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COPYRIGHT 2003 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was the unquestioned leader of the Soviet Union from 1957 to 1964. In this fairly short span, he managed to provoke two major international crises; survive a coup (a second toppled him); order two disastrous economic overhauls; and hold erratic confrontations with nearly everyone in sight--with the Chinese leadership, with Presidents Kennedy and Nixon, with the neo-Stalinists in his Presidium and the Russian intellectuals in his midst. On visits to the United States, he pounded his shoe at the United Nations, ogled Marilyn Monroe's derriere, and cheerily shovelled manure in Iowa with the locals.
What was Khrushchev like? William Taubman, a professor of political science at Amherst College, has now published "Khrushchev: The Man and His Era"(Norton; $35), the first comprehensive and scholarly biography of Stalin's successor. As part of a painstaking attempt to answer the question, he quotes the psychologist Nancy McWilliams on the "hypomanic"type: "Elated, energetic, self-promoting . . . work-addicted . . . lacking a systematic approach. . . . grand schemes, racing thoughts . . . constantly 'up'--until exhaustion eventually sets in."It's not everything, but it's a start.
When Stalin died, in March, 1953, Khrushchev was still in the leadership ranks of the Communist Party, despite a series of purges. Shortly before his death, Stalin was preparing yet another purge. Khrushchev was not on the list. What characteristics saved him? Among other things, no doubt, was his very volubility--the impression of holding nothing back. More generally, though, he had an air...
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