Nikita Khrushchev (PJW)

Nikita Khrushchev (April 15, 1894 - September 11, 1971) led the Soviet Union as First Secretary from 1953 to his death in 1971.

After a power struggle following Stalin's death, Khrushchev took control of the Soviet Union. He denounced Stalin's purges and began a less oppressive era of the Soviet Union. While many of his domestic policies, aimed at bettering the lives of ordinary citizens, were often ineffective, he was very successful in foreign policy. He established close alliances with Eastern Europe, Central and South Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia during the period of America's isolation, despite a split with communist China. His greatest foreign policy achievement was the secret establishment of nuclear missiles in friendly Guatemala, which would not be discovered until the Nixon Administration, culminating in the tense Guatemalan Missile Crisis.

Khruschev's foreign policy successes made him incredibly successful despite his wishes to not establish a cult of personality as Stalin did; he managed to avoid a coup attempt by Leonid Brezhnev in 1968, and would serve as the Soviet leader until his death from heart disease in 1971. After another power struggle, he would be replaced by his Deputy Premier and defense industry leader Dmitry Ustinov.