When Apollo Mission Astronaut Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, he not only gave his famous one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind statement but followed it by several remarks, usual com traffic between him, the other astronauts and Mission Control. Just before he re-entered the lander, however, he made the enigmatic remark; 'Good luck Mr. Gorsky.'
Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Mr. Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs. Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the Good luck Mr. Gorsky statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled.
Just last year, (on 5 July 1995 in Tampa Bay, FL) while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26-year-old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had finally died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.
When he was a kid, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hits a fly ball which landed in the front of his neighbors bedroom windows. His neighbors were Mr. And Mrs. Gorsky.
As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky. 'Oral sex! You want oral sex?! You'll get oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!'
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Was all this bloodshed and deceit - from Columbus to Cortes, Pizarro the Puritans - a necessity for the human race to progress from savagery to civilization? Was Morison right in burying the story of genocide inside a more important story of human progress? Perhaps a persuasive argument can be made - as it was made by Stalin when he killed pesants for industrial progress in the Soviet Union, as it was made by Churchill explaining the bombings of Dresden and Hamburg, and Truman explaining Hiroshima. But how can the judgement be made if the benefits and losses cannot be balanced because the losses are either unmentioned or mentioned quickly?
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Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow.
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I am very patriotic. I’ve committed one crime in my life.
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The fascinating thing to a dispassionate observer about the structure of life in the Soviet Union is that in their efforts to produce an unkno...
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Castro couldn't even go to the bathroom unless the Soviet Union put the nickel in the toilet.
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I hope that no one present will suspect me of offering my personal criticism of the Western system to present socialism as an alternative. Having experienced applied socialism in a country where the alternative has been realized, I certainly will not speak for it. The well-known Soviet mathematician Shafarevich, a member of the Soviet Academy of Science, has written a brilliant book under the title Socialism; it is a profound analysis showing that socialism of any type and shade leads to a total destruction of the human spirit and to a leveling of mankind into death.
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It would be enough for me to have the system of a jury of twelve versus the system of one judge as a basis for preferring the U.S. to the Soviet Union. I would prefer the country you can leave to the country you cannot.
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At the end of the Winter war a Soviet General is said to have quipped, 'We gained 22,000 square miles of territory. Just enough to bury our dead'.
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Have convictions. Be friendly. Stick to your beliefs as they stick to theirs. Work as hard as they do.
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What do you gain, Soviet Union, from this miserable policy Where is your decency Would it be a disgrace for you to give up this battle (On suppression of freedom for Jews in the USSR)
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Judged by every standard which history has applied to Governments, the Soviet Government of Russia is one of the worst tyrannies that has ever existed in the world. It accords no political rights. It rules by terror. It punishes political opinions. It suppresses free speech. It tolerates no newspapers but its own. It persecutes Christianity with a zeal and a cunning never equalled since the times of the Roman Emperors. It is engaged at this moment in trampling down the peoples of Georgia and executing their leaders by hundreds.
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I feel the happiest when I can light my American cigarettes with Soviet matches.
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I urged the Soviet leader, Mr. Gorbachev, to send a new signal of openness to the world by tearing down that wall.
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The Soviet government is the most realistic regime in the world-no ideals.
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There will be a Moscow Exhibition of Arts by 15,000 Soviet Republic painters and sculptors. These were executed over the past two years.
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Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union.
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One hopes to achieve the zero option, but in the absence of that we must achieve balanced numbers. (On Soviet and Allied missiles in Europe)
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In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than to advance.
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A likely source for terrorists seeking to buy or steal nuclear materials is the former Soviet Union.
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Like dealing with Dad-all give and no take. (On negotiating with Soviet Premier Nikita S Khrushchev)
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If the Soviet Union let another political party come into existence, they would still be a one-party state, because everybody would join the other party.
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The problem with planning against the Americans is that while you can read their manuals to see what they're going to do, the Americans don't read the manuals.
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The Soviet Union would remain a one-party nation even if an opposition party were permitted-because everyone would join that party.
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If I thought there was some reason to be concerned about them, I wouldn't be sleeping in this house tonight. (When asked about continued presence of Soviet nuclear submarines along US coastlines)
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