Building propaganda: Architecture at the American National Exhibition in Moscow of 1959

My dissertation demonstrates how the American Cold War government used architecture as a propaganda tool in its fight against Communism. Called "A corner of America" by President Dwight Eisenhower, the American National Exhibition in Moscow (ANEM) opened on July 24, 1959. United States Vice President Richard Nixon went to Moscow to open the exhibition but ended up debating the virtues of the "American Way of Life" with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in what quickly became known as the "Kitchen Debates." The setting for the finale of this day long sparring match was the kitchen of the distinctly American, distinctly suburban model home known as Splitnik. After considering the architectural precedents of the ANEM, such as the American pavilions erected world-wide by the Office of International Trade Fairs, I analyze how the American government capitalized on the architectural imagery offered by both Buckminster Fuller's gold tinted geodesic dome, which was the theme building of the ANEM, and the suburban model home as part of its propaganda campaign to promote capitalism and democracy and undermine Soviet Communism.