Bob Hope was one of several hundred Hollywood “leaders and creators” invited to meet Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) for a luncheon at Twentieth Century-Fox studios in September 1959. Khrushchev’s visit, the first to the U.S. by a Soviet leader, signaled a potential thaw in cold war relations. Seated next to Mrs. Nina Khrushchev (1923–1971), Hope and Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) encouraged her to visit Disneyland but lack of adequate security prevented the trip, provoking the premier to ridicule his hosts.