Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev
Name	Nikita Khrushchev
Caption	Khrushchev in 1963
Office	First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Term start	7 September 1953
Term end	14 October 1964
Predecessor	Georgy Malenkov (de facto)
Successor	Leonid Brezhnev
Office2	Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union
Term start2	27 March 1958
Term end2	14 October 1964
Predecessor2	Nikolai Bulganin
Successor2	Alexei Kosygin
Birth date	15 April 1894
Birth place	Kalinovka, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire
Death date	11 September 1971
Death place	Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1918–1964)
Spouse	Yefrosinia Khrushcheva (m. 1914–1919), Nina Khrushcheva (m. 1924)
Children	5, including Sergei and Leonid
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Serviceyears	1941–1945
Rank	Lieutenant general
Battles	World War II, • Eastern Front
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin (3)

Nikita Khrushchev was a Soviet politician who led the Soviet Union as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964. His rule was defined by the dramatic Secret Speech denouncing Joseph Stalin, a tumultuous period of de-Stalinization, and several pivotal crises of the Cold War, including the Cuban Missile Crisis. Khrushchev's policies, combining erratic reform with brinksmanship, ultimately led to his ouster by colleagues in the Kremlin.

Early life and career

Born in the village of Kalinovka in 1894, he worked as a metalworker in Yuzovka and joined the Bolsheviks in 1918. He rose through Party ranks in Ukraine, becoming a protégé of Lazar Kaganovich and catching the attention of Joseph Stalin. His loyalty during the Great Purge earned him a position on the Politburo and significant wartime responsibilities as a political commissar during the Battle of Stalingrad and other campaigns on the Eastern Front.

Rise to power

Following the death of Stalin in 1953, Khrushchev initially formed a collective leadership with figures like Georgy Malenkov, Vyacheslav Molotov, and Lavrentiy Beria. He orchestrated Beria's arrest and execution, consolidating his influence as First Secretary. His decisive move was the 1956 Secret Speech to the 20th Party Congress, which condemned Stalin's crimes, shocking the Communist world and triggering upheavals like the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

Leadership of the Soviet Union

Domestically, he launched the Virgin Lands campaign to boost agricultural output and advocated for the construction of prefabricated housing, known as Khrushchyovka. He decentralized economic management through regional economic councils and oversaw early successes in the Space Race, including the launch of Sputnik 1 and Yuri Gagarin's historic flight. However, his administrative reorganizations and inconsistent agricultural policies often created new economic problems.

Foreign policy and the Cold War

Khrushchev's tenure was marked by volatile superpower relations. He championed peaceful coexistence but also engaged in dramatic confrontations, notably the U-2 incident of 1960 and the Berlin Crisis of 1961, which led to the construction of the Berlin Wall. The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, a standoff with President John F. Kennedy over Soviet missiles in Cuba, brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. He also presided over the Sino-Soviet split, a major rift with Mao Zedong and the Communist Party of China.

Removal from power and later life

Growing discontent over his policy failures, erratic behavior, and humiliation in the Cuban Missile Crisis led to a conspiracy by his Politburo colleagues. In October 1964, while on vacation at his Pitsunda dacha, he was summoned to Moscow and forced to resign in a bloodless coup orchestrated by Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin. He lived the remainder of his life under KGB surveillance in a state dacha, writing his memoirs, which were smuggled to the West and published as Khrushchev Remembers.

Legacy and historical assessment

Khrushchev is remembered as a crucial but contradictory figure who initiated the de-Stalinization of Soviet society but failed to fundamentally reform the Marxist-Leninist system. His actions inadvertently fueled dissent within the Eastern Bloc and inspired a generation of reformers. While his blustering style and ultimate ouster were often seen as failures, his rejection of Stalinist terror represented a significant, if limited, thaw in the history of the Soviet Union.

Category:Nikita Khrushchev Category:First Secretaries of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Category:Chairmen of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union Category:Recipients of the Hero of the Soviet Union award