Nixon in Moscow: The Kitchen Debate

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev. Leading figures of the United States and the Soviet Union respectively, in a verbal debate about capitalism and communism in the 1950s. The location? A cultural convention.

On July 24 1959, this pair of key players in the Cold War met at the American National Exhibition in Moscow. Their conversation was televised on all new colour television. This 'Kitchen Debate' became one of the most famous episodes of the Cold War.

Kitchen Debate newsreel: Richard Nixon Foundation. Originally recorded July 24 1959.

Edited and produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The famous five are away on a splendid weekend adventure.
0:03.5	Do we have to go home today?
0:05.5	sighed Anne.
0:06.5	I agree said Dick.
0:08.0	Even Timmy looks sad.
0:09.5	Cheer up everyone.
0:11.5	Beams Julian, I booked long weekend tickets we can return anytime on Monday
0:17.0	Oh you are clever Julian said Anne save over 50% with the long weekend a ticket from Great Western Railway.
0:24.5	Adventures start here.
0:26.0	Selected routes turn supply, saving in comparison to an anytime return fare.
0:30.0	In most ways this is a trade fair like any other. Everywhere around us there are booths displaying goods large and small.
0:42.0	Tractors over there, housewares over here.
0:45.0	There's a bubble lamp even, and someone mentioned a lemon squeezer that automatically filters the pulp.
0:51.0	This is Moscow, 1959, and we're at the American National Exhibition in
0:55.4	Solkeniki Park. Everyone here is young and fresh-faced, displaying
1:00.1	innovations designed to improve American lives.
1:03.0	Among them, two middle-aged men from different worlds.
1:07.0	Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union
1:09.0	and Vice President Richard Nixon from the United States
1:12.0	are discussing the advantages of
1:14.2	capitalism in the West and communism in the East in the company of a press corps
1:19.3	hanging on their every word. It's a seemingly friendly debate that tries to put a good face on an ever
	...

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