Nikita Khrushchev

1894 – 1971 · died at about 77^[1][2]

Politics & Leadership

Fun Facts About Nikita Khrushchev

• Nikita Khrushchev was supposed to visit Disneyland during his 1959 tour of the United States, but the visit was canceled for security reasons, much to his disgruntlement.^[1]
• Khrushchev crusaded for corn: an Iowa farmer, Roswell Garst, sold the USSR 4,500 tons of seed corn. When it fell short, he blamed overeager officials and said corn was discredited "and so was I."^[1]
• Khrushchev's famous "We will bury you" was not a literal threat, he explained: he meant that communism would replace capitalism through historical development.^[1]
• At the United Nations in 1960, an infuriated Khrushchev yanked off his shoe and banged it on his desk, which scandalized his own delegation.^[1]
• In 1959 Khrushchev and Vice President Richard Nixon argued capitalism versus communism in a model kitchen in Moscow, the famous Kitchen Debate.^[1][3][4]
• In retirement Khrushchev first tried dictating his memoirs outdoors to avoid KGB eavesdropping. Copies were smuggled to the West and published in 1970 as Khrushchev Remembers.^[1]
• Nikita Khrushchev was alive at the same time as Friedrich Engels — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1894–1895).^[1][2][5][6]
• Nikita Khrushchev and Aldous Huxley were both born in 1894.^[1][2][7][8]

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. As leader of the Soviet Union, he shocked the world by denouncing his predecessor Joseph Stalin, embarking on a campaign of de-Stalinization, and presiding over the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.^[1]

Contemporaries

Pablo Picasso

77 yr overlap

Igor Stravinsky

77 yr overlap

Coco Chanel

77 yr overlap

Georgia O'Keeffe

77 yr overlap

Charlie Chaplin

77 yr overlap

Agatha Christie

77 yr overlap

Haile Selassie

77 yr overlap

J.R.R. Tolkien

77 yr overlap

Mao Zedong

77 yr overlap

Chiang Kai-shek

77 yr overlap

Harry S. Truman

77 yr overlap

Charles de Gaulle

76 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Nikita Khrushchev

When was Nikita Khrushchev born?

Nikita Khrushchev was born in 1894 and died on September 11, 1971.

How old was Nikita Khrushchev at death?

Nikita Khrushchev died in 1971 at about 77 years old (1894–1971).

What was Nikita Khrushchev known for?

Nikita Khrushchev was known for: Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. As leader of the Soviet Union, he shocked the world by denouncing his predecessor Joseph Stalin, embarking on a campaign of de-Stalinization, and presiding over the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Who was alive at the same time as Nikita Khrushchev?

Nikita Khrushchev's closest contemporary was Pablo Picasso. Their lives overlapped for 77 years.