Reader donations, many as small as just $1, have kept In These Times publishing for 45 years. Once you've finished reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support this work.
After recounting the generous reception that Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev received upon visiting the United States in September 1959, historian Rick Perlstein asks:Had America suddenly succumbed to a fever of weak-kneed appeasement? Was the general running the country—the man who had faced down Hitler!—proven himself what the John Birch Society claimed he was: a conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy?No. Nikita Khrushchev simply visited a nation that had character. That was confident, mature, well-adjusted. A nation confident we were great. We had our neuroses, to be sure—plenty of them. But what progress we have made! Now when a bad guy crosses our threshhold, America becomes a pants-piddling mess.From there, things get a little shrill, as well as hilarious, and 100 percent spot-on. Read it here.
Your donation makes In These Times possible
When you contribute, you're not just giving a gift—you're helping publish the next In These Times story. Will you join your fellow readers, and help fund this work by making a tax-deductible donation today?
Brian Cook was an editor at In These Times from 2003 to 2009. He now works on the editorial staff of Playboy magazine.
More articles by Brian Cook
Culture
Mr. Robot Is the Anti-Capitalist TV Show We’ve Been Waiting For
By placing class warfare front and center, Mr. Robot makes socialism a vibrant force again in popular culture, its aims urgent and compelling.
Culture
Watching The Watchers
Mass Observation returns for the Obama inauguration.
Culture
Won’t Get Fooled Again
(Well … maybe just one more time.)
Similar articles
The ITT List
On the Thirtieth Day of Fitzmas
Brian Zick
The ITT List
On the Twenty Third Day of Fitzmas: A Wrap Up
Brian Zick
The ITT List
A Shocking Colbert Report Exclusive
Brian Zick
