Office of the Historian

131. Memorandum of Conversation0

Camp David, September 26, 1959.

SUBJECT

  • American Exhibit in Moscow

PARTICIPANTS

  • The President
  • The Vice President
  • Secretary Herter
  • Ambassador Lodge
  • Secretary Anderson
  • Ambassador Thompson
  • Dr. Kistiakowsky
  • Mr. McCone
  • Mr. Akalovsky
  • Chairman Khrushchev
  • Foreign Minister Gromyko
  • Ambassador Menshikov
  • Mr. Sobolev
  • Mr. Soldatov
  • Mr. Troyanovski
  • Mr. Zhukov
  • Mr. Yemelyanov

In the course of the general conversation during the luncheon Mr. Khrushchev again referred to the attempt by the United States to [Page 469] impress the Soviet people with gadgets displayed at the Moscow exhibit. He repeated his statement previously made to Ambassador Lodge and others during the tour of the United States, that this attempt to lure the Soviet people had completely failed. He then again ridiculed the so-called Miracle Kitchen at the exhibit and recalled his remarks on this matter which he made to Mr. Nixon during his visit to Moscow.1

The Vice President pointed out that during his tour of the exhibit with Mr. Khrushchev he had emphasized that the Miracle Kitchen was only a demonstration of something that might be used in the future and that there was no attempt on the part of the United States to represent that kitchen as something that was already part of American life.

Ambassador Thompson stated that, although the kitchen exhibit in itself may have been somewhat on the silly side, the same exhibit had been shown all over the United States as merely a glimpse into the future and that there was no intention whatsoever to mislead the Soviet public into believing that the Miracle Kitchen was already in every household in the United States.

Mr. Khrushchev rejoined by saying, in a rather irritated and excited manner, that the Soviet people could not be impressed with such things as displayed at the American exhibit in Moscow, that they had a high standard of living of their own, and that any attempt to lure them toward capitalism would fail.

  1. Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 64 D 560, CF 1475. Secret. Drafted by Akalovsky and approved in the White House on November 10. The source text indicates the conversation was held during lunch.↩
  2. See Document 92.↩