Beschreibung:

NIXON, Richard M. Typed letter signed ("Dick"), as Vice-President, to Henry Cabot Lodge, Washington, D. C., 9 July 1959. 1 page, 4to, on Vice-presidential stationery . NIXON TELLS HIS FUTURE RUNNING-MATE ABOUT HIS PREPARATION FOR A SPEECH IN MOSCOW AND HIS FAMED "KITCHEN DEBATE" WITH KHRUSHCHEV. "As you can imagine," Nixon tells Lodge, who was then U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, "preparing the speech for the opening of the Exhibition was a particularly difficult assignment. For that reason, the comments which you passed on to me were indeed most gratifying..." Nixon planned extensively for his speech opening the American National Exhibition in Moscow, where the household technologies of the two rival superpowers were put on display. But the event became instantly famous for an impromptu dialogue that Nixon had with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, in which the two men debated the merits of capitalism versus communism. "America has been in existence for 150 years," Khrushchev said, looking at the assembled appliances, "and this is the level she has reached. We have existed not quite 42 years and in another seven years we will be on the same level as America. When we catch you up, in passing you by, we will wave to you." After several minutes of relatively good natured jousting, the exchange grew more heated when Nixon emphasized the willingness of the west to fight for its liberties. "It sounds to me like a threat," Khrushchev retorted. "We, too, are giants. You want to threaten we will answer threats with threats." Nixon tried to lighten the tone again, but a red-faced Khrushchev plunged into the most dangerous issue between them: "the point of friction in Berlin. Until we settle that question," Khrushchev said, "we will talk different languages."