The American National Pavilion in Moscow 1959
Dwight D. Eisenhower [preface]
EAMES Office. U.S.I.A., Dwight D. Eisenhower [preface]: [The American National Pavilion in Moscow 1959]. Moscow: 1959. Text in Russian. Oblong 16mo. Printed stapled wrappers. 20 pp. Halftone photographs and maps. Staples rusting, wrappers and textblock with faint spotting, but a very good or better example.
8.25 x 5.25 stapled brochure with 20 pages extolling the virtues of ‘Living in the USA.” The American National Exhibition, which took place in the summer of 1959—in the middle of the Cold War—in Moscow, was the largest exhibition the U.S. ever held in the USSR. It was the result of an agreement on mutual cultural exchange between the two countries and was probably the most costly and lavish form of self-portrayal the U.S. has ever undertaken on an international level.
The National Pavilion was designed by George Nelson, Buckminster Fuller and The Office of Charles and Ray Eames. The Kaiser Aluminum geodesic dome by R. Buckminster Fuller housed the Glimpses of the U.S.A. multi-screen projection designed by The Office of Charles and Ray Eames.
For its first USSR-USA cultural exchange, the United States Information Agency (U.S.I.A.) commissioned the Eames Office to make this film on “a day in the life of the United States.”The thirteen-minute film was narrated by Charles Eames. It was projected onto seven twenty-by-thirty foot screens, which were installed in a 250-foot diameter geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller, in Moscow’s Sokolniki Park.
The multiple images communicated what no typical lecture could. They demonstrated that, for better or worse, highways and automobiles were part of the fabric of American life; however, the images also depicted loving images of families hugging goodbye before work and kissing goodnight before bed. A modern marvel of technology was being used to show its overseas viewers the humanity of their rivals.
The film made for a dynamic introduction to the American National Exhibition. It concluded with an image of forget-me-nots—a metaphor that was not lost on the audience, since the translated name for the flowers is the same in Russian as it is in English.
Over the course of six weeks during the height of the Cold War, almost three million Soviets visited an exhibition that celebrated America. American kitchens, American art, American cars, and most especially American capitalism. The American National Exhibition in Moscow was a full-court press to convince the Soviet people of American superiority.
It was supposed to be a showcase for how Americans of the 1950s were living and prospering. But like nearly everything American during this time, it was really about selling the future.
The American National Exhibition was ostensibly a cultural exchange program. The two countries publicly decided that the best way ease tensions (of which there were many) was to put on different exhibitions showing how each lived. The Soviets would bring an exhibition to New York in June of 1959, and the Americans would put on an exhibition in Moscow in July of the same year. This being the Cold War, each side also saw this as an opportunity to send plenty of spies to gather whatever intelligence they could.
The Soviets came to New York with their machines of industry and Space Age satellites, proudly displaying the tech that had beat America into space. The Americans went to Moscow with their shiniest cars, art, and appliances—many real, and some very much a magic trick.
What were the real reasons for this diplomacy, outside of the fuzzy feel-goody buzzphrase of "cultural exchange?" The Soviets wanted liberalized trade with the West. And the Americans wanted an ideological foot in the door to convince the Soviets that Communism was a failure. Neither got everything they wanted. But at least folks got some Pepsi along the way. Oh, and probably a fair amount of intelligence from spies.
About 450 companies made contributions to the Moscow exhibition. Sears, IBM, General Mills, Kodak, Whirlpool, Macy's, Pepsi, General Motors, RCA, and Dixie Cup all had a presence, despite the fact that none of their products could be purchased in the Soviet Union.
In asking for their help with the exhibition, the American government appealed to the companies' sense of patriotism, but of course, also their pocketbooks—at least in the long term sense. The U.S. government knew that these companies wouldn't see any immediate return on their investment, but it certainly paid off eventually for some of them. For instance, just 15 years later Pepsi would become one of the rare outside companies allowed to sell soda in the Soviet Union.