Visitors to the 1959 Soviet exhibition in New York : Peaceful competition and consumption

Abstract

By the end of the Fifties, economic and ideological competition between the USSR and the USA had become intense, and new channels of communication were opened. On 27 January 1958 the two countries signed an agreement about exchanges in the fields of culture, technology and education, and on 10 September a truly ground-breaking decision was taken: to exchange national exhibitions in the summer of the following year. It was a major opportunity for the people of both countries to get to know each other, at least in part, and for the two superpowers to carry out their propaganda. The Soviet exhibition, or “Exhibition of the Soviet achievements in the field of science, technology and culture”, remained open from 29 June till 10 August 1959 at the New York “Coliseum” showing the best of the Soviet capabilities. In this respect, comments left in the exhibition visitors’ book, hold in the Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE) and analysed in this article, give us an idea of the effect of the Soviet “offensive”.