Leonid Brezhnev

leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1982)

Leonid Brezhnev becomes General Secretary of the CPSU and leader of the Soviet Union, ousting Nikita Khrushchev.

The People's Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon; Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Aleksey Kosygin are inaugurated as General Secretary of the CPSU and Premier, respectively, after Nikita Khrushchev is deposed in a bloodless coup on October 14.

Leonid Brezhnev becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and thereby, along with his allies, such as Alexei Kosygin, the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), ousting the former monolithic leader Nikita Khrushchev, and sending him into retirement as a nonperson in the USSR.

Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin are inaugurated as General Secretary of the CPSU and Premier, respectively and the collective leadership is established.

Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the Soviet Communist Party, while Alexei Kosygin becomes the head of government.

A gunman attempts to assassinate Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

The last Order of Victory is bestowed upon Leonid Brezhnev.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (b. 1906)