Q: In the United States, there was the assumption that sooner or later
the Soviet Union was going to be ready to launch a surprise attack. There was
a lot of fear about that. Were there similar fears in the Soviet Union?
GL: It seems to me that if one compares American society and Russian society at
that time, the psychosis on this account was gigantic in America. I myself did
not visit the U.S. during those years, but I know that the Soviet people, the
Russian people, did not have to go through all these constructions of bombproof
shelters and those practice air-raid alerts at that time. Maybe, it was due to
the Russian people's "to-hell-with-it" character, the devil-may-care attitude,
so to speak. But I am convinced that life for Americans in those years was
psychologically much more arduous than it was for Russians. That is my view
and my evaluation of those years and of the state of mind of people during
those years both in America and in Russia.
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