March 27 1958 – Nikita Khrushchev Becomes Premier of the Soviet Union

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*Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons Four decades after joining the Communist Party at the age of 24, Nikita Khrushchev ascended to the highest office in the Soviet Union on March 27, 1958. A tough-talking leader determined to bring his country the respect he believed it deserved as a superpower, the former mechanic from Kalinovka presided over some of the most trying events in the entire Cold War during his six years in office. Born into a peasant family living near the modern border with Ukraine, Khrushchev gained an appreciation for the value of a hard day’s work — even as a young boy, he was expected to contribute to the family income, often working as an assistant to the town’s metalworkers. Even then, the Khrushchevs suffered under immense poverty, such that the future Soviet leader received only four years of formal education. In his mid-teens when his family relocated 375 miles to the southeast to the mining town of Yuzovka, Khrushchev became active in politics almost immediately. By the time World War I erupted in Europe during 1914, he had encouraged the spread of Communism by organizing strikes to improve work conditions and, at the very least, setting up public readings for the Party newspaper, Pravda. After the October Revolution of 1917, Khrushchev found himself engaged in combat during the Russian Civil War that ensued. Working as a political commissar in the Bolsheviks’ Red Army, he demonstrated his loyalty to the Communist platform over and over again — going so far as to have his first wife’s coffin lifted over a fence in order to be buried instead of passing through a local church. In late 1925, Khrushchev finally received the appointment that would change his life: he would be a delegate to the 14th Congress of the United Soviet Socialist Republic Communist Party during the last two weeks of the year. In less than a decade, Khrushchev pushed his way up the ladder, rapidly ascending from local lieutenant to the head of the Communist Party in Moscow and Central Committee member by 1934. Now a part of Joseph Stalin’s inner circle, Khrushchev witnessed the dictator’s harshness firsthand. With each successive year of the Great Purge — Stalin’s bid to eliminate opposition within the Party — Khrushchev became more uneasy. Having been forced to declare many of his friends enemies of the people, he wondered when the axe might fall on him. Called into action during World War II, the middle-aged Khrushchev aided the fight at the Battle of Stalingrad, checking on morale and dragging information out of captured German soldiers. As Adolf Hitler’s armies were rolled back toward Poland, he gained acclaim for his rebuilding efforts in the Ukraine, where — despite his leadership would be questioned — he worked diligently to restore the agricultural and mining industries. Back in Moscow in 1949, by which time an aging Stalin had become increasingly paranoid, Khrushchev took up his role as leader of the Communist Party once again. The next year, he organized an aggressive construction project to provide housing for locals. Centered on cookie-cutter apartment complexes instead of distinct designs for each building, the structures could be completed in one-third of the time of anything before. (The buildings have stood the test of time — some estimate one in every three people in the former Soviet nations still live in them.) When Stalin died in March 1953, a power vacuum resulted at the top of the Communist Party. For the next five years, Khrushchev slowly consolidated authority despite the turmoil in the leading council left behind to rule after the longtime Premier of the Soviet Union’s death. Eager to distance himself and his nation from Stalin’s brutality, Khrushchev famously delivered a “Secret Speech” in February 1956 and, in effect, sealed his position at the top of the heap. On March 27, 1958 — more than five years after Stalin died — Khrushchev replaced his mentor as the Premier of the Soviet Union. The world would soon undergo immense change in a short period of time, due in large part to his role as chief proponent of space programs. In foreign policy, he promised “peaceful competition” with his Western counterparts, which gave many on both sides of the Cold War hope for an improvement in relations. In 1960, however, events conspired to turn the United States and Soviet Union against each other once again. Pilot Francis Gary Powers and his U-2 spy plane were shot down over west-central Russia. The next year, Khrushchev pushed for the construction of a wall separating Soviet-controlled Berlin from the sections run by Western governments. Finally, in October 1962, American reconnaissance planes discovered nuclear weapons on the island of Cuba, some 90-plus miles from Florida. For 13 frightening days, the world feared annihilation as Khrushchev and President John F. Kennedy negotiated a settlement. The stand-off came to an end on October 28th, with the Soviet missiles removed and an American promise not to invade Cuba. Domestically, Khrushchev did all he could to modernize the Soviet Union. Beyond launching the Space Race and giving his citizens pride in consistently one-upping the US, he sought reforms in education and farming, all while relaxing central control of the Communist Party — the farcical and politically-motivated jailings common under Stalin were abolished for good. After nearly six years in power, word began circulating amongst high-ranking Communist officials that Leonid Brezhnev had designs on the role of Premier. Less moderate than Khrushchev, Brezhnev took advantage of his position as Supreme Soviet to gather support among the Central Committee. Possibly suspecting Brezhnev’s motives, Khrushchev appeared before the Central Committee on October 14, 1964 where the Premier “retired” from his office. For the remaining seven years of his life, Khrushchev was treated as a pariah by those who replaced him. His reforms were largely rolled back and his effects on the Soviet Union stricken from the history books. Even now, more than four decades after his death in September 1971, the Russian public is split on the importance of his leadership. 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