A Man of Controversy,

A detailed Summary of A Man of Controversy,

"The support given by United States rulers is rather in the nature of the support a rope gives a hanged man." These were words once uttered from the mouth of the Soviet Union's most ambitious and successful ruler, Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev. Khrushchev was a man that took over power in the Soviet Union very soon after Stalin's death; despite his overt criticism of the United States, he was the first ruler to actually believe that the West and the Soviet Union could get along peacefully. Despite being ousted from power by some of his most trusted followers, Khrushchev was perhaps the reason why the Russians and the Americans get along as well as they do today. His "backward" thinking started a new era for Communism; he led them to glory that was only deserving of the Soviet Union.

Khrushchev was born into a very poor family located in Kalinovka, near the village of Kursk in southwestern Russia. His grandfather had worked as a serf and his father worked as a peasant and as a miner. Khrushchev received very little education in schools because his family needed him to work on the family farm. After only about eight years of education, Khrushchev dropped out of school to herd his family's cattle. He later became a pipe fitt

Khrushchev moved to Moscow in 1929 to go to school at the Stalin Industrial Academy, where he became the leader of the academy's Communist Party organization. Khrushchev then began to work full time as a secretary of the Communist Party in Moscow. Under the tutelage of Lazar Kaganovich, who was the first secretary in the Moscow City Party Committee, Khrushchev was able to move up the ranks of the Party fairly quickly. Shortly thereafter, Khrushchev was able to attain the position that Kaganovich had held just four years prior. A few years later Khrushchev became the first party secretary in Ukraine; the very next year he became a full fledge member of the Politburo which was the highest decision making body in the Communist Party. During the time of 1939-1945 Khrushchev began to work as a political commissar where he supervised army officers. It was here that he was able to reach the rank of Lieutenant General. After World War II, he was put in charge of the recovery effort in Ukraine.

As Khrushchev had promised, the government attempted to increase their agricultural production by proposing that by 1961 the USSR would produce more of the key agricultural products than the United States. As a result of Khrushchev's ambitious promise many of Khrushchev's opponents in the Presidium, or the Politburo, tried to remove him from power while he was on a trip. Once Khrushchev got home, he refused to acknowledge the vote and insisted that the Central Committee of the Party be allowed to decide the issue. Many of Khrushchev's supporters inside the Central Committee of the Party overturned the vote of the Presidium. Shortly thereafter, many of Khrushchev's opponents in the Presidium were removed from office. Khrushchev then removed Nikolay Bulganin from his post as prime minister and assumed the post himself. This is especially interesting because only three years prior Bulganin was considered to be one of Khrushchev's strongest supporters. This was the epitome of Russian political life - short.

As a strong supporter of Stalin, Khrushchev was easily able become a secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. After Stalin died in March of 1953, Khrushchev rose to power as the leader of the Communist Party and sought to rebuild the world image of the Soviet Union. This was no easy task because of Stalin's notorious reputation for being prone to violence. Since Stalin's death left an open position for power, it took Khrushchev a couple of years to become the sole leader. All those that ran against Khrushchev initially had more power. One of these was Lavrenty Beria, head of the secret police and deputy prime minister. He was arrested, tried, and executed. Because of his deep involvement in Stalin's ruthless purges. Since much of the KGB was involved in these purges, the remaining government officials decided to reduce the power and size of the KGB. This helped Khrushchev because it reduced the amount of opponents that would affect his rising to power

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Approximate Word count = 2019
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History