Well, like it or not, I am old enough to remember when Khrushchev died, and the relatively little commotion that it caused. It was interesting, though, that my family (all of my aunts and uncles) jokingly claimed that we were related to Khrushchev, even though he came from a far part of Ukraine, while our family came from Belarus, or Lithuania/Belorussia, as it was called then. (Actually, who came from where was not well-defined back then; it was all just "Russia."). Certainly, we weren't related, but it always seemed interesting to me that Khrushchev was perceived as being from the people. As a former, poor factory worker, who had experienced hardship, he was assumed to be aware of the people's needs. He always did remind me a bit of two of my uncles; from one the ability to bluster, from the other the open-hearted family man.
It is truly amazing how much useful, and interesting, information about Khrushchev has appeared on the web in the last five years.
- Nikita Khrushchev (Wikipedia)
- Khrushchev's Decline and Fall (lecture by Professor Rempel of Western New England College); I guess that you can also read his The Rise of Khrushchev
- www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSkhrushchev.htm
- Biography: Nikita Khrushchev
- Khrushchev History Archive
- Time magazine cover, 30 April 1956
- Interview with Yevgeni Yevtushenko
- "Rehabilitating" Stalin by Nina Khrushcheva
- Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended by Jack Matlock, Jr., former US Ambassador to Russia (has some remarks regarding Khrushchev)
- Russia: Khrushchev's 'Secret Speech' Remembered After 50 Years
The following two short pieces are definitely worth reading: The case of Khrushchev's shoe - Nikita Khrushchev's shoe banging incident at United Nations (See also the comments by Stephen Pearl, the UN translator at the time--well, it would be great if someone could find these comments for me as the old URL has disappeared); the article, Comrade Khrushchev and Farmer Garst: East-West Encounters Foster Agricultural Exchange by Stephen J. Frese, Marshalltown High School, Marshalltown, Iowa.
Nina Khrushcheva has some very short remembrances, The Day Khrushchev Buried Stalin - Los Angeles Times. See also, John Rettie, The Day Khrushchev Denounced Stalin (Former Reuters and BBC correspondent John Rettie reflects on how he broke the story.)
Some document collections
- State Department Documents: Kennedy-Khrushchev Exchanges, 1961-1963 (Department of State transcriptions of all the Kennedy and Khrushchev correspondence)
- Cuban Missile Crisis (Copies and translation of letters exchanged between Premier Khrushchev and President Kennedy
Versions of the "Secret Speech" aka "Crimes of the Stalin Era" aka "On the Cult of Personality." There is no complete version of the six-hour speech available on the web.
- Khrushchev's Secret Speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU
- Khrushchev's Secret Speech -- Full Annotated Text (large *.PDF file. This was the most complete version that was available on the web at www.uwm.edu/Course/448-343/index12.html)
- Modern History Sourcebook: Nikita S. Khrushchev: The Secret Speech
- Modern History Sourcebook: Khrushchev: Secret Speech, 1956 (short excerpt only)
Finally, by all means, take a moment and check out this media website, featuring the actual tapes of Khrushchev dictating his memoirs (simply unbelievable): The Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, original dictation, a production of Brown University Library.
Khrushchev's Grave in the cemetery at Novodevichy Monastery in Moscow
It is kind of weird, kind of ironic, that it was the sculptor (Ernst Neizvestny), with whom Khrushchev had the famous run-in at an art exhibit in 1962, that ended up doing the monument that now resides on Khrushchev's grave. See these interesting remarks and websites.
- For a Change Magazine: Freedom and the Artist (Ernst Neizvestny)
- Khrushchev and Khrushchev: From the Kremlin to Brown University: Sergei Khrushchev (A Brown University Library Exhibit); Scroll down to see the photograph of Ernst Neizvestny and the bronze bust of Nikita Khrushchev
- Party line, Bill Thomas describes his visit to Novodevichy cemetery where Khrushchev is buried.