September 15, 2014

A Soviet Leader in the US? Preposterous!


A Soviet Leader in the US? Preposterous!

After years of not recognizing the Soviet Union and then painting it as the root of all evil, September 15, 1959 – 55 years ago from Monday – the US welcomed none other than Nikita Khrushchev, General Secretary of the CPSU.

For the first time ever, a Soviet leader – the face of communism, the hated Bolshevik, the enemy, and so on and so forth – was on American soil. And not with an invading force. General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev had come to visit.

He had been invited earlier the same year by then Vice President Richard Nixon, after a lively but amiable debate at the American National Exhibition in Moscow (video). The debate, which helped build Nixon's toughness factor, featured such typical Khrushchev-isms as “in seven years we will pass you and wave ‘hi’ to you as we go by” and the infamous untranslateable colloquialism “we’ll show you Kuzma’s mother.” The debate was then televised, and the adorably frank Khrushchev made for such good TV that American statesmen were happy to bring the show home.

The interpreter-facilitated Kitchen Debate

And Khrushchev did not fail to deliver. The fun started as soon as he landed on September 15: the plane was too tall for any ramp the American hosts could provide, which Khrushchev was quick to spin into a point in the Soviet Union’s favor (“our planes are too great for those capitalist ramps!”). The networks ran an hour of Khrushchev footage every night of his visit, making him the biggest star on American television.

This was not a diplomatic mission – no major deals were reached, and the speech Khrushchev made at the UN about everyone reducing their militaries and using the money for schools and such was just a propaganda ploy. America was not negotiating with its enemy. She was entertaining him.

And boy was he entertained! In Hollywood, he watched a can-can performance on the set for an upcoming film. In Iowa, he loved how the farmer whose farm he was touring heckled and beat up the reporters that followed him around and trampled the crops. At IBM, he showed little interest in state-of-the-art computers, but was fascinated by the cafeteria, and the nearby supermarket – the unseen wonders of self-service. He was even supposed to go to Disneyland, but it was cut from the itinerary at the last minute due to security concerns.

For a few days, America was Khrushchev's petting zoo

After all the hard-line rhetoric of the Stalin years, this lighthearted visit was a welcome reprieve. The following year President Eisenhower was supposed to pay a return visit, but the era of lightheartedness did not last – in May a US spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, triggering a crisis and destroying hopes for a détente at the upcoming summit. The entertainment was over. It was back to Cold War business as usual.

 

Smithsonian Magazine video about Khrushchev’s visit.

Also see Peter Carlson's great book on the trip: K Blows Top:

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955