I think it was that summer when Krushchev was visiting the US and noted that the US makes color video machines while they make missiles or some such. I believe was speaking to Nixon somewhere in Cal at that time.
Truly the Evil Empire.
There was an impromptu debate between Nixon and Khruschchev (sp?) at the US exhibit at the Brussels World Fair in 1958. They were debating the merits of their respective political systems, when Nixon gestured to the (US RCA Color) TV camera and gave color TV as an example of US leadership in technology.
The Russians deserve credit, by the way, for being involved in work toward color TV by that time. They had various experimental systems going, including a field-sequential system (the one with color wheels, similar to the abortive CBS system of 1950-53). They had also reverse-engineered much of the RCA color gear, including the CTC-5 receiver chassis.
The Soviets finally got on the air with color broadcasts in 1968 with the French SECAM system. This adoption was an essentially political deal where DeGaulle was in cahoots with Khruschchev; it also gave the Russkis a system whereby their subjects on the borders of free countries (notably West Germany) could not view those countries’ transmissions.