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

Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

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 Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

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