Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev: Volume 2: Reformer, 1945–1964

Nikita Khrushchev's proclamation from the floor of the United Nations that "we will bury you" is one of the most chilling and memorable moments in the history of the Cold War, but from the Cuban Missile Crisis to his criticism of the Soviet ruling structure late in his career, the motivation for Khrushchev's actions wasn't always clear. Many Americans regarded him as a monster, while in the USSR he was viewed at various times as either hero or traitor. But what was he really like, and what did he really think? Readers of Khrushchev's memoirs will now be able to answer these questions for themselves (and will discover that what Khrushchev really said at the UN was "we will bury colonialism"). This is the second volume of three in what will be the only complete and fully reliable version of the memoirs available in English. In the first volume, published in 2004, Khrushchev takes his story up to the close of World War II. In the first section of this second volume, he covers the period from 1945 to 1956, from the famine and devastation of the immediate aftermath of the war to Stalin's death, the subsequent power struggle, and the Twentieth Party Congress. The remaining sections are devoted to Khrushchev's recollections and thoughts about various domestic and international problems. In the second and third sections, he recalls the virgin lands and other agricultural campaigns and his dealings with nuclear scientists and weapons designers. He also considers other sectors of the economy, specifically construction and the provision of consumer goods, administrative reform, and questions of war, peace, and disarmament. In the last section, he discusses the relations between the party leadership and the intelligentsia. Included among the appendixes are the notebooks of Nina Petrovna Kukharchuk, Khrushchev's wife. 0271028610......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Abbreviations and Acronyms......Page 12 Soviet Missile Codes......Page 14 The First Postwar Years......Page 18 In Moscow Again......Page 35 Some Comments on Certain Individuals......Page 53 One of Stalin's Shortcomings—Anti-Semitism......Page 62 Beria and Others......Page 73 Stalin’s Family, and His Daughter Svetlana......Page 82 Stalin’s Last Years......Page 97 The Korean War......Page 106 Doctors’ Plot......Page 113 The Nineteenth Party Congress......Page 120 After the Nineteenth Party Congress......Page 127 Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR......Page 130 Stalin About Himself......Page 142 The Death of Stalin......Page 160 My Reflections on Stalin......Page 168 Once Again on Beria......Page 185 After Stalin’s Death......Page 198 From the Nineteenth Party Congress to the Twentieth......Page 216 After the Twentieth Party Congress......Page 237 A Few Words About Government Power, Zhukov, and Others......Page 253 Build More—and with High Quality......Page 260 My Work in Agriculture......Page 314 The Virgin Lands......Page 331 We Have Not Achieved the Abundance We Desire......Page 366 Agriculture and Science......Page 380 Academician Vilyams and His Grass-Field Crop-Rotation System......Page 388 The Agricultural Field as a Chessboard.......Page 391 A Few Words About the Machine and Tractor Stations—and About Specialization......Page 394 We Suffer from the Imperfection of Our Organizational System......Page 398 Corn—A Crop I Gave Much Attention to......Page 409 The Shelves in Our Stores Are Empty......Page 424 Stalin’s Legacy......Page 440 The Soviet Navy......Page 448 Airplanes and Missiles......Page 469 Antimissile Defenses......Page 491 Tanks and Cannon......Page 492 The Problem of Transport:Wheels or Tank Treads?......Page 495 Andrei Sakharov and Nuclear Weapons......Page 497 Cooperation on Outer Space......Page 500 Kurchatov, Keldysh, Sakharov, Tupolev, Lavrentyev, Kapitsa, and Others......Page 507 Reducing the Size of the Soviet Army......Page 527 On Peace and War......Page 530 Nuclear War and Conventional War......Page 534 Arms Race or Peaceful Coexistence?......Page 536 Government Spending......Page 548 I Am Not a Judge......Page 560 Appendixes......Page 582 The Last Romantic Anatoly Strelyany......Page 584 Memorandum of N. S. Khrushchev on Military Reform......Page 669 Memorandum of KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov to the CPSU Central Committee: “On Limiting the Receipt of Foreign Correspondence by N. S. Khrushchev”......Page 677 Announcement of the Death of N. S. Khrushchev......Page 678 The Sendoff......Page 679 Sanitation Day (Notes of a Contemporary on the Funeral of N. S. Khrushchev)......Page 683 Mama’s Notebooks, 1971–1984......Page 692 Biographies......Page 793 Index......Page 864