"He was a very unusual figure. We had thought of him as a somewhat gray, apparatic before he took power," says CNN's John Defterios. "But it turned out he was much more colorful than that." He loved to use his English and recite snatches of the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln in meetings with foreign leaders., adds Defterio. 'Much to the astonishment of foreign leaders who he was entertaining, he would burst into song'