Almanac: Nikita Khrushchev
And now a page from our "Sunday Morning" Almanac: September 27, 1959 ... 56 years ago today.
CBS News presented a special report on Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's departure for Moscow from Andrews Air Force Base just outside Washington, D.C., after an extraordinary 13-day visit to this country.
Extraordinary, indeed!
Khrushchev's visit was an effort by both countries to ease Cold War tensions.
Toward that end, President Eisenhower himself welcomed Khrushchev upon his arrival.
All seemed to be going well enough, until Day 5 of the trip, when Khrushchev stunned the world with this angry announcement:
"Just now I was told that I couldn't go to Disneyland," he said through a translator. "I asked, 'Why not? What is it that you have, rocket launchers pad you have there?'"
Khrushchev dismissed the official explanation that his safety could not be guaranteed, and briefly threatened to cut the rest of his U.S. visit short. But in the end, he continued his tour, including a stop in America's Farm Belt, at Coon Rapids, Iowa.
Khrushchev wound up his visit with two days of talks with President Eisenhower at Camp David.
And at his departure, he sounded an optimistic note:
"I hope that in the relationships between our two countries we will be able to use more and more often the good, short American word 'okay.' Until we meet again, friends."
As it happened, things would not always be "okay" between the two countries, nor are they today.
With tensions mounting over Ukraine, Syria, and other issues, President Obama is scheduled to meet tomorrow with Russian President Vladimir Putin -- at the United Nations, NOT Disneyland.