The Cold War Moves to the Kitchen: On This Day, 1959

On July 24, 1959, at the height of the Cold War, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and Vice President Richard Nixon held a "Kitchen Debate." Since the end of WWII, the Soviet Union and United States had been locked in a fierce battle for technological, industrial, and military dominance. In their brief exchange, however, the two leaders put military prowess aside to pit the American lifestyle against the Soviet, and capitalism versus communism.

Nixon extolled the wonders of consumer choice and benefits of access to the newest products and technological advancements. He noted that new kitchen gadgets, such as dishwashers, made life easier for American housewives, and explained that even an ordinary blue-collar worker could afford a comfortable suburban home for his family. Khrushchev, meanwhile, criticized the American system for its wastefulness and deep inequalities, reminding Nixon that the advantages and comforts of this new middle-class suburban lifestyle did not extend to the poorest Americans.

Nixon: The American system is designed to take advantage of new inventions and new techniques. . . . Diversity, the right to choose, the fact that we have 1,000 builders building 1,000 different houses is the most important thing. We don’t have one decision made at the top by one government official.

Khrushchev: Your American houses are built to last only 20 years so builders could sell new houses at the end. We build firmly. We build for our children and grandchildren. . . . In Russia . . . you are entitled to housing. . . . In America, if you don’t have a dollar you have a right to choose between sleeping in a house or on the pavement.

For more on postwar America and the Cold War, check out History by Era.