Khrushchev Signed Book A Great Rarity “Comrades, Good luck…”

Litsom k litsu d Amerikoi [Face to Face with America. The story of N.S. Khrushchev's visit to the U.S.A. September 15-27, 1959]. Reported by Aleksei Adjubei et al, edited by M. Kharlamov et al., 678pp., with plates including portraits, hardcover. Published by Gospolitzidat, Moscow, 1959. Near fine, cloth cover is clean, small paper snag to front end paper.

This copy features a handwritten dedication by Nikita Krushchev (1894 – 1971, Sovet Communist Party First Secretary, and Soviet Prime Minister), reading “Comrades, Good luck with the planting campaign/ Party greetings / Nikita Khrushchev/Kiev District”. A report on the first official visit of a Soviet leader to United States produced by the team of fawning Soviet reporters led by Alexei Adjubei, Khrushchev’s son-in-law and editor of the Supreme Soviet’s official newspaper, Izvestiya.

The antics of the mercurial Soviet Premier, and his propensity to get involved into sometimes friendly, and sometimes polemic exchanges with his guests during the visit had generated a lot of interest worldwide, and accounted for much of reporting during the visit. Yet in objective terms, Khrushchev’s visit must be rated as a diplomatic success. The threat of an imminent nuclear confrontation between the East and the West had been reduced, and informal agreements on several contentious topics had raised hopes for an eventual détente between USA and the Soviet Union. One of the visit’s unexpected outcomes was Khruschchev’s infatuation with the plan of drastically increasing Soviet production of corn, born out of the Premier’s visit to Iowa. Soon Russians were bombarded with articles hailing the advantages of the soon-to-come corn-based agriculture, and cookbooks with names like “100 Tasty Corn Dishes”. Khrushchev’s dedication likely refers to the upcoming corn planting campaign, in this case in Kiev Region. While well intentioned, Khrushchev’s initiatives often resulted in poor outcomes. Corn did not grow well in most of Russian regions, moreover, overeager local administrators tended to prioritize corn over traditional grain products. In the end, the corn planting campaign had fizzled out, and was subsequently blamed for Soviet grain shortages of the early 1960s.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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