270 THE END OF THE COLD WAR
Japanese industrial progress was unmistakable. By 1988 Gorbachëv,
who together with the rest of the leadership had long recognized
Soviet economic problems, believed that the USSR’s entire develop-
ment had been based on false principles: ‘In the United States, services
constitute fifty per cent of national income whereas with us it’s
eleven per cent. We forever drive after coal, oil, heavy machine con-
struction.’^79
Gorbachëv and his fellow leaders, moreover, would not have been
human if they had not enjoyed the way that Western leaders treated
them. The Daimler that took Shevardnadze from Heathrow airport
enthralled him with its automotive grandeur.^80 The British Foreign
Secretary’s country residence at Chevening stunned the Soviet visitors
with its Gainsborough paintings, parks and ancient furniture which
captivated their imaginations: even the opulence of America’s great
houses seemed ascetic by comparison.^81 Luxury was not the only
source of wonder. At the closure of the December 1987 Washington
summit the leaders of the two sides – American and Soviet – came out
on to the south lawn of the White House for a ceremony for the send-
off in front of 5,000 spectators.^82 An evening shower of rain began and
the American President opened an umbrella, holding it over his wife’s
head. This startled the Russians. They were accustomed to the woman
acting as helpmate to the man; the idea was strange for them that a
husband – and no ordinary person but a head of state – should trouble
about his wife’s comfort while appearing in public. This detail of every-
day American life was a microcosm of bigger differences.^83
A popular image of Soviet officials represented them as gauche,
dogmatic and fond of the bottle. On foreign trips they sometimes
conformed to stereotype. Those who travelled to Washington for the
1987 summit stayed at the Madison Hotel, where the guests had access
to mini-bars stuffed with wines and spirits. The result was a binge of
drinking that continued until Comrade Chaplin – head of logistics –
told the hotel management to replace the alcohol with soft drinks.^84 As
they sobered up, their lunches on Big Macs and Cola at McDonald’s
showed them a culinary world that contrasted with the cafeterias at
home. They envied the fare available for ‘extraordinary and plenipo-
tentiary’ US citizens.^85
Gorbachëv hoped to prove that the USSR’s leaders were essentially
no different from those of the West. He meant to dispel prejudice
through an interview that he gave to NBC’s Tom Brokaw before going
to Washington in late 1987. Though he appeared at ease before the