Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev[lower-alpha 1] (15 April [O.S. 3 April] 1894 – 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev stunned the communist world with his denunciation of his predecessor Joseph Stalin's crimes, and embarked on a policy of de-Stalinization with his key ally Anastas Mikoyan. He sponsored the early Soviet space program, and enactment of moderate reforms in domestic policy. After some false starts, and a narrowly avoided nuclear war over Cuba, he conducted successful negotiations with the United States to reduce Cold War tensions. In 1964, the Kremlin leadership stripped him of power, replacing him with Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin as Premier.

Quick facts: Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Com... ▼

Nikita Khrushchev
Никита Хрущёв
Nikita Khrushchev in East Berlin in June 1963 observing East German leader Walter Ulbricht's 70th birthday
First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office 14 September 1953 – 14 October 1964
Preceded by	Joseph Stalin (as General Secretary)
Succeeded by	Leonid Brezhnev
7th Premier of the Soviet Union
In office 27 March 1958 – 14 October 1964
President	Kliment Voroshilov Leonid Brezhnev Anastas Mikoyan
First Deputies	See list Frol Kozlov Alexei Kosygin Dmitriy Ustinov Lazar Kaganovich Anastas Mikoyan
Preceded by	Nikolai Bulganin
Succeeded by	Alexei Kosygin
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks)
In office 26 December 1947 – 16 December 1949
Preceded by	Lazar Kaganovich
Succeeded by	Leonid Melnikov
In office 27 January 1938 – 3 March 1947
Preceded by	Stanislav Kosior
Succeeded by	Lazar Kaganovich
Personal details
Born	Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (1894-04-15)15 April 1894 Kalinovka, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	11 September 1971(1971-09-11) (aged 77) Moscow, Soviet Union
Resting place	Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow
Citizenship	Soviet
Political party	CPSU (1918–1964)
Spouse(s)	Yefrosinia Pisareva ​ ​ (m. 1914; died 1919)​ Nina Kukharchuk ​ (m. 1965)​
Children	5 Yulia Khrushcheva (1915–1981) Leonid Khrushchev (1917–1943) Rada Khrushcheva (1929–2016) Sergei Khrushchev (1935–2020) Elena Khrushcheva (1937–1972)
Alma mater	Industrial Academy
Awards	See List
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Branch/service	Red Army
Years of service	1941–45
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands	Soviet Armed Forces
Battles/wars	World War II
Central institution membership 1939–64: Full member, 18th, 19th, 20th, 22nd Presidium 1949–64: 18th, 19th, 20th, 22nd Secretariat 1949–52: 18th Orgburo 1938–39: Candidate member, 17th Politburo 1934–64: Full member, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 22nd Central Committee Other offices held 1956–64: Chairman, Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian SFSR 1949–53: First Secretary, Moscow Regional Committee 1944–47: Chairman, Ukrainian Council of Ministers 1938–47: First Secretary, Kiev Regional Committee 1938–47: First Secretary, Kiev City Committee 1935–38: First Secretary, Moscow Regional Committee 1934–50: First Secretary, Moscow City Committee Leader of the Soviet Union ← Malenkov [a] Brezhnev → a While he was unable to consolidate control over the party apparatus, Malenkov was still recognized as "first among equals" for over a year after Stalin's death. As late as March 1954, he was listed as first in the Soviet leadership and continued to chair meetings of the Politburo.[1]

This article is part of a series about Nikita Khrushchev
Former First Secretary of the CPSU Former Premier of the Soviet Union Early life Involvement in Stalin's purges Domestic policy Transfer of Crimea Seven-year plan Maize fever Virgin Lands campaign Anti-Party Group Sovnarkhozy Anti-religious campaign 1961 monetary reform Novocherkassk massacre Khrushchev dough Khrushchev Thaw 20th Party Congress On the Cult of Personality... Rehabilitation Sixtiers Khrushchyovkas Foreign policy Peaceful coexistence Hindi rusi bhai bhai Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Kitchen Debate 1959 visit to the US Space Race Berlin Crisis Cuban Missile Crisis Sino-Soviet split Catchphrases and incidents Kuzma's mother We will bury you Shoe-banging incident Communism in 20 years Manege Affair Media gallery
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Quick facts: External video... ▼

External video
Part One of Booknotes interview with William Taubman on Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, 20 April 2003, C-SPAN
Part Two of Booknotes interview with Taubman, 27 April 2003, C-SPAN

Khrushchev was born in 1894 in a village in western Russia. He was employed as a metal worker during his youth, and he was a political commissar during the Russian Civil War. Under the sponsorship of Lazar Kaganovich, he worked his way up the Soviet hierarchy. He supported Joseph Stalin's purges and approved thousands of arrests. In 1938, Stalin sent him to govern the Ukrainian SSR, and he continued the purges there. During what was known in the Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War, Khrushchev was again a commissar, serving as an intermediary between Stalin and his generals. Khrushchev was present at the defense of Stalingrad, a fact he took great pride in throughout his life. After the war, he returned to Ukraine before being recalled to Moscow as one of Stalin's close advisers.

On 5 March 1953, Stalin's death triggered a power struggle in which Khrushchev emerged victorious upon consolidating his authority as First Secretary of the party's Central Committee. On 25 February 1956, at the 20th Party Congress, he delivered the "Secret Speech", which denounced Stalin's purges and ushered in a less repressive era in the Soviet Union. His domestic policies, aimed at bettering the lives of ordinary citizens, were often ineffective, especially in agriculture. Hoping eventually to rely on missiles for national defense, Khrushchev ordered major cuts in conventional forces. Despite the cuts, Khrushchev's time in office saw the tensest years of the Cold War, culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Khrushchev enjoyed strong support during the 1950s thanks to major victories like the Suez Crisis, the launching of Sputnik, the Syrian Crisis of 1957, and the 1960 U-2 incident. By the early 1960s however, Khrushchev's popularity was eroded by flaws in his policies, as well as his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. This emboldened his potential opponents, who quietly rose in strength and deposed him in October 1964. However, he did not suffer the deadly fate suffered by the losers of previous Soviet power struggles and was pensioned off with an apartment in Moscow and a dacha in the countryside. His lengthy memoirs were smuggled to the West and published in part in 1970. Khrushchev died in 1971 of a heart attack.