The United States and the USSR met in a kitchen. On July 24, 1959, in a setting depicting a suburban American kitchen, US Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev engaged in an impromptu discussion on the benefits and drawbacks of capitalism and communism. Nixon was in Moscow to inaugurate the American Trade and Cultural Fair in Sokolniki Park, organized as a sign of friendship by the Soviet Union. The “kitchen” debate was broadcast on television and helped strengthen Nixon’s reputation as a tenacious and capable prime minister, marking a turning point in the Cold War.
