There's a great story in this month's Smithsonian magazine written by Peter Carlson, who used to write the Washington Post's superb Magazine Reader column (which I hope gets resurrected some day soon). Carlson's story is called "Nikita Khrushchev Goes To Hollywood", and the opening paragraph pretty much sets the tone:
"Fifty summers ago President Dwight Eisenhower, hoping to resolve a mounting crisis over the fate of Berlin, invited Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to a summit meeting at Camp David. Ike had no idea of what he was about to unleash on the land whose Constitution he had sworn to defend."
The Soviet dictator, you see, wanted very much to go to Disneyland.
The story has it all: drama, comedy, action, intrigue, livestock... and a special appearance by Marilyn Monroe. It's my Recommended Reading for this morning.