Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers (premier) from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev stunned the communist world with his denunciation of his predecessor Joseph Stalin's crimes and embarked on a policy of de-Stalinization with his key ally Anastas Mikoyan. He sponsored the early Soviet space program and the enactment of moderate reforms in domestic policy. After some false starts, and a narrowly avoided nuclear war over Cuba, he conducted successful negotiations with the United States to reduce Cold War tensions. In 1964, the Kremlin circle stripped him of power, replacing him with Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin as Premier.

15 April 1894

Born on the same birth date (15 April 1894): Bessie Smith

Born on the same birth day (15 April): Arshile Gorky • Billy Yates (American football) • Blake Ayshford • Catherine I of Russia • Georg Kolbe • Guru Nanak • Hans Conried • Lee Kernaghan • Mott Green • Émile Durkheim

Born in the same month (April 1894): Carl Rudolf Florin • Dorothy Cumming • Elizabeth Dilling • Hans Hüttig • Joie Ray (runner) • Lawrence Dale Bell • Marietta Blau • Nicolas Slonimsky • Rudolf Hess