Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
1894 — 1971
Union soviétique, Empire russe, Russie soviétique
Soviet leader from 1953 to 1964, Khrushchev succeeded Stalin and launched a policy of de-Stalinization. A central figure of the Cold War, he confronted the United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
Famous Quotes
« We will bury you. »
« Politicians are the same all over: they promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. »
Key Facts
- 1953: Rises to power after Stalin's death by becoming First Secretary of the CPSU
- 1956: Delivers the 'Secret Speech' at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, denouncing Stalin's crimes
- 1957: Oversees the launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite in history
- 1962: Manages the Cuban Missile Crisis, the tensest episode of the Cold War
- 1964: Ousted in an internal palace coup and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev
Works & Achievements
Speech delivered at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, denouncing Stalin's crimes and paranoia. This founding text of de-Stalinization shook communist parties worldwide and opened a decade of relative liberalization in the USSR.
Under Khrushchev's leadership, the USSR launched the first artificial satellite (1957) and sent the first human into space with Yuri Gagarin (1961). These achievements served both Soviet prestige and Cold War propaganda.
A large-scale agricultural drive to bring uncultivated land in Kazakhstan and Siberia under the plow in order to solve Soviet food shortages. The results were mixed: yields collapsed after a few years due to soil erosion.
Agreement signed by the USSR, the United States, and the United Kingdom banning nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, underwater, and in outer space. The first arms-control treaty of the Cold War, it was a direct outcome of the lessons learned from the Cuban Missile Crisis.
A decision made under Khrushchev's authority to stop the mass exodus of East Germans to the West (3 million people since 1945). The Wall became the worldwide symbol of Europe's division and of the Cold War.
Memoirs secretly dictated onto tape recorder after his removal from power, published in the United States without the knowledge of Soviet authorities. A unique document on the inner workings of Soviet power, they reveal the doubts and regrets of a man pushed aside.
Anecdotes
During the secret speech delivered at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party in February 1956, Khrushchev revealed Stalin's crimes before stunned Soviet delegates. The room fell into a heavy silence: no one dared to applaud or protest. The speech, meant to remain secret, was quickly leaked to the West by the CIA.
In October 1960, during a session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Khrushchev reportedly banged his desk with his shoe to protest a Philippine speech accusing the Soviet Union of colonialism. The scene became legendary, even though historians still debate exactly what happened.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, Khrushchev and Kennedy exchanged urgent messages for thirteen days on the brink of nuclear war. Khrushchev wrote to Kennedy: 'We and you ought not now to pull on the ends of the rope in which you have tied the knot of war.' The final agreement saw Soviet missiles withdrawn from Cuba in exchange for American guarantees of non-invasion.
In 1957, Khrushchev challenged the United States to an economic race, promising that the USSR would produce more butter and meat per capita than Americans by 1970. This publicly displayed agricultural ambition stood in stark contrast to the recurring shortages affecting the Soviet population.
After his removal from power in October 1964, Khrushchev became the first Soviet leader to be forced into retirement rather than executed or imprisoned. He spent his final years at his dacha, where he secretly dictated his memoirs into a tape recorder. These recordings were clandestinely smuggled to the West and published in 1970.
Primary Sources
Stalin acted not through persuasion, explanation, and patient cooperation with people, but by imposing his concepts and demanding absolute submission to his opinion. Whoever opposed this concept or tried to prove his viewpoint and the correctness of his position was doomed to removal and subsequent annihilation.
Mr. President, I propose that we commit ourselves not to engage in an act of aggression. We are sensible people and understand that we must avoid a nuclear war that would annihilate everything humanity has created.
My enemies were afraid to let me live. Even in retirement, they fear me. But I am alive, and that proves something has changed in our country since Stalin.
We too are capable of showing things, and in certain areas we will surpass you. When we have caught up with you and overtaken you, we will wave to you.
Key Places
Seat of Soviet power where Khrushchev led the USSR from 1953 to 1964. It was from here that he orchestrated de-Stalinization, managed international crises, and received foreign delegations.
Country residence where Khrushchev spent his years of forced retirement after 1964. It was in this secluded place that he dictated his memoirs under KGB surveillance.
Khrushchev's birthplace, where he was born in 1894 into a poor peasant family. This humble background would shape his relationship with the farming world and Soviet agriculture.
The scene of several of Khrushchev's most memorable speeches, including the famous shoe-banging incident in 1960. The UN served as a global stage where he could directly confront the United States.
The American presidential retreat where Khrushchev met with Eisenhower in September 1959 during his historic visit to the United States. These talks briefly symbolized a thaw in relations between the two blocs.
The setting of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when Khrushchev had Soviet nuclear missiles installed just 90 miles from the American coastline. The confrontation with Kennedy brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.