Boris Yeltsin

Lore & Background

In September 1989, Boris Yeltsin visited the United States. During the trip, he visited ten cities and made numerous speeches and public appearances. Following his electoral victories, multiple organizations and individuals had reached out to Yeltsin regarding a visit. Ultimately, Yeltsin accepted an offer from the Esalen Institute that would see him visit multiple cities on a public speaking tour. The trip would be entirely funded via his speaking fees, and as part of the agreement, Yeltsin's share of the profits would be used to purchase disposable syringes to help combat HIV/AIDS in the Soviet Union. The trip began on September 9 with a visit to New York City and continued over the next week, with notable highlights including a meeting with President George H. W. Bush at the White House and a meeting with former President Ronald Reagan in Minnesota. On September 16, following a tour of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Yeltsin's entourage made an unexpected stop at a Randalls grocery store. Multiple commentators have noted that the grocery store visit had a major impact on Yeltsin's political views, with an aide saying that "the last vestige of Bolshevism collapsed inside" of him following the trip.

Reader's Guide

Yeltsin's trip was organized by the Esalen Institute, a New Age group based in California that had established a Soviet–American Exchange Program in 1980. Esalen's plan consisted of a multi-day tour including New York City, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Dallas, and Miami, plus a stop in Houston to see the Johnson Space Center. Speaking fees ranged from $5,000 to $25,000 per appearance. Thirty percent of the money raised would go towards the booking agency, while the remainder would go to Yeltsin. He only agreed on the stipulation that his entire share of the profits be spent on disposable syringes for Soviet hospitals, after nine children in the Soviet city of Elista had contracted HIV due to faulty medical equipment. Yeltsin publicly announced his trip on September 5, saying his main goal was to learn more about the United States. He arrived in New York on September 9, taking a helicopter tour to see the Statue of Liberty, visiting tourist attractions, and giving interviews on Good Morning America, Nightline, Face the Nation, and The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. He attended a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations and gave a speech at Columbia University. In Baltimore, he arrived extremely tired at 1 a.m. on September 13, slept only about two hours, and delivered a delayed speech at the Johns Hopkins Club that Johns Hopkins University president Steven Muller called "at best an unmitigated disaster".

Did You Know?

• Yeltsin received about 92 percent of the vote in his Moscow district in the 1989 Soviet Union legislative election.
• His trip to the United States was funded entirely by speaking fees, with his share of profits used to buy disposable syringes for Soviet hospitals.
• Yeltsin's entourage made an unexpected stop at a Randalls grocery store in Houston on September 16, 1989.
• An aide said that after the trip, 'the last vestige of Bolshevism collapsed inside' of Yeltsin.
• In 2020, a comic opera of Yeltsin's visit to the Houston grocery market, titled Yeltsin in Texas, premiered.