Sixty years ago this week Nikita Khrushchev took over as first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Bolstered by the growing Soviet economy and his faith in Communism, Khrushchev launched bold reforms at home, including de-Stalinization, the Virgin Lands agricultural program, the space program, and a cultural Thaw. Abroad, however, Khrushchev was tough -- ordering the construction of the Berlin Wall, ruthlessly suppressing the 1956 uprising in Hungary, and pushing the world to the brink of war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1964, he was ousted from power by Leonid Brezhnev. In perhaps the most telling sign of the changes he wrought since the days of Joseph Stalin, he was allowed to retire quietly and pen his memoirs until his death in 1971.
Nikita Khruschev's career highlights on the 60th anniversary of its beginning
6
Series of crises marked Nikita Khrushchev's relations with the West, one of whcih was the shooting down of an American U2 spy plane over the Soviet Union in 1960, piloted by Francis Gary Powers. In the picture -- Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev looking at the wreckage from shootdown of airplane.
7
Another event that marked Krushchev's relationship with the West was the building of the Berlin wall on his order. October 1st, 1961
8
U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (R) and USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev head to their first meeting June 3, 1961 at the start of the East-West talks in Vienna, one year before the beginning of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. President Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba in October, 1962 after the Soviet Union began to transport missiles on the island.
9
Khrushchev was the Soviet leader responsible for pushing the world to the brink of war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. This CIA picture shows evidence of missile assembly in Cuba. Shown here are missile transporters and missile-ready tents where fueling and maintenance took place.