ABSTRACT
In November 1989, the Berlin Wall had come down; the communists no longer dominated the Czech parliament; and on that Christmas day the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, had been executed. “We’ve been vindicated,” was the general gist of our conversation, while wondering what the political future of a suddenly free Eastern block would bring. More assassinations, exiles, or purges? A resurgence of democracy? Would a soon to be reunited Germany present a new danger? William and I guessed at myriads of scenarios, interrupting only to decide on what to pack for our routine exodus on New Year’s Day—to the tedium of the Sunshine State, to Palm Beach. William was convinced that two weeks relief from ice and snow would save us from sniffles and the flu. In our comfortable hotel room we continued speculating about the future of the West, as our eyes moved from glorious sunsets over the ocean to CNN, and to the pages of the New York Times. The Partisan Review office was a phone call away.
