Khrushchev at the UN General Assembly, 1960.
Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) - Soviet politician and dictator. He was born in Kalinówka in Ukraine. In his youth he worked as a locksmith, in 1919 he joined the Red Army, in which he took part in the Russian Civil War. From 1925, an employee of the party apparatus in Ukraine, and then also in Moscow. In 1944-1947, Prime Minister of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. From 1953 to 1964, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; de facto leader of the USSR after the deaths of Joseph Stalin and Lavrenty Beria.
Known for his famous speech on On the cult of the individual and its consequences which initiated the so-called de-Stalinization. He was responsible both for the military intervention of the Warsaw Pact forces in Hungary (1956) and for provoking the Cuban crisis, which could lead to the outbreak of World War III (1962).
Removed from power in 1964. He was the only dictator in the history of the USSR who was allowed to "retire" and save his life.