Did Krushchev's policy of de-Stalinization bring the cold war closer to a close? Why or why not?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. Many people thought that the potentially liberalizing leader could lead the way toward a thaw in the cold war between the Western and Eastern superpowers. By openly criticizing Stalin for his deviations from true Marxism, and his excesses in violence, the Soviet Union opened itself to a new form of social examination known as self-criticism. By asking if there were, as Khrushchev said, alternate paths to communism, he opened the door for the satellite nations in eastern Europe to take advantage of this new trend. Many had already been impressed with the independence that Tito managed to maintain, and in 1956, Imre Nagy in Hungary embodied the more liberalist reforms of a younger generation. Initially Khrushchev supported this movement, but when it became too critical of Moscow, with Nagy calling for the withdrawal of all Soviet troops and the withdrawal of Hungary from the Warsaw Pact, Khrushchev was forced to send in troops to suppress civil unrest and bring the country back under Soviet control.