Nikita Khrushchev facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Nikita Khrushchev Никита Хрущёв
First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office September 14, 1953 – October 14, 1964
President	Kliment Voroshilov Leonid Brezhnev Anastas Mikoyan
Premier	Georgy Malenkov Nikolai Bulganin Himself
Preceded by	Joseph Stalin
Succeeded by	Leonid Brezhnev
Premier of the Soviet Union
In office March 27, 1958 – October 14, 1964
First Deputies	Frol Kozlov Alexei Kosygin Dmitriy Ustinov Lazar Kaganovich Anastas Mikoyan
Preceded by	Nikolai Bulganin
Succeeded by	Alexei Kosygin
Personal details
Born	(1894-04-15)15 April 1894 Kalinovka, Dmitriyevsky Uyezd, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	September 11, 1971(1971-09-11) (aged 77) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Soviet
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Spouse(s)	Yefrosinia Khrushcheva (1916–1919, died) Marusia Khrushcheva (1922, separated) Nina Khrushcheva (1923–1971, survived as widow)
Signature

Nikita Khrushchev Никита Хрущёв
First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office September 14, 1953 – October 14, 1964
President	Kliment Voroshilov Leonid Brezhnev Anastas Mikoyan
Premier	Georgy Malenkov Nikolai Bulganin Himself
Preceded by	Joseph Stalin
Succeeded by	Leonid Brezhnev
Premier of the Soviet Union
In office March 27, 1958 – October 14, 1964
First Deputies	Frol Kozlov Alexei Kosygin Dmitriy Ustinov Lazar Kaganovich Anastas Mikoyan
Preceded by	Nikolai Bulganin
Succeeded by	Alexei Kosygin
Personal details
Born	(1894-04-15)15 April 1894 Kalinovka, Dmitriyevsky Uyezd, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	September 11, 1971(1971-09-11) (aged 77) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Soviet
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Spouse(s)	Yefrosinia Khrushcheva (1916–1919, died) Marusia Khrushcheva (1922, separated) Nina Khrushcheva (1923–1971, survived as widow)
Signature

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (15 April 1894 – 11 September 1971) was the leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. He ruled from 1953–1964.

Early life

Nikita was born in the town of Kalinovka in Russia. He later moved to Ukraine. He worked in mines, and became part of the Bolshevik movement. He was a political commissar in the Red Army in the Russian Civil War and again in World War II and moved his way up in the Communist Party, eventually becoming trusted by Joseph Stalin. When Stalin died, Georgy Malenkov and several others including Khrushchev shared power. Eventually Khrushchev became the leader.

He died of heart disease on 11 September 1971 in Moscow, aged 77.

"De-Stalinization"

When Nikita became the leader of the Soviet Union, he began something he called "De-Stalinization". He made a secret speech, in which he denounced Stalin as a man who committed many murders of innocent people. In early 1956, he took down all posters and statues of Joseph Stalin. Also, he moved Stalin's grave to a place where people could not see it.

Relations with the "West"

He also had better contacts with the western countries like the USA, Britain, and France. This means the USSR and the western world were friendlier. He visited America in 1959. During this visit, Khrushchev spoke at the United Nations and visited where he wanted, including destinations such as New York and Hollywood. However, his visit to Disneyland was cancelled for security reasons.

But the USSR and the US still did not trust each other. In 1962 America and the USSR had a Cuban Missile Crisis which could have led to nuclear war but didn't. Khrushchev had bargained with the Americans to get rid of the missiles they had placed in Turkey, for the missiles in Cuba were the only way for withdrawal.

Relations with China

Also, during this time, the Soviet Union became a lot less friendly with China. Because the Chinese leader Mao Zedong liked Stalin, he did not like it when Khrushchev became friendlier with the west, and when Nikita Khrushchev began a "destalinization" campaign.

Images for kids

• 

  Khrushchev and his first wife Euphrasinia (Yefrosinia) in 1916

• 

  Khrushchev's second wife (though they were never officially married) was Ukrainian-born Nina Petrovna Kukharchuk, whom he met in 1922. Photo taken in 1924

• 

  Lazar Kaganovich, one of the chief enforcers of Stalin's dictatorship and Khrushchev's main patron.

• 

  Khrushchev (second from right) poses for a photo alongside Joseph Stalin (far right) sometime during the 1930s.

• 

  Regional party leaders in 1935. In the front row sits Nikita Khrushchev (Moscow), Andrei Zhdanov (Leningrad), Lazar Kaganovich (Ukraine), Lavrentiy Beria (Georgia), and Nestor Lakoba (Abkhazia) (behind him stands Mir Jafar Baghirov).

• 

  Nikita Khrushchev posing in a Red Army uniform following the Soviets' entry into the conflict.

• 

  Khrushchev (left) on the Stalingrad Front

• 

  A photo of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev after being devastated by the Second World War.

• 

  Georgy Malenkov, the man who briefly succeeded Stalin as leader of the Soviet Union.

• 

  Khrushchev featured on the November 1953 cover of TIME after becoming First Secretary of the Communist Party

• 

  General Secretary Khrushchev speaking before the 20th CPSU Congress in 1956

• 

  Khrushchev, his wife, his son Sergei (far right) and his daughter Rada during their trip to USA in 1959

• 

  A postage stamp from 1979 commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Virgin Lands campaign

• 

  Khrushchev (right) with cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin, Pavel Popovich and Valentina Tereshkova, 1963

• 

  Khrushchev and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser aboard a train returning to Cairo from Alexandria, during a visit by Khrushchev to Egypt, 1964.

• 

  Khrushchev with Vice President Richard Nixon, 1959

• 

  Khrushchev featured as Time Magazine's Man of the Year for 1957 after the launch of Sputnik

• 

  Khrushchev with Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson (left of Khrushchev) and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge (far left) during his visit on 16 September 1959 to the Agricultural Research Service Center

• 

  Khrushchev and head of USSR delegation Zoya Mironova at the United Nations, September 1960

• 

  Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy, Vienna, June 1961

• 

  The maximum territorial extent of countries in the world under Soviet influence, after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and before the official Sino-Soviet split of 1961

• 

  Khrushchev & Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej at Bucharest's Băneasa Airport in June 1960. Nicolae Ceaușescu can be seen at Gheorghiu-Dej's right hand side.

• 

  Khrushchev (left) and East German leader Walter Ulbricht, 1963

• 

  Khrushchev with Mao Zedong, 1958

• 

  Nikita Khrushchev with Anastas Mikoyan (far right) in Berlin

• 

  A khrushchyovka is destroyed, Moscow, January 2008

• 

  Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet "On the transfer of the Crimean Oblast". In 1954, the Soviet leadership, which included Khrushchev, transferred Crimea from Russian SFSR to Ukrainian SSR.