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Hello, you're listening to the Witness History Podcast here on the BBC World Service, with me Louise Adago.

And today I'm taking you back to an extraordinary public exchange of views

between two of the main players in the Cold War,

the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev

and the then American vice president Richard Nixon.

It was on the 24th of July 1959 that the two men took part in Moscow in what became known as the

kitchen debate. I've been listening to two people who were there.

It's July 1959, the height of the Cold War and the U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon's on his way to Moscow.

Three Russian airmen board the Nixon jet to assist in the Moscow landing a

reciprocal gesture. Opening the American National Exhibition during an 11-day tour,

Mr Nixon is expected to have hard-hitting talks with Soviet Premier Krusta.

In fact, there was a new spirit of detente in Soviet-U.S. relations in 1959.

The two Cold War adversaries had agreed to hold national exhibitions in each other's countries.

The Soviets had already had their exhibition in New York, where they'd shown off Sputnik, the first satellite in space. Now it was America's term.

As Nixon arrived in Moscow, American engineers were putting the final touches to a series of futuristic-looking pavilions full of the latest American art, fashion and consumer goods.

Russian jazz musician Alexei Koslov remembers the excitement.

...