7. Eisenhower and Khrushchev arranged for two summits while meeting at Camp David
In 1959, near the end of Eisenhower’s presidency, Soviet Premier Khrushchev took a twelve-day tour of the United States (including Disneyland, where he was denied entry, much to his chagrin). The trip culminated with two days of meetings with the American President, held at Camp David rather than in Washington, in part to elude the scrutiny of the press. They found, in a press statement released following their talks, “these discussions have been useful in clarifying each other’s position on a number of subjects”. They also announced two pending summits, one in Paris, followed by another in Moscow.
When he returned to the Soviet Union Khrushchev faced a hostile Politburo distrustful of the Americans. He looked to the summits to enhance his prestige within his own government. On May 1, 1960, Francis Gary Powers was shot down in his U-2 over Soviet airspace, and the summits were quickly canceled after Eisenhower’s denials of American culpability in espionage were debunked. The promise which arose from the first meeting of the leaders of nations’ mutually hostile to each other to be held at Camp David was quickly lost. That fall Eisenhower made his last visit to Camp David as president before retiring to his farm. He would return to the presidential retreat at the behest of another president.
