On 11 May 1962, Yepishev was promoted to the rank of Army General and appointed Chief of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy, effectively the Armed Forces' political supervisor. The reason for his sudden promotion is assumed to have been a conflict between the communist party leadership and senior army officers, including Yepishev's predecessor, Filipp Golikov, and his war time colleague Marshal Moskalenko, who opposed Khrushchev's rash decision to ship nuclear missiles to Cuba. The appointment of a party official with only a limited military background was a way of re-establishing party control over the armed forces. He held the post for 23 years. When Khrushchev was toppled from power and removed from the Central Committee of the CPSU on 16 November 1964, Yepishev, who had been a candidate member since 1952, was promoted to fill the vacancy.