Kuusinen became an influential official in the Soviet state administration. He was a member of the Politburo, the highest state organ. Kuusinen also continued his work during the administration of Nikita Khrushchev (1953–1964). He was Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1957–1964. In 1952 and again in 1957 he was also elected to the Presidium of the Central Committee.