ABSTRACT
The central characteristic of the early "cold war" period was its bipolarity: it grew logically out of the distribution of political, economic, and military power between the two major societies of the world. It was reinforced by the deep American suspicions of Stalinist Russia's territorial designs and by the revived fear of international communism. Nikita Khrushchev's domestic plan envisaged a vast, long-range investment in the chemical industry, which was to provide fertilizer for agriculture and other products for the consumers. It included improved social services, larger pensions and incomes, rapidly expanding living space, and the growth of light industry. There is little evidence that would link the Soviet military directly with the forced dismissal of Khrushchev in October of 1964. But even a cursory look at events before and after the ouster suggests that the military may well have exerted some indirect or even direct pressure to have Khrushchev removed from office.
