After Stalin died, Nikita Khrushchev came into power and changed many aspects of the way the Soviet Union was run. They had different priorities from each other, which in turn impacted on their position in the Cold War. Khrushchev’s first mission was to try to change the perception of the rest of the world that the Soviet Union was a threat which was how countries like USA perceived it to be. One change that he needed to make was to improve Stalin’s image so he released millions of political prisoners from Gulag labour camps. He allowed information to be released into the media and encouraged international festivals, arts and media into the country in order to get project a better image of themselves. However Khrushchev was a very politically motivated person and wanted to increase international ties with other countries. This included selling and exporting trade which aimed at stabilising the government and improved relations with other nations. But one of the major differences between Stalin and Khrushchev that impacted on the Cold War was that Khrushchev refused the idea of absolute power and tried to end mass repression. He also rejected Stalin’s idea of totalitarianism but gained several features like political propaganda and gaining a high control over the population. One key point that he liked to bring up at international conferences was …show more content…
Cold War tensions reached a high point in October 1962, when the United States discovered a Soviet missile base. A secret US spy plane had photographed a medium ballistic missile being assembled for installation, that the Soviet Union had planted 90 miles of the coast of Florida. The whole situation started when Fidel Castro took charge of Cuba and began aligning himself with the Soviet Union. The Soviets thought that by gaining another ally, they would have more power and be more of a threat in the region. Khrushchev gambled on sending missiles with the specific goal of increasing his nuclear strike capability. He felt uneasy about the amount of weapons targeting at them from Western Europe and Turkey and by having the missiles so close to the US, Khrushchev saw it as a more even playing field. The world was already on the brink of nuclear conflict but during the 13 days standoff between the two nations some agreements were formed. Adolf A. Berle Jr., a historian who thought that it was a major turning point in the Cold War because it signified each nations willingness to give up something small, in order to progess overall. After the 13 day standoff, the two respective leaders, John F Kennedy and Khrushchev came to a long agreement that if the Soviet Union took their missiles and would never have any near the US, then in return the US would take theirs out of Turkey. It was not just