By: HISTORY.com Editors

1964

Nikita Khrushchev ousted as premier of Soviet Union

Published: November 16, 2009Last Updated: February 18, 2025

In the midst of the conflict in Vietnam, Nikita Khrushchev is ousted as both premier of the Soviet Union and chief of the Communist Party after 10 years in power. He left office the next day, October 15, 1964. He was succeeded as head of the Communist Party by his former protégé Leonid Brezhnev, who would eventually become the chief of state as well.

The new Soviet leadership increased military aid to the North Vietnamese without trying to persuade them to attempt a negotiated end to hostilities. With this support and no external pressure to negotiate, the North Vietnamese leadership was free to carry on the war as they saw fit.

Soviet Union Leaders: A Timeline

From Stalin's reign of terror to Gorbachev and glasnost, meet the eight leaders who presided over the USSR.

By: Becky Little

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on October 14th

1066

The Battle of Hastings

King Harold II of England is defeated by the Norman forces of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, fought on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, England. At the end of the bloody, all-day battle, Harold was killed—shot in the eye with an arrow, according to legend—and his forces were destroyed. He was […]

1890

Dwight D. Eisenhower is born

Future president Dwight D. Eisenhower is born in Denison, Texas on October 14, 1890. After graduating from West Point in 1915, Eisenhower embarked on a stellar military career—he would eventually become the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe during World War II and the leader of the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Following the […]

2:20m read

1892

“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” published

On October 14, 1892, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle, is published. The book was the first collection of Holmes stories, which Conan Doyle had been publishing in magazines since 1887. Conan Doyle was born in Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he met Dr. Joseph Bell, a teacher […]

1:06m read

1912

Theodore Roosevelt shot in Milwaukee

Before a campaign speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt is shot at close range by saloonkeeper John Schrank while greeting the public in front of the Gilpatrick Hotel. Schrank’s .32-caliber bullet, aimed directly at Roosevelt’s heart, failed to mortally wound the former president because its force was slowed by a glasses case and a bundle […]

1:10m read

1918

Adolf Hitler wounded in British gas attack

Among the German wounded in the Ypres Salient in Belgium on October 14, 1918, is Corporal Adolf Hitler, temporarily blinded by a British gas shell and evacuated to a German military hospital at Pasewalk, in Pomerania. The young Hitler was drafted for Austrian military service but turned down due to lack of fitness; while living […]

1926

‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ first published

On October 14, 1926, British author A.A. Milne publishes ‘Winnie-the-Pooh,’ a children’s book about a bear and his friends who live in the Hundred Acre Wood. The story becomes a global classic.

1944

German General Erwin Rommel—aka “The Desert Fox”—dies by suicide

On October 14, 1944, German Gen. Erwin Rommel, nicknamed “the Desert Fox,” is given the option of facing a public trial for treason, as a co-conspirator in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, or taking cyanide. He chooses the latter. Rommel was born in 1891 in Wurttenberg, Germany, the son of a teacher. Although not […]

1947

Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier

U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound.

1:34m read

1957

“Wake Up Little Susie” becomes the Everly Brothers’ first No. 1 hit

On October 14, 1957, the Everly Brothers, one of the most important and influential groups in the history of rock ’n’ roll, have their first No. 1 song: “Wake Up Little Susie.”

1:24m read

1962

Soviet missiles photographed in Cuba

The Cuban Missile Crisis begins on October 14, 1962, bringing the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear conflict. Photographs taken by a high-altitude U-2 spy plane offered incontrovertible evidence that Soviet-made medium-range missiles in Cuba—capable of carrying nuclear warheads—were now stationed 90 miles off the American coastline. Tensions between the […]

1964

Martin Luther King Jr. wins Nobel Peace Prize

African American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in America. At 35 years of age, the Georgia-born minister was the youngest person ever to receive the award. Martin Luther King Jr., was born in Atlanta in 1929, the son of […]

1:46m read

1968

Military announces it will send U.S. servicemen to Vietnam for second tours

U.S. Defense Department officials announce that the Army and Marines will be sending about 24,000 men back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours because of the length of the war, high turnover of personnel resulting from the one year of duty, and the tight supply of experienced soldiers. This decision had an extremely negative impact […]

1975

Trial begins in Amityville murders

Ronald DeFeo Jr. goes on trial for the killings of his parents and four siblings in their Amityville, New York, home on October 14, 1975. The family’s house was later said to be haunted and served as the inspiration for the “Amityville Horror” book and movies. On the evening of November 13, 1974, Ronald “Butch” […]

2:04m read

1977

Anti-gay crusader Anita Bryant is hit in the face with a pie

On October 14, 1977, while speaking at an event in Iowa to promote her campaign to roll back anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people, Anita Bryant is hit in the face with a pie. Bryant was an American household name before she made headlines for her anti-gay political activism. She was the winner of Miss Tulsa […]

2:04m read

1994

“Pulp Fiction” opens in theaters

On October 14, 1994, the writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, a crime drama featuring multiple storylines and a large ensemble cast including John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis and Harvey Keitel, opens in theaters. Made for less than $10 million, Pulp Fiction earned more than $100 million at the box office and […]

2:40m read

Cold War

22 videos

Cold War

The 1946 Law That Put America’s Atomic Bombs Under Civilian Control

The U.S. faced an unprecedented question after World War II: Should civilians or the military oversee its nuclear arsenal?

Cold War

Which Countries Were Involved in the Vietnam War?

How eight countries got bogged down in the Vietnam War's Cold War proxy battle.

Cold War

Did Perestroika Play a Role in the Fall of the Soviet Union?

Mikhail Gorbachev introduced perestroika and glasnost as well-intentioned reforms to transform the Soviet Union.

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