in the Moscow City Party Committee, Khrushchev was able to move up the ranks of the Party fairly quickly. Shortly thereafter, Khrushchev was able to attain the position that Kaganovich had held just four years prior. A few years later Khrushchev became the first party secretary in Ukraine; the very next year he became a full fledge member of the Politburo which was the highest decision making body in the Communist Party. During the time of 1939-1945 Khrushchev began to work as a political commissar where he supervised army officers. It was here that he was able to reach the rank of Lieutenant General. After World War II, he was put in charge of the recovery effort in Ukraine.
             As a strong supporter of Stalin, Khrushchev was easily able become a secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. After Stalin died in March of 1953, Khrushchev rose to power as the leader of the Communist Party and sought to rebuild the world image of the Soviet Union. This was no easy task because of Stalin's notorious reputation for being prone to violence. Since Stalin's death left an open position for power, it took Khrushchev a couple of years to become the sole leader. All those that ran against Khrushchev initially had more power. One of these was Lavrenty Beria, head of the secret police and deputy prime minister. He was arrested, tried, and executed. Because of his deep involvement in Stalin's ruthless purges. Since much of the KGB was involved in these purges, the remaining government officials decided to reduce the power and size of the KGB. This helped Khrushchev because it reduced the amount of opponents that would affect his rising to power. However, one of Khrushchev's old adversaries, Georgy Malenkov, was still in p
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