1989 visit by Boris Yeltsin to the United States

This article is part of a series about Boris Yeltsin
Early life 1989 United States visit Presidency Yeltsinism CPSU membership 26th 27th Politburo 26th 27th Central Committee 28th Congress Elections 1991 campaign 1996 campaign (Vote or lose) Loans for shares Semibankirschina Soskovets campaign strategy Xerox affair First term 1st inauguration Gaidar Cabinet August Coup 1st Chernomyrdin Cabinet Constitutional conference 1993 crisis 1st Chechen War International trips ("Circling over Shannon" diplomatic incident) Second term 2nd inauguration Ruble crisis 2nd Chechen War Resignation International trips Post-Presidency Presidential Center Presidential Library Illness Death and state funeral Media gallery
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In September 1989, Boris Yeltsin, a politician who had recently been elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, visited the United States. During the trip, he visited ten cities and made numerous speeches and public appearances.

Following his electoral victories in the 1989 elections, multiple organizations and individuals had reached out to Yeltsin, who was widely seen as a leader of the political reform movement in the Soviet Union, regarding a visit to the United States. Ultimately, Yeltsin accepted an offer from the Esalen Institute that would see the Soviet politician 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 to see what the average American shopping experience was like. Multiple commentators have noted that the grocery store visit had a major impact on Yeltsin's political views, with an aide who had been present with him during the trip saying that "the last vestige of Bolshevism collapsed inside" of him following the trip. Upon his return to the Soviet Union, Yeltsin continued to advocate for political reform and for closer ties with the United States. In 1991, he was elected president of Russia and, in that position, helped lead the country away from a communist system and towards a democratic capitalist one. In 2020, a comic opera of Yeltsin's visit to the Houston area grocery market, titled Yeltsin in Texas, premiered.
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