What did Nikita Khrushchev accuse America of?

Nikita Khrushchev was the Soviet Union’s premier from 1958 to 1964, at the height of the Cold War.

In a lengthy and rambling interview with an American reporter, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev asserted that the Soviet Union had missile superiority over the United States and challenged the United States to a missile “shooting match” to prove his point.

The interview fueled American fears that the country was falling dangerously behind the Soviets in the arms race.

He boasted about Soviet missile superiority, claiming that the US lacked intercontinental ballistic missiles;  “If she had,” the Russian leader sneered, “she would have launched her sputnik.” He then issued a challenge:

“Let’s have a peaceful rocket contest just like a rifle-shooting match, and they’ll see for themselves.”

In discussing the future of East-West relations, Khrushchev stated that both the American and Soviet people desired peace.

He did warn, however, that while the Soviet Union would never start a war, “some lunatics” could spark one. He specifically mentioned Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’ creation of “an artificial war psychosis.”