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Wednesday, Apr. 14, 2021

Did Nikita Khrushchev say in a 1959 speech, ‘Your children’s children will live under communism’?

Sarah Thompson, Lead Stories
no

A viral text claims Nikita Khrushchev made a speech stating, "Your children's children will live under communism. You Americans are so gullible…" on September 29, 1959. There is no record Khrushchev ever said this in a public speech.

The Soviet leader did visit the United States, September 15-27, 1959. He was back in Moscow by September 28.

A possible source for the purported quote was the first-hand recollection of Ezra Taft Benson, secretary of agriculture in 1959.

In a 1966 speech, Benson attributed a similar quote to Khrushchev. But it seems unlikely that Khrushchev said something so momentous to Benson with no one else overhearing, and that Benson didn't repeat for seven years — and then 41 minutes into a 48-minute speech.

A translated copy of the book, "Khrushchev in America," which chronicles his 1959 trip to the USA and all of the speeches, does not mention that quote.

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