# Nikita Khrushchev Soviet leader who succeeded [[Joseph Stalin]] and delivered the "Secret Speech" of February 1956 denouncing Stalin's cult of personality and the [[Great Terror]] — the most consequential act of internal regime criticism in [[Soviet Union]] history. Khrushchev's de-Stalinization campaign dismantled the worst of the gulag system, released political prisoners, and created a brief cultural "thaw," while leaving the Communist Party's monopoly on power and the [[KGB]]'s surveillance apparatus intact. His tenure (1953–1964) included the Cuban Missile Crisis, the construction of the Berlin Wall, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (which he crushed with tanks, demonstrating the limits of de-Stalinization), and the Sino-Soviet split. He was removed by the Politburo in 1964 in a palace coup — one of the few Soviet leaders to lose power without dying in office or being executed. ## See Also - [[Joseph Stalin]] — predecessor whose legacy he denounced - [[Soviet Union]] — the state he led - [[KGB]] — the intelligence apparatus that operated under his leadership - [[Great Terror]] — the Stalinist campaign he exposed in the Secret Speech