Who was the leader of the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Nikita Khrouchtchev

Nikita Khrushchev, in power during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, played a key role in one of the tensest moments of the Cold War. His decision to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles from the U.S. coast, provoked a direct confrontation with the United States. Khrushchev's management of the crisis, including his final decision to remove the missiles in exchange for an American promise not to invade Cuba, narrowly averted a potentially catastrophic nuclear conflict, demonstrating the dangerous chess game of international diplomacy during the Cold War.