Historical Figure
Nikita Khrushchev
1894–1971
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964
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Biography
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. As leader of the Soviet Union, he stunned the world by denouncing his predecessor Joseph Stalin, embarking on a campaign of de-Stalinization, and presiding over the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
In Their Own Words (5)
Yes, today we have genuine Russian weather. Yesterday we had Swedish weather. I can't understand why your weather is so terrible. Maybe it is because you are immediate neighbours of NATO.
At a Swedish-Soviet summit which began on March 30, 1956, in Moscow. The stenographed discussion was later published by the Swedish Government.as quoted in Raoul Wallenberg (1985) by Eric Sjöquist, p. 119 , 1985
A man emaciated by a grave illness is at first treated by doctors gradually. Food is administered to him in small doses. If more is administered to the patient, it might kill him. And so we want to begin disarmament not with a full dose, although we are prepared even for a full dose. I have said already that the Western powers greatly distrust us. We, too, do not trust them in everything. And so, in order not to destroy a thing which is of great and vital importance to mankind, disarmament, we suggest to begin not with a cardinal but with a gradual solution to disarmament problems.
Interview with Iverach McDonald, London Times (January 1958) , 1958
If Adenauer were here with us in the sauna, we could see for ourselves that Germany is and will remain divided but also that Germany never will rise again.
Said during a late night visit to a sauna with Finland's president Kekkonen in June 1957. Translated from Våldets århundrade (2001) by Max Jakobson, p. 220 , 2001
Berlin is the testicle of the West. When I want the West to scream, I squeeze on Berlin.
Aug. 24, 1963, speech in Yugoslavia , 1963
They say that the Soviet delegates smile. That smile is genuine. It is not artificial. We wish to live in peace, tranquility. But if anyone believes that our smiles involve abandonment of the teaching of Marx, Engels and Lenin he deceives himself poorly. Those who wait for that must wait until a shrimp learns to whistle.
Impromptu speech at a dinner for visiting East German dignitaries, Moscow (September 17, 1955), as reported by The New York Times (September 18, 1955), p. 19. , 1955
Timeline
The story of Nikita Khrushchev, told in moments.
Outmaneuvers Beria, Malenkov, and Molotov to become First Secretary after Stalin's death. He has Beria arrested at a Politburo meeting. Beria is shot in December. Khrushchev later says Beria tried to beg.
Delivers the 'Secret Speech' to the 20th Party Congress, denouncing Stalin's crimes. Delegates sit in stunned silence for three hours. He describes the purges, the torture, the paranoia. The speech leaks within weeks. Statues of Stalin start coming down across the Soviet bloc.
Approves the construction of the Berlin Wall. East Germans have been fleeing west at a rate of 1,000 per day. The wall goes up overnight on August 13. Families wake up divided. He tells Kennedy it's a temporary measure.
Places nuclear missiles in Cuba. For 13 days in October, the world comes closer to nuclear war than at any other point in history. He backs down. Removes the missiles. Kennedy secretly agrees to pull American missiles from Turkey. Both sides claim victory.
Removed from power by Brezhnev and the Politburo while on vacation at the Black Sea. They call him and tell him it's over. He flies back to Moscow. No trial. No execution. They just retire him. He becomes a non-person in Soviet media.
Dies of a heart attack in Moscow at 77. He'd spent his last seven years as a pensioner, tending a garden at his dacha. He secretly dictated his memoirs onto tape and had them smuggled to the West. Pravda gives him four lines.
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