to me in silence. As the saying goes, you could
have heard a pin drop." The initial speech was behind closed doors,
although it was later repeated slowly to Eastern European leaders and finally
published, though stamped "not for press." Stalin remained an
icon, but his reputation was destroyed along with those who had supported him
during the Great Purge. Outrage exploded on both sides, including four
days of rioting in Stalin's homeland of Georgia. Most sentiment supported Khrushchev as a new
leader for a new Soviet Union.

Foreign Minister Vyacheslav
Molotov, who had long served under Stalin, received much of the flack from
Khrushchev's speech and was demoted. He joined with other conservatives
such as Malenkov and Old Bolshevik Lazar Kaganovich, determined to knock
Khrushchev out of power. They sought a political maneuver, arguing before
the Central Committee to removeKhrushchev, but eventual discussion prompted
them to ensure that they could remove him before acting. Molotov
approached Premier Bulganin, who wavered and would not give total support as Khruschev
controlled the public at large as well as the military under Minister of
Defense Georgy Zhukov. Zhukov and Khrushchev had served together in the
Ukraine, and Zhukov had begun the calls for reform and the ousting of Stalin's
abuses even before the Secret Speech. Any action against Khrushchev would
be opposed by Zhukov and, in turn, the military he controlled.

It was clear that their efforts
would meet with at most partial success unless they ousted Zhukov. Now,
rather than targeting the chairman himself, they began a plot to remove Zhukov
from office. He had risen to great new heights, becoming the most
decorated figure in the Soviet military. After a