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In 1953 Stalin died, and many mourned over his death, despite this many knew Stalin was bad and overall dis-likable, and the next leader of the Soviet Union knew this, Nikita Khrushchev. Khrushchev wanted to get rid of Stalin’s lead and anything remotely related to him, and soon after Nikita Khrushchev had had a secret meeting disavowing Stalin's actions and policies and told of his plan to remove things connected to the terrible man, the men in the meeting were stunned and surprised by this. Though the meeting was supposed to be secret it slowly leaked to the public. This process of removing Stalin had been called De-Stalinization, and De-Stalinization had officially begun, Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd, Statues of Stalin, taken down, paintings of Stalin, taken down, and much more was done to ensure the success of De-Stalinization. The aftermath of Stalin’s death had people devastated and many reacted as they did to the death of Lenin. Despite, Nikita Khrushchev disavowing Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev had also been letting the executions of some people happen, not mentioning this fact in his speech. Nikita Khrushchev would also create the Warsaw pact. The Warsaw pact was a pact between each Soviet state, the countries included were Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria. This Pact was to counteract N.A.T.O. (National Atlantic Treaty Organization.) N.A.T.O. was established by the hands of the allied powers after World War II. The Soviets were irritated that they were not able to enter N.A.T.O. The Warsaw Pact however did not work very well at all and eventually ended as the Baltic states were irritated by the Soviet Troops entering and disturbing country affairs, and during Nikita Khrushchev's reign, Communist aggression was a major thought on people's minds, mostly the politicians. Due to the number of communist countries rising, the US and Britain had become worried about the safety of the people; however, England was more worried about the amount of land taken by the Soviets. The West had a good reason to be frightened of the communists as the communist countries began to rise, though, in the end, it was little to nothing. The Soviet and communist worry for aggression almost ended as the United States and the Soviet Union began to make more treaties and alliances after a U2 plane crash in the Soviet Union, which would temporarily put the USSR and the US and at an aggressive standpoint once again. But the fear of aggression is what has sparked the need for technological superiority. The Space Race was a time in which the United States and the USSR wanted Space superiority over the other. The Soviets had been spending too much money on this ruining the economy even further. The 1960s had been a time in which the two wanted extreme technological superiority over each other. Nikita Khrushchev wanted De-Stalinization to keep his good public image, but he supported many deportations and arrests. Nikita had begun building the Berlin Wall. In 1959 the Soviets launched the first satellite, in 1961, the first man in space was launched by the Soviet Union, Yuri Gagarin. The end of the Space Race resulted in the Americans being the first on the moon in 1969; however, the Soviets and Americans put differences aside and planned to work together. The two superpowers had launched rockets that were planned to arrive at a satellite and where two Soviets and two Americans met. But after a spy was discovered in the Soviet Union, ties were cut with America. Both of the countries began to start spying on each other. The world had almost come to an end in the 1960s multiple times. Thus, the 1960s were one of the scariest times to be alive. In either country as both of their nuclear arsenals were growing. Spying in the Soviet Union and the United States had become very popular and in the 1960s spying was most common and more bound to happen than ever. The Soviet Union had created the Hydrogen Bomb in 1952 and had other Nuclear bombs. The United States was no longer the only country to have these powerful bombs. Other than spying, informants would go to the USSR and give information about making nuclear bombs for a price. A famous one being Klaus Fuchs, a German communist, who worked on the Manhattan Project and was said to be an odd fellow. Fuchs would supply information to the Soviet Union about the Manhattan project but as well as projects in England and Canada. After the Soviet Union had taken East Berlin after World War II, many East Berliners began defecting to the West, due to the West's recovery being much faster than the East had, and the economy began to bloom. Nikita Khrushchev wanted to end the immigration, so he forced the creation of the Berlin wall. Which stopped the immigration. But many died trying to cross the wall. And only a few managed to make it across in different ways. Then the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred, the closest the world has ever been to destruction. The Crisis is not to be confused with the Bay of Pigs Invasion, which was an Invasion set up by the United States. The United States wanted to keep any involvement out. Thus Cuban immigrants were trained and sent out to Cuba to stop Fidel Castro, a communist, from rising to power in Cuba; however, the invasion failed miserably. The invasion was developed by Dwight D. Eisenhower but was ultimately done under John F. Kennedy’s presidency in 1961. The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted 13 days. The Crisis is also known as the “October Crisis of 1962." The Soviet response to U.S. missiles in Italy and Turkey, the Soviet Union asked permission from Castro to send missiles to Cuba. The U.S. missiles were Jupiter Ballistic Missiles. At first, the U.S. brushed off the idea of nukes near