Khrushchev Study Guide

In October 1964, Nikita Khrushchev is strolling with his chief ally on the Presidium, Anastas Mikoyan, when the secure phone rings. The Soviet Union's economic situation is grim. The military and the intelligentsia are unhappy. Rather than take a badly needed vacation, Khrushchev has spent the summer in typical perpetual, ineffectual motion. The caller is protygy Leonid Brezhnev, insisting Khrushchev return to Moscow for a special meeting. Khrushchev's children have alerted him to a conspiracy but he discounts the information. Khrushchev orders his plane readied and goes to bed, tired and distraught. (read more)