Khrushchev becomes Soviet premier
On March 27 1958 Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev replaces Nicolay Bulganin as Soviet premier becoming the first leader since Joseph Stalin to simultaneously hold the USSRs two top offices.Khrushchev born into a Ukrainian peasant family in 1894 worked as a mine mechanic before joining the Soviet Communist Party in 1918.In 1929 he went to Moscow and steadily rose in the party ranks and in 1938 was made first secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party.He became a close associate of Joseph Stalin the authoritarian leader of the Soviet Union since 1924.
In 1953 Stalin died and Khrushchev grappled with Stalins chosen successor Georgy Malenkov for the position of first secretary of the Communist Party.Khrushchev won the power struggle and Malenkov was made premier a more ceremonial post.In 1955 Malenkov was replaced by Bulganin Khrushchevs hand-picked nominee.In 1956 Khrushchev denounced Stalin and his totalitarian policies at the 20th Party Congress leading to a thaw in the USSR that saw the release of millions of political prisoners.
Almost immediately the new atmosphere of freedom led to anti-Soviet uprisings in Poland and Hungary.Khrushchev flew to Poland and negotiated a diplomatic solution but the Hungarian rebellion was crushed by Warsaw Pact troops and tanks.Khruschevs program of de-Stalinization was opposed by some hard-liners in the Communist Party and in June 1957 he was nearly ousted from his position as first secretary.After a brief struggle he secured the removal of Malenkov and the other top party members who had opposed him and in 1958 prepared to take on the post of premier.
On March 27 1958 the Supreme Sovietthe Soviet legislaturevoted unanimously to make First Secretary Khrushchev also Soviet premier thus formally recognizing him as the undisputed leader of the USSR.In foreign affairs Premier Khrushchevs stated policy was one of peaceful coexistence with the West.He said we offer the capitalist countries peaceful competition and gave the Soviet Union an early lead in the space race by launching the first Soviet satellites and cosmonauts.A visit to the United States by Khrushchev in 1959 was hailed as a new high in U.S.-Soviet relations but superpower relations would hit dangerous new lows in the early 1960s.In 1960 Khrushchev walked out of a long-awaited four-powers summit over the U-2 affair and in 1961 he authorized construction of the Berlin Wall as a drastic solution to the East German question.
Then in October 1962 the United States and the USSR came close to nuclear war over the USSRs placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba.After 13 tense days the Cuban Missile Crisis came to an end when Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the offensive weapons in exchange for a secret U.S.pledge not to invade Cuba.The humiliating resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis an agricultural crisis at home and the deterioration of Soviet-Chinese relations over Khrushchevs moderate policies all led to growing opposition to Khrushchev in the party ranks.
On October 14 1964 Leonid Brezhnev Khrushchevs protege and deputy organized a successful coup against him and Khrushchev abruptly stepped down as first secretary and premier.He retired to obscurity outside Moscow and lived there until his death in 1971.READ MORE The Collapse of the Soviet Union
