Cold War: Great Moscow Kitchen Debate (1959)

Figure 1.-- As part of a 1958 cultural agreement, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed to permitb exhibits in each other’s countries. Vice President Nixon traveled to Moscow for the opening of the exhibit and offered to lead Premier Khrushchev on a tour. Thec exhibit highlighted the abunsance of American consumer goods with examples provided by over 450 companies. The two leaders discussed each other's technological achievements and economic policies. Khrushchev agitated by all the American consumer goods responded to Nixon's comments with a rather florid response and claimed in 7 years, the Soviet Union will be at the technological "level of America, and after that we’ll go farther. As we pass you by, we’ll wave 'hi' to you, and then if you want, we’ll stop and say, please come along behind us. …. If you want to live under capitalism, go ahead, that’s your question, an internal matter, it doesn’t concern us. We can feel sorry for you." Khrushchev punctuated this with a little wabe, bye-bye. For whatever reason, afterc seeing all these American consumer devices, it was the arrival at the model kitchen that set him off.

In the midst of the debate on thec space race and scince came a fascinating brief interlude--the Great Moscow Kitchen Debate. The Cold War was often waged with great speeches and lofty platitudes. Now I was a teenager at the time and only minimally informed about most issues. But like most teem agers, espcially if your mom was a good cook, there was one thing we knew a lot about--and that was the family kitchen. The Kitchen Debate was a series of ad lib exchanges between U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Future Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (who ironically would have to contend with the inability of the Soviet system to supply consumer goods when he replaved Khrushchev) was in attendance. The debate occurred at the opening of the American National Exhibit at Sokolniki Park in Moscow (July 24, 1959). The Soviet Unin and the United States concluded a Cultural Agreement (1958), part of an attemot to to promote mutual understanding and defuse Cold War tensions. As part of this agreement, The Soviets and the Americans agreed to permitb exhibits in each other’s countries. Nixon traveled to Moscow for the opening of the exhibit and offered ton lead Khrushchev on a tour. The exhibit highlighted the abunsance of American consumer goods with examples provided by over 450 companies. The two leaders discussed each other's technological achievements and economic policies. Nixon presented the standard capitalist argument, "Diversity, the right to choose, the fact that we have 1,000 builders building 1,000 different houses is the most important thing. We don’t have one decision made at the top by one government official. This is the difference." Khrushchev responded with a rather florid response and claimed in 7 years, the Soviet Union will be at the technological "level of America, and after that we’ll go farther. As we pass you by, we’ll wave 'hi' to you, and then if you want, we’ll stop and say, please come along behind us. …. If you want to live under capitalism, go ahead, that’s your question, an internal matter, it doesn’t concern us. We can feel sorry for you." Khrushchev punctuated this with a little wabe, bye-bye. For whatever reason, afterc seeing all these American consumer devices, it was the arrival at the model kitchen that set him off. He charged that the American exhibit was phony propaganda and that few Americans had kichens any way like this, only rich people has such kitchens in their homes. Which I found fascinating because the model kitchen was not realkly all that fancy and was not unlike our kichen. And we certainly were not rich.

Created: 7:31 PM 3/30/2014
Spell Checked: 12:32 AM 3/31/2014
Last updated: 4:12 PM 8/25/2018