Eisenhower's "Farewell Address" criticized the American establishment in a subtle and indirect way, all the while singing the praises of American ideals and rhapsodizing about the land of the free and the home of the brave. But only a few years earlier, Nikita Khrushchev gave a speech to a closed-door session of the Congress of the Soviet Union that was very, very, critical of the U.S.S.R.'s former leadership (a.k.a. Stalin).

The speech was definitely a piece of political theater intended to consolidate his own power again the Stalinist wing of the Communist Party. And it left some key points out. But it did actually set the record straight about some of Stalin's major crimes, a huge deal even if it was given in a private session.

And though the ensuing liberalization of the U.S.S.R. was mixed at best, and political in-fighting continued for decades afterward in the upper echelons of the Party, Khrushchev's speech helped change Soviet society and government for the better. Of course, with his predecessor Stalin, the bar wasn't set all that high to begin with. All you had to do is not intentionally starve seven million of your own citizens and murder tens of millions more, and you'd be doing okay.

While Ike offered a few moderate criticisms and warnings about America on his way out the door, Khrushchev gave an hours-long denunciation of the self-styled Man of Steel (no, not Superman) himself only a few years after Stalin's death. It was a tricky speech to give. He couldn't seem too critical of the Party itself.

But it's not like he had to try very hard to denounce one of the most notorious and destructive megalomaniacal mass murders in human history, especially since Khrushchev was a witness to much of it. Stalin had given him great material to work with.