Khrushchev v. Nixon

John Jacobs was Press Officer for the 1959 US-Russia Exhibit in Moscow. He shared his first person impressions with Russian Life.

Khrushchev was fascinated by the exhibition and the American technology it showed. If memory serves, he came five times.

These visits provided by far the best – and sometimes the only – publicity payback for the exhibitors’ investments. They kept calling me from the States to get him to their booths. The Detroit auto companies were really tough, rude and demanding.

We would usually have but short notice of Khrushchev’s intended arrival. I would run up to the director’s office with my list of publicity-starved exhibitors and work out with him where the premier should be taken. (My wife Katia, who speaks Russian like a native, ran the Westinghouse exhibit in the model apartment. “Khrushchev is coming in half an hour. Bake some cookies!”)

The night before, Vice President Richard Nixon, there for the opening, toured the show with Khrushchev. The Ampex man, pleaded with me: “The RCA guys always get him. We’re a little company. I’m getting no publicity.”

Ampex had a small room off the large RCA color television exhibit with many sets in operation. In previous visits, the RCA crew had hogged Khrushchev. Ampex had just invented its videotape camera. It was a small, struggling company. Its exhibit was run by a vice president of the little company.

“Be ready,” I said. “We’ll get him to your exhibit.”

And that’s how, on July 24, just 50 years ago, Nikita Khrushchev found himself in front of the new and then spectacular Ampex video camera, seeing how it made instant movies.

The next day, Khrushchev showed up and Nixon was his host. When we arrived at the RCA/Ampex pavilion, the RCA crew came out to meet us. I thrust them aside and guided Nixon and Khrushchev into the small Ampex alcove. Charles Ampex guided them before the camera and showed them how it took the picture and immediately had it on the television monitor.

Up until then, Nixon had been the gracious host and Khrushchev the amiable guest. Suddenly, Khrushchev became quite aggressive in arguing that socialism was better than capitalism: “We will bury you.”

Looking on, it seemed to me that Khrushchev saw the camera and what it could do. He knew that cameras equal publicity and that what he was saying and his demeanor would become public – to Americans, but, more importantly, Russians.

Khrushchev moved closer to Nixon and, as was natural to him, began poking Nixon’s stomach to emphasize his points. Nixon argued back. He too knew that he would be seen on television. He returned Khrushchev’s gesture, poking him in the stomach. But it did not come naturally to him and he looked a bit ridiculous. Khrushchev had the upper hand.

I was much preoccupied with keeping the reporters from pressing before the camera, but realized what was going on. Max Frankel of the New York Times was beside me.

“Jesus, this is history!”

“You’re goddam right it’s history!”

The press of people and reporters was heavy as we left the little studio.

“Where do you go next?”

“The model house.”

“And then?”

“Circarama”

“OK. We’ll go to Circarama and be waiting for them when they come in so we can get close to them.”

But not the New York Times’ Moscow correspondent, Harrison Salisbury. Very tall and thin he fought, looking to me like a large flamingo, to stay close to Nixon and Khrushchev. When they entered the little kitchen of the model house, Salisbury went in, pulled down the oven door and wrote down what Nixon and Khrushchev said. Later, he shared his notes with the reporters who went on to Circarama. That was the Kitchen Debate.

Would it have happened without Ampex’s plea the night before? Khrushchev being Khrushchev, something of the sort might well have. But with no video camera? Maybe not. Khrushchev had not done that in his previous visits.