Florida, but soon it was confirmed by a U2 pilot. Afterward, Kennedy decided to take action; Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba; any ship found entering the exclusion zone would be sunk. Kennedy ordered missiles in Cuba to be dismantled and sent back to the Soviet Union. The United States had several options to respond with: Do nothing, Diplomacy, negotiate with Castro to leave contact with the Soviets, Invasion, or Airstrike the area with the missiles. Kennedy made a speech in October, saying that the United States would not let Cuba have the missiles. Three days later, the Chinese News Papers stated: “We have 650,000,000, Chinese Men and Women standing by Cuba.” American Bombers were ready to be sent 15 minutes after the Soviet Union was to make a move; however, they did nothing. The Crisis continues, and eventually, a U2 pilot died after being shot down in Cuba. His name was Rudolf Anderson Jr, and to this day he is held a hero. On October 27th, it was reported that missiles in Cuba were ready to be launched. Castro had sent a letter to Khrushchev saying: “I believe the imperialists' aggressiveness is extremely dangerous and if they carry out the brutal act of invading Cuba in violation of international law and morality, that would be the moment to eliminate such danger forever through an act of clear legitimate defense, however harsh and terrible the solution would be.” This letter is known as the “Armageddon Letter.” October 27th would be the day that the world almost ended, as the United States put depth charges near a soviet submarine called B-59. The Captain, Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky onboard, thought the war had broken out. Two of the three Officers turned their keys to send the nuke. Officer Vasily Arkhipov never turned his key and ultimately is the man who saved the world. On the same day the world almost ended, the Soviet Union agreed to dismantle the missiles and take them back as Kennedy ordered, secretly the United States did the same thing in Turkey and Italy in the agreement, this would end the Missile Crisis; however, Khrushchev knew much more; the order to shoot down the U-2 spy plane was never given whatsoever. He also knew that if the United States were to invade Nuclear Missiles would be sent. Even though Castro knew everyone in Cuba would die as a result.

Nikita Khrushchev was replaced in 1964 for his failures in 1971, Nikita Khrushchev died. Khrushchev was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev. At the time Brezhnev was seen as an impatient man. He would rule for the second-longest time under Joseph Stalin’s record. Brezhnev. Under his rule of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union lacked the technology the West had. Corruption had been rampant in his rule as well; however, foreign policies and political stability are what Brezhnev's rule was known for. Brezhnev was born in a Russian working family. During the revolution, he would join the Communist Youth League in 1923. After the invasion of the Nazis in 1941, he would join the Red Army, Brezhnev rose the ranks fairly quickly from commissar to a major general, and was promoted to the central committee in 1952 and in 1957, he became a member of the politburo. In 1964 he removed Khrushchev from office and political power. He soon became the First Secretary of the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union.). Brezhnev, unlike Khrushchev, Brezhnev regularly consulted with the politburo. Khrushchev had made many decisions without consulting anyone. Brezhnev's conservatism was said to help the Soviet Union. Brezhnev was pushing very hard for détente, peace, between the United States and the Soviet Union. This is why many pictures of Brezhnev and Nixon look friendly, as they were making many peace offerings. The peace would last until Leonid Brezhnev’s death. Nixon and Brezhnev were the first to visit each other’s countries. Brezhnev's health rapidly deteriorated, and he died in 1982. On the other hand, Richard Nixon was born in Southern California. He graduated from Duke University of Law in 1937. He would serve in the Navy in World War II. Afterward, he and his wife would move to Washington; this move would soon start his political career. Due to Nixon’s view on the Hiss Case, a case that was about a supposed spy, he was said to be anti-communist. Nixon ran as Dwight D Eisenhower’s running mate and became his vice president in 1952. Nixon ran as president against John F Kennedy and would fail. He would also run for governor of California and would lose that as well to Pat Brown in 1962. He would run for president again in 1968 and would win. Nixon ended US involvement in Vietnam, resulting in a complete communist takeover the fear of a domino effect never happened. Nixon soon visited China establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. He also entered a détente with the Soviet Union. He would also introduce the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union. He also enforced the desegregation of Southern Schools. He also began the war on cancer. He had also seen the Apollo 11 launch at the end of the moon race. He was re-elected in the biggest landslide ever seen. Nixon would also order an airlift to help Israeli troops during the Yom-Kippur war, which would cause the 1973 oil crisis. In 1974 the Watergate Scandal emerged. He resigned that same year. Nixon had tried to cover it up, but tapes discovered of him revealing the Watergate Scandal caused his resignation. His vice president Gerald Ford would replace him. He would die in 1994. His death, caused by a blot clot near his heart that traveled to his brain, caused swelling, this called cerebral edema, he would fall into a coma and die. Five presidents, George HW. Bush, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford, were all there at his funeral.