Amid the descent of the Iron Curtain, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and the conflict in Vietnam lies one of the more bizarre moments of the Cold War – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s good-will tour of the United States in September 1959. While some may have heard of Khrushchev’s failed attempt to visit Disneyland, many do not realize that this was just one of a hundred things that went wrong on this trip. From angry journalists to scandalous movie stars, the entirety of the visit was cloaked by barely concealed threats and marked by chaos – almost to the point of political farce.
Richard Townsend Davies discusses Khrushchev’s less-than successful trip to Los Angeles and his time working on managing the press in 1960. He was interviewed by Peter Jessup in 1979. Read about Khrushchev’s hilarious trip to Iowa and the Corn Battle of Garst Farm in Act II.
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