We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Biographies

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

Who is Nikita Khrushchev?

Tricia Christensen
By
Updated: May 23, 2024
Views: 31,261
Share

Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) is best remembered as the leader of the Soviet Union from 1956-1964. His leadership was at times highly successfully, and at other moments significantly cruel. Most Soviet historians look back at Khrushchev as a precursor to leaders like Mikhail Gorbachev who would ultimately end the Cold War through his actions. A balanced view of Khrushchev shows he made some important strides for the Soviet Union and some near disastrous mistakes.

Khrushchev was Ukrainian by birth and joined the Communist party in 1918. Though he had little formal education, he soon became one of Stalin’s friends, and he certainly did carry out Stalin’s wishes when he was First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist party in 1938. He fully participated in Stalin’s purging of Communist party members who were not completely dedicated to the cause of Communism. His ruthless execution of many people during the purges exercised by Stalin earned Khrushchev the name, “The Butcher of the Ukraine.”

It was thus interesting that after World War II and especially after Stalin’s death in 1953, Khrushchev was openly critical of Stalin’s policies, including the purges. Instead, he sought to provide a government less oppressive to its people and more open to peace with Western Europe and the United States. His program of destalinization that began when he became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1956 accomplished, at least temporarily, several things:

  • Easier, more peaceful relationship with the West
  • Cutback on the Secret Police's power
  • Release of thousands of political prisoners
  • Encouragement of the arts, especially literature
  • Improvement of the economy and most people’s standard of living

At the same time that Khrushchev advanced these goals, and achieved them, he also easily retained his nickname, “the Butcher.” When Hungary revolted at USSR control in 1956, he sent 500,000 troops to suppress the revolution. Huge numbers of Hungarian citizens, especially young teenage men were jailed, and thousands of people were executed for rebellion.

Khrushchev, while attempting a peaceful relationship with especially the United States and even touring the US in 1959 with President Eisenhower, continued to advance the cause of communism by addressing third world countries which Stalin had mostly ignored during his rule. Khrushchev’s at first fairly amicable relationship with the US took a downturn when in 1960, a US spy plane was shot down while it was flying over the Soviet Union.

Tension with the US escalated, and culminated in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 when Khrushchev attempted to outfit Cuba with several nuclear missiles. This act very nearly caused a nuclear World War III that many feared at the time was inevitable. Partly due to what the Soviets considered Khrushchev’s failure in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and also because of his advancing age, he was removed from power in 1964.

Khrushchev spent the last years of his life under guard, and after his death was treated as a “non-person,” by the Soviet government. His ideas for peace with the West and for a looser Communist regime were discarded in favor of hard-line policies. Until Gorbachev became premier in 1985, Khrushchev’s more liberal approach to Communism was not discussed. However, dissidents in the Communist Party were apt to look with nostalgia on Khrushchev’s improvements, which would be dismantled by subsequent leadership.

Gorbachev saw Khrushchev as an important leader, and his approach, particularly toward loosening restrictions on citizens and easing tension with Western governments as vastly important. Through Gorbachev, the communist regime would end in the Soviet Union. Khrushchev, had his early ideas been followed, might have brought the regime to an end sooner, but leaders who followed him reinstated many of the policies of Stalin.

Khrushchev’s leadership can be erratic, interesting, inspired, and cruel. While he made important changes in the Soviet, and especially in Soviet foreign affairs, he ultimately caused increased tension between the US and the USSR through his participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Share
PublicPeople is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Tricia Christensen
By Tricia Christensen
With a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and years of experience as a PublicPeople contributor, Tricia Christensen is based in Northern California and brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to her writing. Her wide-ranging interests include reading, writing, medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion, all of which she incorporates into her informative articles. Tricia is currently working on her first novel.
Discussion Comments
By anon345315 — On Aug 18, 2013

Khruschev did not promote the Cuban missile crisis. He did it in a defensive way as the US installed missiles in Turkey and Italy, just at the doorstep of the USSR.

By anon267654 — On May 10, 2012

Khrushchev was denied access to Disneyworld in 1959... just thought I'd throw that in there.

By anon54128 — On Nov 27, 2009

Kruschev was Ukrainian in heritage-- not Russian. He was first secretary of the Ukrainian communist party in 1938.

By anon54067 — On Nov 26, 2009

Khrushchev was an ethnic Russian, born in Kalinovka, Kursk Oblast, Russia, of ethnic Russian parents on both sides. He affirmed that he was Russian in his memoirs and on several occasions that have been documented.

Tricia Christensen
Tricia Christensen
With a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and years of experience as a PublicPeople contributor, Tricia...
Learn more
Share
https://www.publicpeople.org/who-is-nikita-khrushchev.htm
Copy this link
PublicPeople, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

PublicPeople, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.