Changes

====Khrushchev foreign and defense policies: on the brink of nuclear war====

When Khrushchev took control, the outside world still knew little of him, and he was initially not highly recognized. Short, heavyset, and wearing ill-fit suits, he was commonly seen as very energetic but not intellectual, and was dismissed by many as a buffoon who would not last long. Although his attacks on world capitalism were virulent and primitive, his outgoing personality and peasant humor were in sharp contrast to the image introduced by all earlier Soviet public figures. He also had very poor abysmal diplomatic skills, giving him the reputation of being a rude, uncivilized peasant in the West and an irresponsible clown in his own country. His methods of administration, although efficient, were also acknowledged as erratic since they threatened to abolish a large number of Stalinist-era agencies.

In foreign affairs, Khrushchev widely asserted his doctrine of peaceful co-existence with the non-communist world, which he had first proclaimed in his public speech at the 20th Party Congress. In 1959, Khrushchev conferred with President Eisenhower, which brought Soviet-American relations to new highs. Notwithstanding these hopeful developments, Khrushchev as a diplomat remained irascible and blunt. Back to Moscow reception, he directed his famous “We will bury you!” comment at the capitalist West. A long-planned summit conference with Eisenhower in Paris in May 1960 broke up with Khrushchev’s announcement that a U.S. plane (a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft) had been shot down over the Soviet Union with its pilot captured. Khrushchev repeatedly disrupted the proceedings in the United Nations General Assembly in September-October 1960 by pounding his fists on the desk and shouting in Russian. At one of the United Nations conferences, he even reacted to a comparison between Soviet control of Eastern Europe and Western imperialism in one of the most surreal moments in Cold War history, by waving his shoe and banging it on his desk.

In 1961, his blustering Vienna A long-planned summit conference with the new Eisenhower in Paris in May 1960 broke up with Khrushchev’s announcement that a U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, failed to achieve plane (a solid agreement on the pressing German question; U-2 reconnaissance aircraft) had been shot down over the Soviet Union built with its pilot captured. Khrushchev repeatedly disrupted the infamous Berlin Wall shortly thereafter. Soviet success proceedings in lofting the world’s first space satellite United Nations General Assembly in 1957 had been followed September-October 1960 by increased missile buildupspounding his fists on the desk and shouting in Russian. Khrushchev made a dangerous gamble in 1962At one of the United Nations conferences, over Cuba, which almost made he even reacted to a Third World War inevitable. He secretly attempted to deploy comparison between Soviet medium-range missiles control of Eastern Europe and Western imperialism in Cuba. Once detected by one of the US, and during the following tense confrontation most surreal moments in October 1962Cold War history, when the United States by waving his shoe and Soviet Union apparently stood banging it on the brink of nuclear war, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles on the promise that the United States would make no further attempt to overthrow Cuba’s communist governmenthis desk.

In 1961, his blustering Vienna conference with the new U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, failed to achieve a substantial agreement on the pressing German question; the Soviet Union built the infamous Berlin Wall shortly after that. Increased missile buildups had followed Soviet success in lofting the world's first space satellite in 1957. Khrushchev made a dangerous gamble in 1962, over Cuba, which almost made a Third World War inevitable. He secretly attempted to deploy Soviet medium-range missiles in Cuba. Once detected by the US, and during the following tense confrontation in October 1962, when the United States and the Soviet Union stood on the brink of nuclear war, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles on the promise that the United States would make no further attempt to overthrow Cuba’s communist government.  Nevertheless, Chinese communists unfavorably and harshly criticized the Soviet Union for mishandling this settlement. The Sino-Soviet split, which began in 1959, reached the stage of public denunciations accusations in 1960. China’s ideological insist on all-out “war against the imperialists” imperialists,” and Mao Zedong’s annoyance with Khrushchev’s co-existence policies were was exacerbated by Soviet refusal to assist the Chinese nuclear weapon buildup and to rectify the Russo-Chinese border. The Nuclear-Test -Ban Treaty reached between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1963, although generally welcomed throughout the world, intensified even further Chinese denunciations of Soviet “revisionism”.<ref>Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev: Premier of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics & Leadership of the Soviet Union: http://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikita-Sergeyevich-Khrushchev</ref>