Still facing a problem of food supply, Khrushchev orders the Soviet people to grow corn. But in 1963, the harvest fails. Wheat has to be imported from America. Soviets lose patience with Khrushchev. To many, his actions abroad seem clownish and irresponsible.
Stability is restored in the Soviet Union but unrest is stirred in the Empire.
In January 1968, Alexander Dubcek is appointed First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. By February 1968, Dubcek begins to implement reforms to Communism. The Soviet Union responds with force. Czechoslovakia's party leaders are arrested. The Czech and Slovak people are shocked but the troops encounter little armed resistance, unlike in Hungary 12 years earlier.