions about her or anything.

And when the Russians shot down the 747 out in the Pacific, I wrote a very strong letter to the head of Red Cross, expressing contempt and bitterness and everything else about that. I got a very curt response. I wasn't in Red Cross at the time. It's just I knew this man--this guy who always said, “Superpower!” I thought I'd let him know how I felt about it. I got an official answer, but not from him.

I've stayed very close to the man who headed the Red Cross in Holland. In fact, introduced him to the board in this country, and he's now on that board. And the man who was head of the Red Cross in England was secretary to the prime minister of one administration--I've forgotten what it was--but he was very high up in government. I've stayed close to him. I say “stayed close”--we stayed in correspondence.

But I haven't been back to the Red Cross in Washington since Mrs. [Elizabeth] Dole took over--because she wiped out almost everybody that George Elsey and I had put into place. It





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