| The Kitchen Debate, At the 1959 American National
Exposition in Moscow, Vice President Richard Nixon promoted the merits of
the United States to Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev in terms of consumer
and luxury goods, rather than in missiles and bombs. Khruschev, in response,
criticized America's materialism. The debate took place in the "kitchen"
of a model ranch home, which over 3 million Russians visited. Significant
in this exchange is how Americans enlisted affluence and consumption to
fight Cold War politics. Source: Harold Evans, et al., The American
Century (1998). |
