Dwight D. Eisenhower and Nikita Khrushchev presided over a pivotal period in Soviet-American relations. Any goodwill lingering from the nations' WWII alliance was quickly withering in the face of their worldwide ideological battle, physically manifested in the Korean conflict. Stalin's poisonous shadow no longer lay upon the Soviet Union, but what would emerge remained to be seen. The darkest days of the Cold War lay ahead, yet during this uncertain and unsettled time the seeds of a new relationship were planted. Diplomatic, scientific and cultural exchanges, unthinkable under Stalin, once...