The Cuban Missile Crisis: A Victory for Khrushchev
...s a miner before joining the communist party in 1918. Khrushchev clawed and climbed his way up through the ranks of the communist party over the following years. In 1934 he was helping run the Moscow party organization and eventually defeated all opponents with his warm and humorous but also rude and nasty personality to become the first secretary of the communist party in 1953 after the death of Joseph Stalin. He then was named the head of the Politburo, which was the governing body of the Soviet Union at the time in 1958. Who would have thought that the son of a peasant coal miner in the Ukraine could become such a powerful figure. A prime example of his underestimation would be his “secret speech” on February 24th, 1956. In the speech, Khrushchev denounced Stalin and the purges. As Ronald Suny writes, “For hours he told in shocking detail of the repressions of the Stalin era, of forced false confessions, torture and judicial murder. He spoke about the unpreparedness of the Soviet Union at the time of the Nazi invasion and condemned the “cult of personality” and “violations of socialist legality,” euphemisms for Stalin’s dictatorship and terror” (Suny 392). By denouncing Stalin and the purges, Khrushchev shocked the top rivals in the party and Khrushchev ultimately became the most powerful political figure in the Soviet Union. What made his speech so shocking to those around him was the fact that Khrushchev was indeed a Stalinist. Not only was Khrushchev a Stalinist but he was a very enthusiastic Stalinist and did what Stalin told him to do with no questions asked. Therefore, “secret speech” would be going against some of the strong ideologies that Khrushchev, the party and the country had believed in since Stalin took power in the late 1920’s. So how is the “secret speech” significant to the Cuban missile crisis and Khrushchev’s victory? The secret speech laid the frame work for the ideology of a how Khrushchev wanted to ingrate his personality into the government and the nation’s affairs. Khrushchev’s secret speech was a bold gamble by Khrushchev to thrust himself towards the forefront of the Soviet government. He took a chance and it happened to pay off for him. History definitely repeats itself so what is to stop Khrushchev from trying the same bold unpredictable tactics in the future. 1962, the United States would learn of these tactics used by Khrushchev. Khrushchev was able to push the buttons of Kennedy and the United States with his unpredictable tactics and personality. In order for one to claim victory, they must have evidence of what they have gained....