Rebecca Matlock - Third Moscow Tour (1981)

Third Moscow Tour (1981)

In the summer of 1981 Jack Matlock was acting Ambassador, or Chargé d’Affaires in Moscow. This meant that Rebecca had to organize the Fourth of July reception.

We decided that since he wasn't the ambassador we should cut the guest list considerably and just have a “coupe de champagne” for about fifteen hundred people here and that it shouldn't be a full-blown Fourth of July reception.

So we got busy and got all of the American champagne that we could find in Western Europe flown into Moscow. It was all chilled and waiting. Someone asked me about the reception the day before and I explained that we were going to have macadamia nuts and champagne and that was all. And she said, “Oh, do you have fifteen hundred champagne glasses at Spaso House?” And I said, “Oh my goodness!” I checked with Clemente, the Italian butler. We had one hundred and three. So, what should I do?

In Moscow what you do is call Stockman's in Helsinki. Stockman's can solve any problem you might have in Africa or Moscow. They're wonderful. All you do is call Stockman's. So of course they did have the plastic champagne glasses. Then the problem is, how do you get them to Moscow overnight?

Someone remembered that an American was traveling in Scandinavia and would be coming back through Finland by train. So Stockman's sent glasses out to the train, found the person, and asked him if he would be willing to bring them to Moscow. He very nicely said, “Yes.” So he came back with his compartment loaded with cartons of champagne glasses. I saw him a few days later and thanked him again and asked if he had enjoyed the reception. He said, “I wasn't invited.” He had been on the list that was cut!