WASHINGTON — In 1959, at the height of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, an unlikely visitor took the country by storm — Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.

The 10-day trip to the United States is now all but forgotten, although at the time, Khrushchev, the face of communism, caused a sensation. His goodwill journey took him to Washington, New York, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Calif., Iowa and the president’s retreat at Camp David in the Maryland countryside. He mingled with movie stars like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, spoke at the United Nations and visited a farm.

Containing a remarkable cache of images, “Cold War Roadshow,” produced by Robert Stone and Luc Martin-Gousset, will be shown today on PBS from 9-10 p.m. It’s the season premiere of the network’s “American Experience” series, and it has captured the colorful, mercurial Khrushchev as he both charmed and angered the American public.

It does, however, skimp on explaining to viewers, especially those not born at the time, the enormity of the Soviet leader having been invited to visit the U.S. by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was a time fraught with nuclear tension between the two superpowers.

The visit was, in a way, the first reality TV show, as the three television networks — there were only three in the 1950s — along with local stations, covered the trip nonstop, with more than 300 reporters along for the ride. It humanized the gregarious Soviet leader — and by extension, his country.

But that moment was soon forgotten after the shooting down months later of an American U-2 spy plane over Soviet territory and the capture of the CIA pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

“Khrushchev’s trip was the first multiday media event of the TV age,” said Peter Carlson, author of “K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude, Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America’s Most Unlikely Tourist.”

His arrival on Sept. 15, 1959, was an eye-opener for the Russians, as well as the Americans.