Khrushchev
Post-Stalin Soviet leader
Khrushchev refers to Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet leader from 1953 to 1964, who denounced Stalin's crimes and led the USSR through the Cuban Missile Crisis.
His name evokes Cold War brinkmanship and the post-Stalin thaw.
Khrushchev banging his shoe at the UN became an iconic image of Soviet bluster.
The name sometimes stands in for unpredictable or theatrical leadership.
Soviet autocrat, mid-century
- de-StalinizationUndoing totalitarian cult worship
- PolitburoCommunist party's governing body
- KremlinMoscow's fortified government seat
- Soviet UnionFormer communist superstate
Communist Party · Brezhnev · Central Committee · power struggle · succession · apparatchik · reform · liberalization
First orbital spacecraft
- GagarinFirst human in orbit
- cosmonautRussian orbital traveler
- satelliteOrbiting celestial body
- VostokSoviet space program
space race · orbit · Laika · propaganda · moon · rocket · triumph · prestige
Of the USSR
- KennedyIrish-origin surname, political dynasty
- CubaCaribbean island country
- détenteEasing of strained relations
- summitPeak or diplomatic gathering
Eisenhower · Vienna · Berlin · confrontation · brinksmanship · U-2 · nuclear · superpower
Return to liquid
- StalinSoviet autocrat, mid-century
- rehabilitationRecovery from injury/addiction
- prisonersIncarcerated individuals
- reformImprove by correcting faults
cult of personality · liberalization · amnesty · purges · terror · denunciation · revisionism · openness
Cultivation of land, livestock
- cornCereal grown on cobs
- housingDwellings or protective covering
- industrializationTransition to factory-based economy
- decentralizationDistributing power from center
consumer goods · maize · grain · harvest · apartment blocks · modernization · economic reform · light industry
Stalin
Soviet autocrat, mid-century
- de-StalinizationUndoing totalitarian cult worship
- PolitburoCommunist party's governing body
- KremlinMoscow's fortified government seat
Soviet Union · Communist Party · Brezhnev · Central Committee · power struggle · succession · apparatchik · reform · liberalization · purge
Sputnik
First orbital spacecraft
Vostok · space race · orbit · Laika · propaganda · moon · rocket · triumph · prestige · technology
Soviet
Of the USSR
- KennedyIrish-origin surname, political dynasty
- CubaCaribbean island country
- détenteEasing of strained relations
Eisenhower · summit · Vienna · Berlin · confrontation · brinksmanship · U-2 · nuclear · superpower · Camp David
thaw
Return to liquid
- StalinSoviet autocrat, mid-century
- rehabilitationRecovery from injury/addiction
- prisonersIncarcerated individuals
reform · cult of personality · liberalization · amnesty · purges · terror · denunciation · revisionism · openness · relaxation
agriculture
Cultivation of land, livestock
- cornCereal grown on cobs
- housingDwellings or protective covering
- industrializationTransition to factory-based economy
decentralization · consumer goods · maize · grain · harvest · apartment blocks · modernization · economic reform · light industry · shortages
volatile
Liable to sudden change
- bombasticExcessively inflated language
- peasantLow-status agricultural laborer
- colorfulFull of varied hues
outburst · temper · bluster · crude · earthy · unpredictable · theatrical · folksy · bald · rotund
- World LeadersChurchill, Winston Churchill, Eisenhower, Gorbachev, Thatcher
- 1950sEisenhower, poodle skirt, Elvis Presley, Rosa Parks, baby boom
- Sixtieshippies, Beatles, Woodstock, Vietnam War, JFK
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis
- communismMarx, Marxism, Leninism, Lenin, proletariat
- Russian HistorySoviet Union, tsars, Tsarist Russia, Romanov, czars
KhrushchevStalin
Soviet autocrat, mid-century
Joseph Stalin · Stalinists · Molotov · hardliners · Brezhnev
KhrushchevKennedy
Irish-origin surname, political dynasty
John F. Kennedy · Eisenhower · Dwight Eisenhower · Nixon · Dulles
KhrushchevMcCarthy
Cold War inquisitor
Joseph McCarthy · Chiang Kai-shek · Franco · Pinochet · Solzhenitsyn