Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (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 the Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. As leader of the Soviet Union, he shocked the world by denouncing his predecessor Joseph Stalin, embarking on a campaign of de-Stalinization, and presiding over the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
On 5 March 1953, the death of Stalin triggered a power struggle in which Khrushchev ultimately emerged victorious upon consolidating his authority as First Secretary of the party's Central Committee and eliminating his rival Lavrentiy Beria. 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 such cuts, Khrushchev's time in office saw the tensest years of the Cold War, culminating in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. (Full article...)