Nikita Khrushchev

There are millions of people today who are fully adult and yet never lived during the time of the Soviet Union. But in the mid-20th century, the idea of the permanence of the USSR was so engrained into Western mentality that it permeated deep into the popular entertainment.

"It's a Russian inwention," Ensign Pavel Chekov told his Captain when they were looking at a strain of wheat that was the favorite food of furry little fluffballs. He even referred to the famous intergalactic con man, Harvey Mudd, as "that unprincipled, evil-minded, lecherous, kulak". So clearly the Soviets were still going to be around even by Star Date 4523.3.

And it is Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev who, more than anyone moved the megalithic Evil Empire into the entertainment age, an empire that from the first had been led by a group of increasingly decrepit and tottering leaders. Despite what we said, we loved Nikita. After all, can you really be that scared of a little round bald-headed man who takes off his shoes, pounds on tables, and gripes because he can't go to Disneyland?

Although he was heavily involved in those minor Soviet embarrassments like the purges, arrests of Nobel prize winners, and suppression of free speech, there are still some things to admire about Nikita. I mean, if you think your boss is a jerk, just imagine what it was like working for a man like Iósif Vissariónovich Dzhugashvili. So if you want to to learn a bit more about Nikitia Sergeyevich Khrushchev and how, if anything else, he was a survivor in an era where survival was a near impossibility, then just click here.