biography
| name: |
Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich
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pronunciation:
[khrushchof, khrush
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1894–1971)
|
| biography:
| Soviet statesman, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party (1953–64), and prime minister (1958–64), born in Kalinovka, Ukraine. Joining the Bolshevik Party in 1918, he fought in the Russian civil war and rose rapidly in the Party organization. In 1939 he was made a full member of the Politburo and of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. In 1953, six months after the death of Stalin, he became first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and three years later, at the 20th Party Congress, denounced Stalinism and the ‘personality cult’. Among the events of his administration were the Poznań riots and Hungarian uprising (1956), and the failed attempt to install missiles in Cuba (1962). He nevertheless was the first Soviet leader to enjoy good relations with the West, notably the USA, and agreed to the establishment of a ‘hot line’ of communication between the Kremlin and the White House. He was deposed in 1964, replaced by Brezhnev and Kosygin, and went into retirement. |
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