Rada Adjubey is the middle daughter of the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee N. S. Khrushchev. Having received an excellent upbringing and education, she worked for more than half a century in the publication Science and Life. Today Rada Nikitichna is on a well-deserved rest. Despite her advanced age, the 87-year-old woman is willing to share her memories of her life with reporters.
Rada's parents
Adzhubey Rada Nikitichna (nee - Khrushcheva) was born in 1929 in a nomenklatura family. Her father was Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, who at that time served as secretary of the party committee at the Industrial Academy in Moscow. Subsequently, he worked as First Secretary of the Kyiv Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, First Secretary of the Moscow Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. In 1953-1964, Rada's father was the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and in essence - the main person in the state. The girl's mother, Nina Petrovna Kukharchuk, at the time of her acquaintance with Khrushchev, worked as a teacher of political economy in the party school of the city of Yuzovka (now Donetsk). Family weddingRada Nikitichna's parents played in 1924, but they officially registered their marriage only in 1965.
Brothers and sisters
Besides Rada, Nina Petrovna and Nikita Sergeevich had two more children. In 1935, the couple had a son, Sergei, and in 1937, a daughter, Elena. Before Kukharchuk, Khrushchev was married to Efrosinya Pisareva, who died in 1920 from typhus. From marriage with her, he had a son, Leonid, and a daughter, Julia. Thus, Rada had 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Sergei Khrushchev became an engineer, was engaged in cybernetics and rocket science, after the collapse of the Soviet Union he emigrated to the United States, where he received the title of professor at Brown University.
The younger sister of Rada Nikitichna Lena chose the profession of a lawyer, worked in the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, died at the age of 37. Half-brother Leonid was a military pilot, who died in an air battle near Kaluga in 1943. Rada's older sister Yulia chose journalism as her occupation, but, disillusioned with her profession, began working as the head of the literary department at the Yermolova Theater.
Childhood, schooling
How was the fate of Khrushchev's middle daughter? Rada Adjubey, whose biography will be described in this publication, was born at a time when her father began to make a rapid political career. Despite being constantly busy at work, Nikita Sergeevich found time to communicate with his family. Soon after the birth of Rada Khrushchev was transferred to Moscow. The family of the future Secretary General of the USSR first settled inhostel on Pokrovka, and then - in a separate apartment of the government building on Naberezhnaya Street. The Rada often spent weekends with her parents at the recreation center in Ogaryovo, where the families of many party workers gathered. Her childhood best friends were the daughters of Bulganin and Malenkov Vera and Volya.
Khrushchev's daughter Rada Adzhubey grew up as an independent girl. Her mother held the position of head of the party cabinet at the Moscow Radiotube Plant and was often at the workplace from early morning until late evening. She continued to work even after the birth of her son Sergei. Nina Petrovna left her job only in 1937, having given birth to her youngest daughter Lena. The girl was born very weak and demanded increased attention. Taking care of her, Khrushchev's wife could not devote enough time to the rest of the children. While Rada was little, her half-sister Julia looked after her. As she got older, she was completely left to herself. Rada went to the nomenklatura school, located in Arbat lanes. In the same class with her, the youngest son of a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU Anastas Mikoyan Sergo studied. The girl really liked the educational institution, she attended it with pleasure, she studied well. After Nikita Sergeevich was appointed First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, the Rada transferred to a Kyiv school, which she later graduated with a gold medal.
Rada was not surrounded by luxury in her childhood. Despite the high position of Khrushchev, his household lived quite modestly. They didn't eat delicacies, they didn't ride expensivecars, and all the furniture in the apartment, which was occupied by the family of Nikita Sergeevich, was state-owned and had tags with inventory numbers. Nina Petrovna preferred to get to work by tram, and many of her colleagues did not even know that she was Khrushchev's wife. She was assisted in housekeeping by a housekeeper who fled the village and, having no home of her own, slept with her owners in the hallway on a chest.
Admission to Moscow State University
After graduating from school in 1947, Rada Nikitichna Adzhubey came to Moscow to enter Moscow State University. Her biography contains facts proving that an influential father did not provide her with any assistance in entering the university. The Rada was distinguished by independence unusual for her age and decided to choose her future profession without the instructions of her parents. She dreamed of becoming a journalist, but there was no faculty at Moscow State University that trained such specialists. Then the girl, who from childhood had a weakness for literature, chose the Faculty of Philology. However, Rada Nikitichna was incredibly lucky: having entered the philological faculty, she learned that a new department of journalism had been opened on its basis. Without thinking twice, Khrushchev's daughter transferred to him and began to master the profession of a correspondent. A girl graduated from Moscow State University in 1952.
Marriage, having children
In 1949, right after her second year, Rada married her classmate Alexei Ivanovich Adzhubey. Nikita Sergeevich and Nina Petrovna believed that their daughters were too early to start a family, but they did not resist her desire. daughter's weddingKhrushchev was purely student: instead of a restaurant, young people walked in the dacha of a friend of the groom, and the tables were set right in the yard. In 1952, Rada Adjubey gave her husband Nikita their first child. In 1954, the couple had a son, Alexei, and in 1959, Ivan.
Adzhubey's relationship with his influential father-in-law was excellent. In 1950, Nikita Sergeevich helped his son-in-law get a job as an intern in the sports department of the all-Union newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, and a few years later Alexei Ivanovich was appointed its editor-in-chief. In 1959, the husband of Rada Nikitichna headed the editorial office of the Izvestia newspaper, in 1961 he became a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. After Khrushchev was removed from power in 1964, Adzhubey lost all high posts. His place of work was the journalism department in the magazine "Soviet Union".
Career
After graduating from Moscow State University and having given birth to her first son, Rada Nikitichna Khrushcheva-Adzhubey came to work in the journal "Science and Life" as head of the department of medicine and biology. In 1956, she was appointed deputy editor-in-chief of this publication. She worked at her post until her retirement in 2004. After Khrushchev was removed from office, Rada Nikitichna was able to stay on as deputy editor. Among her colleagues, she enjoyed great prestige and was the de facto leader at her work. Under her leadership, Science and Life turned from a boring second-rate publication into one of the most interesting and widely read magazines in the Soviet Union.
Overseas trips
During the reign of Khrushchev, Rade Adjubeyrepeatedly managed to travel outside the Soviet Union. Nikita Sergeevich was the first in the history of the USSR to take his wife and children on his business trips abroad. The most memorable was the trip to Washington and New York, where her father was on a long working visit. Rada also visited the United States with her husband, who also went on business trips abroad. During one of these visits, the Adzhubeevs were invited to the White House, where Khrushchev's daughter personally met John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline.
The life of Rada Nikitichna today
Rada Adjubey, whose photo is presented in this article, lived with Alexei Ivanovich until his death in 1993. Their family union, which many considered a marriage of convenience and predicted a quick collapse for him, turned out to be surprisingly strong. The couple managed to live in perfect harmony for 44 years and raise three sons. Today Rada Nikitichna is retired. Due to her advanced age, she rarely appears in public. Khrushchev's daughter devotes most of her time to putting family archives in order, in which many interesting documents and photographs have been collected. She is not at all interested in politics and tries not to lose touch with her younger brother Sergei, who permanently lives in the USA.
