Khrushchev's visit to the USA in 1959. Historical facts

"He invited himself!" - with such headlines, the American media dubbed Khrushchev's first visit to the United States. The date in world diplomacy is outstanding, since no one could even imagine that something like this could happen. The US and the USSR are number one enemies at the time, ready to destroy each other with nuclear strikes at any time. Khrushchev's visit to the USA (1959) can be briefly described in one phrase: the theater of one actor, in which Nikita Sergeevich played his main role in front of the American audience. We will tell in our article more about how it happened.

The attitude of the USA and the USSR on the eve of the visit

The modern reader may not even understand what Khrushchev's first visit to the USA was. Year 1959, shortly before that, at the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU in 1953, it was announced the inevitability of the next world war.

In 1956, the USSR announced a new military doctrine - the massive use of nuclear missile potential during hostilities.

In 1957, our country was the first in the world to experience a ballistic intercontinental missile. The event is simply terrifyingly grandiose for the world as a whole and for the US in particular: Americans live on another continent, geographically they are isolated from the rest of the world, their army and navy reliably protect them from any aggression, the shock from Pearl Harbor survives, conclusions are made, Americans after the victory in World War II are confident that no one in the world can no longer threaten their security. Yes, the USSR and the United States have nuclear weapons that can destroy the whole world, but it is in the form of huge bombs with a devastating effect of defeat. These bombs still need to be delivered by planes to the US borders and there they are reset. An effective US air defense system, located at naval bases in the United States, consisted of missile systems, ships, aircraft carriers, fighters, etc. It seemed impossible to drop a nuclear bomb on Americans. And then headlines appear in all the newspapers that a huge rocket appeared in the USSR capable of striking from anywhere in the world in the center of New York, reaching an unattainable altitude for the defense. It turns out that the American defensive shield, created for many years, will not save the US from aggression. The capitalist countries plunged into a state of panic over the threat of "crazy Russians" - these words were used by the Western press of the time.

And in this terrible time for the Western world, a message was published that soon Khrushchev's first friendly visit to the United States would take place. This date was celebrated as a holiday that gave hope to millions of Americans that maybe the Russians are not as "crazy" as they were before, nor will they destroy the West with a single nuclear strike by ballistic missiles.

Invitation

The first visit of Khrushchev to the United States was due to the invitation of the American President Eisenhower. The latter knew that the Soviet leader was interested in Western culture and economics, since even then the USSR was experiencing an economic backlog from the United States.

Demonization of the Soviet Union by Western media took place a little early. Khrushchev in the first years of his rule tried to get along with the capitalist countries, he wanted to "live peacefully with them." However, the Secretary General still did not rule out the possibility of a new world war, as he was far from stupid and well remembered the lessons of history, as well as the cunning of Western diplomacy.

Purpose of the invitation

President Eisenhower wanted to regulate the status of Berlin, since the Soviet leadership was no longer going to tolerate the "occupation zones" in this city. From the Soviet zone of Germany created a new state, the GDR, with its capital in Berlin. The leadership did not want to tolerate the "presence of capitalists" in this city. In the spring and summer of 1959, foreign ministers held talks in Geneva, but they ended in vain.

Personal invitation for Khrushchev's visit to the US was brought from America by the Deputy Chairman of the USSR Ministers Frol Kozlov, who went there to open the Soviet exhibition.

"I admit, at first I did not even believe it. Our relationship was so strained that the invitation to a friendly visit of the head of the Soviet government and the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee was simply incredible! "- recalled Nikita Sergeevich later.

The American press also could not believe it, but soon there were details that all put in its place: President Eisenhower instructed a staff member of the State Department (US Foreign Ministry) Robert Murphy to convey Kozlov an invitation to visit N. Khrushchev in the United States. An obligatory condition for the visit was that the USSR leader would agree to the Geneva agreements on the future status of Berlin on American terms. However, Murphy forgot to mention this condition, and Khrushchev unexpectedly accepted the invitation even for Eisenhower himself.

If we translate these actions from the diplomatic language to the ordinary one, the following is true: the Americans needed to preserve their zone in Berlin, but in Geneva our diplomats rejected all their proposals. After that, the US leader himself tried to agree with Khrushchev, making a seemingly broad gesture to our secretary general, inviting him on a friendly visit. In the conditions of the forthcoming Cold War such an invitation should be rejected, but nevertheless some kind of detente should have come. However, Khrushchev was unpredictable and expressive both in domestic politics and in foreign policy. He accepted this invitation with the words: "Well, then I'll stay there for a week or two". Eisenhower had nothing to do but agree to this.

