1953-1964 Leader of the Soviet Union.
Khrushchev is probably the least criticized leader of the Soviet Union. His de-Stalinization healed society a great deal and helped create a more open climate.
Background
Lived: 1894-1971.
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was born the son of a coal-miner in the village of Kalinovka near the Ukrainian border. He received only a minimal education and eventually worked as a pipe fitter.
During the Civil War he was a political commissar in Donbas. In 1925, Khrushchev worked in the Ukraine under Lazar Kaganovich, who helped to advance his political career. He studied for some years at the Stalin Industrial Academy in Moscow.
Rise to power
Stalin appointed Nikita Khrushchev to lead the Communist Party in the Ukraine in 1938. During the time of the Great Purge, Khrushchev signed thousands of arrest orders. He was named a full member of Politburo in 1939.
Khrushchev participated in the Battle of Stalingrad, and his son, a war pilot, Leonid Khrushchev, was killed under mysterious circumstances suring WWII.
In 1951, Khrushchev was made Minister of Agriculture, and he became one of Stalin’s close associates.
First Secretary
At the moment of Stalin’s death Khrushchev was ranked last among the 10 Politburo members. His clever alliances, however, made him the undisputed leader by 1958.
His time of office as the leader of Soviet Union brought in some fresh air and was marked by many comic incidents. The waving of his shoe at the 1960 United Nations session was notorious, just as his threat to show the Americans the “Kuzkina Mat” (hydrogen bomb).
Retirement
Nikita Khrushchev was overthrown by his fellow comrades in 1964 and pensioned off to live in quiet exile near Moscow. He was the first ousted leader to be left alive. He became a no-person, and his name had even been omitted from the encyclopedias.
Khrushchev fell into a deep depression and died in misery in September 1971. He was denied a state funeral and was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery. His widow Nina Khrushcheva died in 1984.
Nikita Khrushchev
1953-1964 Leader of the Soviet Union.
Khrushchev is probably the least criticized leader of the Soviet Union. His de-Stalinization healed society a great deal and helped create a more open climate.
Background
Lived: 1894-1971.
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was born the son of a coal-miner in the village of Kalinovka near the Ukrainian border. He received only a minimal education and eventually worked as a pipe fitter.
During the Civil War he was a political commissar in Donbas. In 1925, Khrushchev worked in the Ukraine under Lazar Kaganovich, who helped to advance his political career. He studied for some years at the Stalin Industrial Academy in Moscow.
Rise to power
Stalin appointed Nikita Khrushchev to lead the Communist Party in the Ukraine in 1938. During the time of the Great Purge, Khrushchev signed thousands of arrest orders. He was named a full member of Politburo in 1939.
Khrushchev participated in the Battle of Stalingrad, and his son, a war pilot, Leonid Khrushchev, was killed under mysterious circumstances suring WWII.
In 1951, Khrushchev was made Minister of Agriculture, and he became one of Stalin’s close associates.
First Secretary
At the moment of Stalin’s death Khrushchev was ranked last among the 10 Politburo members. His clever alliances, however, made him the undisputed leader by 1958.
His time of office as the leader of Soviet Union brought in some fresh air and was marked by many comic incidents. The waving of his shoe at the 1960 United Nations session was notorious, just as his threat to show the Americans the “Kuzkina Mat” (hydrogen bomb).
Retirement
Nikita Khrushchev was overthrown by his fellow comrades in 1964 and pensioned off to live in quiet exile near Moscow. He was the first ousted leader to be left alive. He became a no-person, and his name had even been omitted from the encyclopedias.
Khrushchev fell into a deep depression and died in misery in September 1971. He was denied a state funeral and was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery. His widow Nina Khrushcheva died in 1984.
Georgy Malenkov