Andrey Andreevich Gromyko. The last Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Country of Soviets. Foreign Ministers of the USSR What position did Gromyko hold?

Andrey Andreevich Gromyko(July 5 (18), 1909, village of Starye Gromyki, Gomel district, Mogilev province, Russian Empire - July 2, 1989, Moscow) - diplomat and statesman of the USSR, in 1957-1985 - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, in 1985-1988 years - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In the diplomatic sphere - unofficially - a student of the Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR, an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Lieutenant General Alexander Filippovich Vasiliev. In 1944, the hero of our story led the Soviet delegation at a conference in the Dumbarton Oaks estate, Washington, USA, on the creation of the United Nations. Participated in the preparation and holding of the Yalta Conference, Crimea, USSR (1945), a conference in Potsdam, Germany (1945). In the same year, he led the delegation that signed the UN Charter on behalf of the USSR at a conference in San Francisco, USA. In 1985, at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU in Moscow, he nominated M. S. Gorbachev for the post of leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Early biography

Andrei Gromyko was born on July 5, 1909 in the Gomel region, on Belarusian lands in the village of Starye Gromyki, Northwestern region of the Russian Empire (now Svetilovichsky village council of the Vetkovsky district of the Gomel region in Belarus). The entire population bore the same surname, so each family, as is often the case in Belarusian villages, had a family nickname. Andrei Andreevich's family was called the Burmakovs. The Burmakovs came from a poor Belarusian noble family, most of which during the Russian Empire were transferred to the tax-paying classes of peasants and townspeople. Official biographies indicated peasant origins and that his father was a peasant who worked in a factory. Belarusian by origin, although in the official certificate of a member of the CPSU Central Committee he was listed as Russian. From the age of 13 I went with my father to earn money. After graduating from a 7-year school, he studied at a vocational school in Gomel, then at the Staroborisov Agricultural College, Staroborisov village, Borisov district, Minsk region.

In 1931, he became a member of the ruling and only All-Union Communist Party in the USSR and was immediately elected secretary of the party cell. It can be assumed that all subsequent years Gromyko remained an active communist, never doubting his loyalty to Marxist ideology.
In 1931, he entered the Economic Institute in Minsk, where he met his future wife Lidia Dmitrievna Grinevich, also a student. In 1932, their son Anatoly was born.

After completing two courses, Gromyko was appointed director of a rural school near Minsk. He had to continue his studies at the institute in absentia.

At this time, the first turn in Gromyko’s fate took place: on the recommendation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus, he, along with several comrades, was accepted into graduate school at the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, which was being created in Minsk. After defending his dissertation in 1936, Gromyko was sent to the Research Institute of Agriculture of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Moscow as a senior researcher. Then Andrei Andreevich became the scientific secretary of the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In the 1930s, a personnel vacuum formed in the apparatus of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. New employees were recruited into the People's Commissariat staff, for whom two main requirements were presented: peasant-proletarian origin and at least some knowledge of a foreign language. Under the current conditions, the candidacy Andrey Gromyko ideally suited the Personnel Department of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. I was captivated by his education, youth, a certain “rusticism” and the pleasant soft Belarusian accent with which Gromyko spoke until his death.

Since 1939 - in the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs (NKID) of the USSR. Gromyko was a protégé of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov. According to the version outlined to Alferov by D. A. Zhukov, when Stalin read Molotov’s proposed list of scientific employees - candidates for diplomatic work, then, reaching his name, he said: “Gromyko. Nice surname!”

In 1939 - head of the Department of American Countries of the NKID. In the fall of 1939, a new stage began in the career of the young diplomat. The Soviet leadership needed a fresh look at the US position in the emerging European conflict, which later developed into World War II. Gromyko was summoned to Stalin. The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars announced his intention to appoint Andrei Andreevich as an adviser to the USSR Embassy in the USA.
From 1939 to 1943, Gromyko was an adviser to the plenipotentiary mission (analogous to the embassy) of the USSR in the USA. Gromyko did not have friendly relations with the then Soviet ambassador to the United States, Maxim Litvinov. By the beginning of 1943, Litvinov ceased to suit Stalin and was recalled to Moscow. The vacant post of USSR Ambassador to the USA was filled by Gromyko, which he held until 1946. At the same time, Gromyko was the USSR envoy to Cuba.

Teacher and pupil

Gromyko did not receive any systematic education in the field of diplomacy and international relations. Diplomatic ethics and etiquette were also unfamiliar to him. The young employee of the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs desperately lacked both general and corporate culture. During the Second World War and later, until 1953, military diplomat Alexander Filippovich Vasilyev, an officer of the General Staff and an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate, became a teacher, mentor and senior comrade. In the 20s, the “red cavalryman” Sasha Vasiliev served in a cavalry regiment in the Belarusian city of Borisov, where he married a local native Bronislava, nee Gurskaya. As a military diplomat, Vasiliev underwent an internship at the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs.

