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.....We actually do have a lot of influence in the Eastern European region, but is has been declining under Obama. which is why Putin is acting this way.

Personally I view Putin as more dangerous to us then Khrushchev was by a factor of 2.

Since he benefits from the history of past exchanges with the US, he makes it more difficult for us to deal with him.
From a personality standpoint, Khrushchev was much more prone to being a man of peace, which is what he really wanted, but the power structure in Russia at the time was obsessed with offensive capability to deter the West. His ideas of the liberalization of Russia to have a better relationship with the west was suppressed by the Politburo and they eventually removed him from office.

In Putin's case, he has no formal opposition and can do whatever he wants, when he wants to. He has no person of any stature to oppose any idea that he may come up with.

So the strategy of the US to contain him has to be different.

What it is, I don't know, but I can assume we have begun to employ it.