The Kitchen Debate Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, second on the left, talks with Vice President Richard Nixon, second on the right, at a U.S. exhibit in Moscow on July 24, 1959. The two leaders argued about the relative merits of capitalism and communism, while looking at an American kitchen that displayed the latest washing machine. Khrushchev, pointing his finger at Nixon, appears unimpressed. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images