SEATTLE -- Sergei Khrushchev, whose father ruled the Soviet Union and its Communist Party during the height of the Cold War with the United States, on Wednesday passed the examination to become a U.S. citizen.
Khrushchev and his wife, Valentina Golenko, successfully completed the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service examination in Providence, R.I., said Dan Danilov, their Seattle-based immigration attorney, who was with them for the 20-question test."They will take the oath to become naturalized citizens July 12," Danilov said.
"It marks a remarkable turn of events, especially considering that it was his father who told the United States, 'We will bury you,' and had the economic and military power to make that a credible threat at the time."
Khrushchev's father, Nikita Khrushchev, ruled the Soviet Union from 1953 until he was deposed in 1964. He died Sept. 11, 1971, in virtual isolation.
Sergei Khrushchev, 63, a senior research scholar and lecturer at Brown University's Center for Foreign Policy Development in Providence, is a rocket engineer and computer scientist. He has published his father's memoirs and other books.
Valentina Golenko, 50, who is also a scientist, got 100 percent of the INS citizenship questions correct and Sergei Khrushchev got 95 percent correct, Danilov said.
"I missed one question on what form of government is the United States," Khrushchev said.