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Ruth Montgomery – A Gift of Prophecy

Joseph E. Davies stepped into camera range, and asked Jeane: "How long will Malenkov be Prime Minister of Russia?"

Everyone was uneasy except Jeane, who did not seem in the least perturbed at the prospect of fencing before television cameras with the famous Russian expert who had written the best-selling book, Mission to Moscow. Peering into her crystal ball, Jeane "saw" Malenkov being replaced by another man whose image was quite plain to her, and she replied,

"He will bow out in slightly less than two years, to a man with an oval shaped head, wavy gray hair, a little goatee, and greenish eyes."

The ambassador uttered a mirthless laugh. Displaying his superior knowledge of the Soviet Union, he retorted that Russian premiers are not peacefully replaced; they either die or are shot. Moreover, he added, Russians do not look like the replacement whom she described, so she was wrong on all counts. Jeane calmly replied that she was telling what she "saw," not what she "thought," and that the event would definitely transpire shortly before two years had elapsed, because she "saw a tiny tail on a two."

By now she had the complete attention of the group which included former Ambassador to China Patrick J. Hurley and his wife, Marine Commandant Lemuel C. Shepherd and Mrs. Shepherd, and Mrs. Davies, the former Marjorie Post, heiress to a cereal fortune. Jeane, however, seemed oblivious to everyone, because another picture was beginning to form in the crystal ball. Speaking out eagerly, she said that the goateed gentleman would rule only briefly, until a shorter, bald-headed man took over "shortly afterward," she continued, "a silver ball will go into outer space. It will circle the earth and come back to Russia”, ….. Jeane held out her hands in a circle to indicate the shape of the future sputnik.

At that point Ambassador Davies could contain himself no longer. Taking her by the arm, he rasped: ..

“No, no, that will never happen. I have been ambassador there, and I know that things are not done that way in Russia.”

Recalling the dramatic incident, Jeane sighs: ..Much more was coming, but Mr. Davis actually grabbed my arm and shook me, saying that I should read his book and learn about Russia. I was so engrossed that I had forgotten we were on television. Otherwise I would not have said what I did next.”

Television viewers heard Jeane exclaim: ..

“Oh, Mr. Ambassador, you've just spoiled my whole connection”

Mr. Davies was still poking fun at Jeane when the program ended, but he lived to see her proven right. One month short of two years later, Marshal Bulganin peacefully replaced Georgi Malenkov as the Soviet Premier. Gray-haired, goateed Bulganin fit Jeane's description precisely, and roly-poly, bald-headed Nikita Khrushchev took over the actual reins of power as the Communist party boss. In 1957 the Soviets orbited the world's first man-made satellite, and Khrushchev deposed Bulganin the following March.