Khrushchev: My favourite Soviet president

I’m about to start reading Khrushchev’s memoirs, so I thought I’d share with you my favourite Khrushchev anecdote. I can’t remember where I first heard this, and it’s from memory, but here goes:

Khrushchev, while he was president of the USSR, was on a visit to the US. He made a speech detailing some of Stalin’s crimes (this was after the “Secret Speech”). After he was done, one of the journalists there asked him this question: “You were one of Stalin’s henchmen during the purges. You now speak against what happened; why didn’t you speak up while all of this was taking place?”

“WHO SAID THAT?” Khrushchev roared. The crowd was stunned into silence. No-one dared own up to having asked the question.

After this, Khrushchev simply said “That is why I did not speak up.”