How to ensure safety?

The upcoming visit of Khrushchev to the United States was a real headache for the Soviet special services. They were able to ensure the safety of the first persons within friendly countries and in the Union itself. But what to do in a hostile country, where any lane can be a dangerous place? They did not know this, because there was no corresponding experience.

Some members of the Soviet delegation wanted to ask the Americans to set up trellises for armed American soldiers along the way of Khrushchev from the military airfield to the assigned residence.

Others objected, since this measure will not save the assassination if Western politicians decide to kill the leader of the USSR. In the end, they decided that it was necessary to completely entrust protection to US intelligence services and to believe the assurances of their politicians about security.

How to get to the USA?

This is today the flight from one country to another is considered a common thing, and half a century ago there were no such aircraft in our country that could refuel from the USA to the USSR without refueling. And it was necessary at all costs to show the West that our country has the latest technology. Therefore, we decided to get by plane TU-114 - the only model at that time, capable of making a non-stop flight from our country to Washington. The problem was that the model had not been tested to the end, so no one could guarantee the safety of the top officials of the state, except for one person - the model designer Andrei Tupolev. He guaranteed the reliability of the aircraft and, as evidence of his words, suggested including his own son Alexei in the crew. The choice was made in favor of the Tu-114.

Why did Khrushchev agree to a trip?

What was the reason for Khrushchev's visit to the US? Why did the Soviet leader agree to a trip? In fact, Khrushchev was confident of the advantages of the socialist system and believed that the historic victory over capitalism was not far off. The state doctrine was already developed, according to which "communism will come already in this generation". Inscriptions about the imminent approach of "paradise" even hollowed out on stones and monuments. But as it always happens, this doctrine was not destined to come true, and all the inscriptions were hastily washed in the eighties of the last century. However, they did not yet know about this, and the Soviet leader wanted to see the "decaying West" with his own eyes.

Secretary-General in the role of a spy?

Some are inclined to believe that Khrushchev's visit to the United States was intended to "peek" behind the competing system, since on an intuitive level it became clear that the West was beginning to technologically outpace us. Eastern Europe understood this one hundred percent, and in 1956 an uprising took place in Hungary against the communist regime. Supporters of the "idea of plagiarism" as arguments lead to the fact that Khrushchev did not pay attention to the inventions shown to him by Western politicians, and tried to "peek" something "secret", because he believed that the things shown by the Americans were of little interest. So, our leader "discovered the secret" of a hamburger, hot dog, self-service, storage cells at the airport and railway station and corn.

All this appeared later in the Soviet Union. The Hamburger and the hot dog for ideological reasons were renamed "sausage in the test" and "cutlet in the test", and the Soviet people were sure that we came up with this. And in the corn, our leader finally "fell in love", thinking that he finally found the El Dorado, the secret of the success of the capitalist world on one of the farms in Iowa. It was the "corn story" during the trip that created the myth that Khrushchev supposedly decided on his experiment with this culture. In fact, the mass agricultural campaign for growing corn was talking before the trip. Khrushchev himself liked to call himself "corn" even before his appointment to the highest leadership position in the country and often contributed various projects of mass introduction of this culture. The reason for this "love" for this vegetable was that in 1949 corn saved the Ukrainian Soviet Republic from another "famine" when Khrushchev was on the post of secretary general of the party in this republic. In other areas of the USSR, hunger still happened because of a crop failure and lack of reserves. However, Khrushchev's visit to the United States in 1959 finally rooted in him the belief that this culture urgently needed to be introduced into the USSR. Later, our agriculture paid dearly for experiments with this vegetable, and Soviet people cursed the secretary general in the kitchen, chewing corn bread instead of wheat. For the sake of fairness, let's say that today the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia approved the experiments of Nikita Khrushchev on the introduction of corn in the national economy, as it increases the productivity of meat and dairy farming. But he also admits that "it is not necessary, of course, to plant the entire country with corn."

First surprise

Khrushchev's visit to the United States took place in 1959 and was accompanied by various curiosities. Sometimes it turned out that the Soviet leader, while trying to discern the secrets of the West and at the same time show him his cultural superiority, put himself in an awkward position.

