mar 5, 1953 - Joseph Stalin dies and is (eventually) succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev. Initially, Khruschev is appointed as the First Secretary, and Georgii Malenkov as Premier of the Soviet Union.

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"Nikita Khrushchev was a poorly educated peasant, coal miner, and factory worker who had become a Stalin protégé and then, after deposing Malenkoc and other rivals, Stalin’s successor. He came into power knowing little about the nuclear weapons he not controlled, but he learned quickly. Like Eisenhower, he was appalled by the prospect of their military use: he too had seen enough carnage in WWII to know the fragility of rationality on a battlefield." (Gaddis 2006, p. 69).

"Khruschev was sincere – and fundamentally humane – in his determination to return Marxism to its original objective: a better life than that provided by capitalism. The path he chose, once he had consolidated his authority in the Kremlin, was to take on the legacy of Stalin himself." (Gaddis 2006, p. 107)

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