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Sporting Witness: The Harlem Globetrotters in the Soviet Union

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The Harlem Globetrotters in the Soviet Union

11/01/2015

BBC World Service - Sporting Witness, The Harlem Globetrotters in the Soviet Union

How the American showmen won over basketball fans in Moscow during the Cold War

How the American showmen won over basketball fans in Moscow during the Cold War.

In 1959, the Harlem Globetrotters paid an unlikely Cold War visit to the Soviet Union. Their mixture of athleticism and American-style entertainment eventually won over basketball fans in Moscow and earned them hugs from Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev. Former Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon talks to Sporting Witness.

(Photo: The Harlem Globetrotters arriving in Moscow in 1959. Credit: Harlem Globetrotters International)

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