Ms. Mac's U.S. History
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  • World History
    • Industrial Revolution
    • French Revolution
    • Haitian Revolution
    • World War I
    • Russian Revolution to Soviet Union
    • Chinese Revolution
    • World War II in Europe
  • U.S. History
    • Pre-Columbian America and The Columbian Exchange >
      • Pre-Contact America: Clovis Points
      • Pre-Contact America: Buffalo Hunts and Whaling
      • Pre-Contact America: Cahokia-The Corn People
      • Christopher Columbus
    • Colonial Era >
      • Juan Cabrillo and the San Salvador
      • Jamestown
      • Pilgrims, Puritans and Colonial Wars
      • Atlantic Slave Trade and Anti-Slavery Literature
      • Early American Military History
    • Founding Era >
      • American Revolution >
        • Declaration of Independence
        • The Continental Soldier
        • Rappin' the Revolution
        • Founding Fathers on Broadway!
      • Constitution >
        • Constitutional Convention
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        • School Court Cases
        • COTUS Booklet
    • Slavery >
      • Virginia Slave Laws
      • Frederick Douglass
      • Atlantic Slave Trade and Antislavery Art and Poetry
    • Western Expansion >
      • Lewis and Clark >
        • Native Americans
        • Members of Corps of Discovery
        • Jefferson's Vision
        • Mind of Lewis and Clark
        • Corps of Discovery
        • Ethnography
        • Scientific Discoveries
        • Adventures
    • American Civil War >
      • Introducing, Mr. Lincoln >
        • Lincoln's Daily Life in Washington
        • Lincoln Essential Questions
        • Understanding Lincoln
        • Gettysburg Address and Henry V
        • Lincoln-Douglas Debates
      • Civil War Simulation >
        • Massachusetts 54th
        • Berdan Sharpshooters
        • Irish Brigades
        • Zouaves
        • Calvary
        • Artillery
    • Reconstruction and Greater Reconstruction
    • Gilded Age
    • World War I in America
    • Great Depression
    • WWII in the Pacific
    • Cold War
    • Vietnam War
  • Special Projects
    • Bayard Wilkeson Project
    • Ford's Theatre Oratory Project
    • National History Day
    • Hamilton! Lesson Using the Broadway Show >
      • Rappin in the Classroom
      • Founding Fathers on Broadway!
      • Hamilton Traveling Exhibit Activities
      • Hamilton Sign Up!
    • 9/11 History versus Memory
    • The South in American History
    • Books of Study >
      • McCullough's 1776
      • Ambrose's Undaunted Courage
    • Digital History
    • Distance Learning for ALL >
      • U.S. History-Spring 2020 >
        • April 13th-17th
        • April 20th-24th
        • April 27th-May 1st
        • May 4th-May 8th
        • May 11th- May 15th
        • May 18th-May 22nd
      • World Cultures-Spring 2020 >
        • April 13th-17th
        • April 20th-24th >
          • Marshall Plan
        • April 27th-May 1st >
          • The Kitchen Debate
        • May 4-8
        • May 11-15
        • May 18-May 22
    • Facing Crisis Head On
  • Contact

The Kitchen Debate

If I do not know everything, then I would say that you know nothing about communism; nothing except fear of it.
Nikita Khrushchev, July 24, 1959

Read (and or listen to) the essays on The Kitchen Debate for the questions in your Google Classroom assignment. Then watch the short video on the exchange between Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Premier Nikita Khrushchev and answer questions in your Google Classroom assignment.
kitchen_debate_and_cold_war_consumer_politics.pdf
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Read the favorable and unfavorable comments about the American National Exhibition and look at the twenty-one images to answer the question on your Google Classroom assignment.

Favorable Comments 

Soviet visitors were invited to write down their reactions to the American  National Exhibition. Whether the comments marked by USIA officials  as “favorable” were genuine is difficult to know, as some of the visitors to Sokolniki Park  were volunteers specially prepped by Communist Party officials to publicly  challenge American propaganda. 

Thank you for the Exhibition. It realizes well its basic aim of improving  mutual understanding between our nations. (Unsigned)

The American Exhibition convincingly shows that private enterprise  produces more and in stupendous quantities the very best goods in  the world. Greetings and best wishes to the cleverest American people.  (Illegible, an electrician)... 

Okay, Yankees! Some day we will catch up with you in all areas where  we lag behind. But in general we wish you well and would like to hear  the same from you addressed to us. (Signature illegible)... 

I am sixty-four years old and I am very glad I lived until I could personally visit the American National Exhibition for which I thank its initiators from the bottom of my heart. I am a small man and I particularly  liked the spirit of the following exhibits: circarama, geodesic dome, and  Family of Man. I am also grateful for the pepsi-cola. I thank you twice.  (Signature illegible, a pensioner) 

​There are many beautiful things at your Exhibition-building, machinery, photographs—miracle of miracles—and many other articles. The  Exhibition gave us a chance to learn about people and life in America.  We thank your President and the organizers of the Exhibition. (University teacher) 

Unfavorable Comments

​Many Soviet visitors wrote negative comments about the American  National Exhibition. The themes presented in these selections were  commonly repeated, suggesting that at least some visitors were coached  beforehand to question the exhibition. 

The Exhibition does not give anything to the mind not to the soul. It  looks like a haberdashery store. There are more sofa cushions than  things which might please us and let us understand what kind of people  Americans are. (Illegible) 

The Exhibition does not impress me. It resembles an advertisement  more than an exhibition of a country which is a leader in the area of  technology. An impression that America is more interested in looking  after its comforts and amusements rather than after the spiritual enrichment of man is created. (A. Belova) 

We think that a country which has existed without wars and destruction  for about two centuries could show greater achievements in technology, science, culture and even everyday living. Is it possible to consider  kitchens and cosmetics as a cult of man? (A group of visitors) 

I expected more and I am disappointed. Is it possible that you think our  mental outlook is restricted to everyday living only? There is too little  technology. Where is your industry?  We expected that the American Exhibition would show something grandiose, something similar to Soviet sputniks... and you Americans want  to surprise us with the glitter of your kitchen pans and the fashions  which do not appeal to us at all. (Unsigned)... 

Having seen the typical house of an American family, I decided to write  my impressions. Yes, it is a typical little house of an American family of  Browns. Poor little house! During 12 days of your existence more was  said about you than any other exhibit here. People began talking about  you before you were brought to our country. There you were criticized  because you were too expensive and because you were not typical of  American conditions where thousands of families were cooped up in  slums and it was laughable for them to hear that you were typical. We  saw your slums with our own eyes because we lived there several years.  We know well the Italian and Latin blocks and Chinatown and even visited Harlem once in daylight, though apprehensively, because we could  have been taken for Americans and killed by mistake. So if Americans  laughed, and apparently they had reasons, we Russians say: “All this  unquestionably is very nice. Thank you, Americans for trying to show  us Russians what houses should be built and how to furnish them. Many  thanks, but such light-weight buildings do not please us and do not foist  on us your manner of living.” (Gorokhova, Davydova, Semnova) 
(This lesson is based on this sweet, little book. I encourage you to read it!)
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