Scene VIII. Moscow the Kremlin.

[Enter Richard, Pat, Leonid Brezhnev, and Secret Service Agents.]
Brezhnev. I wish to thank you, good friend, for your gift
of this Ford Continental Mark IV
automobile, which you have so
graciously presented to me.
Pat. It has the plush interior, carpet, 5
power brakes, air conditioning and
bullet proof windows.
Richard. ‘Tis a handsome addition to the Cadillac
I gave to you upon my last visit.
Brezhnev. You are too generous, my friend. 10
Pat. ‘Tis nothing. We gave our friend, Sadat, the
man of Egypt, a Helicopter!
Brezhnev. Really?
Richard. Yes. I will miss it, though. ‘Twas a happy
green in color. Carried Pat and me 15
many times to and fro the airport.
Brezhnev. Must you rush off so soon? You’ve only been
here three days. Stay awhile longer and
I will show the very best that poor Moscow offers.
Pat. We must return, dear Leonid. 20
The nasty press keeps us up with such
asinine questions of the like,
“When will you return to your Capitol?
Why do you stay away from Washington?”
Well, I’ll tell you, I don’t like that City. 25
I like to travel. But the liberal press,
those nasty men, cannot leave me and poor
Richard alone. Well, you newsmen, we return
tomorrow. Will they be satisfied?
We return on Wednesday. 30
Richard. Aye, Wednesday. Oh, fateful day. The Court will
rule upon my appeal of the subpoena.
Brezhnev. In your favor, I trust. In my country,
dear Richard, I have no trouble with
the newsmen. I feel that they worry you 35
constantly. You should do something about
the media annoyance, as we have
done in Mother Russia.
Richard. Maybe I should.
[Exeunt Richard, Pat, and Secret Service Agents.]
Brezhnev. Twenty years ago that man gained our 40
attention by hating communists.
He rose through the ranks of America
by fighting the enemies of freedom.
Poor Nikita. If he hadn’t been Premier
and Richard Vice-President, they might have 45
punched each other’s lights out. He hated us so.
But now Richard is on top. He can no
longer hate his adversaries, for that
would trigger events unstoppable.
So, mutually assured, we must be friends. 50
Now twenty years ago tempers flared
and ideologies may have clashed.
But Richard has learned a lesson. You can
only get so far on your ideologies.
From there to the crest of high history 55
one can only compromise and subvert
one’s ideologies for détente.
[Exit.]