At the IBM factory, our leader remained indifferent to the products, all showing that we also have all this. Recall, in 1959 there were the first computers in the world on a transistor of high level of reliability and speed, which the US Air Force found it possible to use even in the early warning system of air defense. Khrushchev was not particularly impressed with this, as we were working on improving computers as well, and "corn cob" could not understand the revolutionary innovation due to the lack of elementary knowledge in this area. It was this invention that allowed IBM to become the world leader in the production of computer technology.

But Khrushchev was impressed by another invention - self-service in the dining room. Of course, the General Secretary did not like to show his surprise and constantly maintained that "in the USSR it is better." However, many understood that Khrushchev disingenuous.

In Hollywood

Khrushchev's visit to the United States in 1959 was also marked by his appearance in Hollywood. The film company "20th Century Fox" arranged a luncheon for 400 people in honor of our leader. The excitement was such that only celebrities were invited to attend it without their second half, as there was not enough room for everyone.

Hollywood at that time was traumatized by "witch-hunts" - a struggle against the propaganda of communism in the United States, so many of the guests were anxious. However, almost all the famous actors, directors, politicians, playwrights, etc. took part in the lunch: Bob Hope, Francis Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, John Kennedy and many others.

Some, for example, Bing Crosby and Ronald Reagan, in protest at the socialist regime, defiantly rejected the invitation. Others simply feared for their fate and did not go to the meeting, because they were already investigating the commission on anti-American activities. Among such people was the well-known playwright Arthur Miller, but his wife Marilyn Monroe was especially presented to the Soviet leader.

Khrushchev on the set of the film

After lunch, the guests decided to show the shooting of the film "Kankan". The organizers specially chose a particularly piquant fragment of the future film. Under the loud music, dancers ran out and started dancing effectively, raising their skirts high. Later, journalists did not miss the opportunity to ask the Soviet leader about what he thinks about such scenes. Such a genre our leader called "obscene", and he allegedly did not fix his attention to them. However, photographing journalists is the opposite.

At a meeting with trade union organizations, Khrushchev still expresses his indignation at the fact that "honest artists" should "tug skirts" in favor of a "spoiled public". And further our leader did not miss the opportunity to emphasize that "we do not need such" freedom "and we" prefer to think freely "and not" look at the asses ". However, even on this the Soviet leader did not calm down: he began to parody the dancers from the film, exposing his ass for everyone to see. At least, so wrote about this one of American journalists - Saul Bellow, covering the visit of Khrushchev in the United States. A year for him was really memorable, and he often recalled these events throughout his life.

N. Khrushchev's visit to the USA: meeting with trade unions

A real disappointment for our leader was the meeting with trade union organizations in the United States. He assumed that on it he would meet his allies in the struggle against the capitalist world. Oh, someone, and simple "hard workers" should hate "oppressors and enslavers." However, he was mistaken: the leader of the largest trade union association, Walter Reiter, criticized the entire socialist system of the USSR. Khrushchev tried to parry and accused him of "betraying the working class," but Reiter bluntly told Nikita Sergeyevich that he did not fight for socialism in the country at all, but only advocated improving the lives of workers.

Later, after seeing Reuters' income, Khrushchev would hint that the capitalists bribed all trade union leaders in the United States.

"A dead dead cat"

In general, Khrushchev's visit to the United States (1959) was accompanied by numerous provocations, irony, sarcasm from the American public. The most unpleasant questions were for our leader those who touched upon the Hungarian uprising. He described them as "dead dead cat", hinting that these events have long been in the past, and journalists are still raising this issue.

The second trip

Khrushchev's first visit to the US is a memorable date, but it was not the only trip of our leader to "ideological enemies". It would seem that after our leader in the United States suffered in 1959, he is unlikely to go there again. However, in 1960, he spoke at the 15th General Assembly at the UN in New York, where he criticized the capitalist expansion of the West in Africa. On it, he promised to show the whole world "kuz'kina mother." The frightened Americans translated this phrase "we will bury you," and the Soviet leader in the eyes of the Western world turned into an inadequate dictator, ready to destroy the whole world. After that, another planned friendly visit of Khrushchev to the USA (1961) did not take place, and the idiom "kuzkina mother" began to designate the thermonuclear "king-bomb" that the USSR experienced after the General Assembly.