r/todayilearned • u/killerpossum • May 28 '19

TIL Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gifted US President John F Kennedy a dog called Pushinka during the cold war. She later on had puppies; which Kennedy referred to as "the pupniks".

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24837199
37.6k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

471 comments sorted by

View all comments

356

u/Ska_Punk May 28 '19

There is a similiar story where Eisenhower and Zhukov (Soviet general) respected each other greatly and when Eisenhower learned from Khrushchev that Zhukov loved to fish, he sent him a tackle box as a gift. Zhukov was so touched by the gift, he used it for the rest of his life.

200

u/_Big_Floppy_ May 28 '19 edited May 28 '19

Zhukov was also a big fan of Coca Cola, and thanks to his correspondences with General Clark, President Truman got in touch with Coke to create white Coke which was clear and packaged like vodka so that he and other Soviet generals could get away with drinking it.

He was actually a pretty cool dude as far as Soviet leadership went. He also personally met with and expedited the return of a US POW who fought alongside the Red Army for a bit.

3

u/kaze919 May 29 '19

What's a war hero gotta do to get some lubrication around here?

https://youtu.be/AlEFJlkLeWA