Howard K. Smith took one of the last trains out, to Switzerland, IIRC.
I will have to go back and give it a look. I remember listening to the audiobook on my long drives. I recall thinking to myself, “You must have gotten out of there to write this thing...but you are cutting it close.”
I think the final straw was the Russian invasion. That kind of was the icing on the “creep” cupcake. If he was crazy enough to do that...the US wasn’t far behind.