Nixon- Khrushchev Kitchen Debate & George Feifer

Yesterday on NPR.org an audio essay by Gregory Feifer appeared commemorating and describing the the notorious Nixon Khrushchev "Kitchen Debate" in 1959--one of the Cold War's icon events and one of the first media circuses. In this early example of televised news propaganda, VP Richard Nixon debated Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev on the merits of the communist and capitalist systems. The setting was a trade exhibition in Moscow which featured the best in US consumerist manufacturing (such as washing machines and Thunderbirds). I'd known that my friend the American writer George Feifer had played some role in this event, but never such an amusing one as portrayed in this audio essay by his son. A literary tie-in occurs in the account of how George met his Russian wife, whom I would take to be the heroine of Feifer's hilarious, rumbustious memoir of the 60s, Moscow Farewell. The rich photographic documentation shows the principals of the debate and Feifer's role as a guide. Read & hear the story at www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101430375