When World War II began, Vasiliev was a representative of the General Staff of the Red Army at the Headquarters of the Joint Command of Anglo-American Forces in the European Theater of Operations. He also oversaw issues of American military supplies to the USSR as part of Lend-Lease assistance. Vasiliev was one of the main consultants to Stalin, the chief of the General Staff of the Red Army and the head of the GRU on issues of military-political and military-economic cooperation with Great Britain and the United States of America. Coming from a Russian village, Alexander Vasiliev nevertheless achieved remarkable success thanks to his natural abilities, persistent and systematic work, continuous study and self-education. By the age of forty, our hero had become a first-class military diplomat, brilliantly knew several European languages, and acquired extensive connections in Anglo-American military and diplomatic circles. Vasiliev was one of Stalin's main consultants at inter-allied conferences during the Second World War and in the post-war period until the death of the leader of the USSR in 1953.

Gromyko’s teacher in the diplomatic sphere, Alexander Vasiliev, by the 50s of the twentieth century reached the peak of his career as a military diplomat: he took the post of Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. Vasiliev turned out to have a worthy student who surpassed his teacher; - Having taken the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, Andrei Gromyko became the No. 1 diplomat of one of the two superpowers of the world and his activities largely determined the foreign policy of the Soviet state.

Andrey Gromyko and Alexander Vasiliev were family friends and often met in the latter’s luxurious apartment in the government quarter in the center of Moscow. Gromyko was a diligent student, and since 1953, Vasiliev’s successor in the Anglo-American direction of Soviet diplomacy. Vasiliev generously shared with his student his wealth of experience working in foreign Europe and the USA. The Vasilievs often gathered a brilliant society of capital diplomats, high-ranking officials, famous artists, theater and film actresses, artists and other celebrities from Moscow and the USSR. Here one could find (and did find!) useful connections. It was in Vasiliev’s house that the future Minister of Foreign Affairs received the “diplomatic charm” that he so lacked and lessons in diplomatic ethics, and learned a difficult course in diplomatic etiquette. Among other things, Andrei Gromyko was sometimes pleased to communicate with Vasiliev’s wife “Aunt Bronya” in his native Belarusian language and remember his youth, which he spent in Belarus.

When, as a result of the post-Stalin “purges” of the state apparatus, Alexander Vasiliev was dismissed with the rank of lieutenant general, Andrei Gromyko immediately broke off and never again resumed any connections - friendly, as well as official - with his now former teacher .

The teacher never took offense at his student. Both were products and cogs in the complex hierarchy of the Soviet state machine and strictly followed the unwritten laws of being in the highest echelons of power. As “Stalin’s man,” Vasiliev was doomed in career terms. Gromyko “survived” and subsequently made a brilliant career, rising to the heights of power in the USSR.

Post-war period. United Nations

In 1945 Andrey Gromyko participated in the Yalta and Potsdam conferences. He also took an active part in the creation of the United Nations (UN).

From 1946 to 1948, Andrei Gromyko was the permanent representative of the USSR to the UN (at the UN Security Council). In this capacity, Andrei Andreevich developed the UN Charter, and then, on behalf of the Soviet government, put his signature on this document.

From 1946 to 1949, Andrei Gromyko was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Already in those days, Time magazine noted the “mind-blowing competence” of Andrei Gromyko.
From 1949 to June 1952 - 1st Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. From June 1952 to April 1953 - USSR Ambassador to Great Britain.
After Stalin's death, he again became head of the Foreign Ministry, who recalled Gromyko from London. From March 1953 to February 1957 - again 1st Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR.

From 1952 to 1956 - candidate, from 1956 to 1989 - member of the CPSU Central Committee; from April 27, 1973 to September 30, 1988 - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.

Doctor of Economic Sciences (1956).

When in February 1957 D. T. Shepilov was transferred to the post of Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, N. S. Khrushchev asked who he could recommend for the post he was leaving. “I have two deputies,” answered Dmitry Timofeevich. - One is a bulldog: if you tell him, he will not unclench his jaws until he completes everything on time and accurately. The second is a person with a good outlook, smart, talented, a star of diplomacy, a virtuoso. I recommend it to you." Khrushchev took the recommendation very carefully and chose the first candidate, Gromyko. (Candidate No. 2 was V.V. Kuznetsov.)
- (Quoted from an article by Vadim Yakushov about V.V. Kuznetsov).

Head of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In 1957-1985 - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. For 28 years, Gromyko headed the Soviet foreign policy department. Andrei Gromyko also contributed to the process of negotiations to control the arms race, both conventional and nuclear. In 1946, on behalf of the USSR, Gromyko made a proposal for a general reduction and regulation of weapons and a ban on the military use of atomic energy. Under him, many agreements and treaties on these issues were prepared and signed - the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Tests in Three Environments, the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the 1972 ABM Treaties, SALT I, and the 1973 Agreement on the Prevention of nuclear war.

Molotov's harsh style of diplomatic negotiations greatly influenced Gromyko's corresponding style. For his uncompromising manner of conducting diplomatic negotiations, A. A. Gromyko received the nickname “Mr. No” from his Western colleagues (previously Molotov had the same nickname). Gromyko himself noted in this regard that “I heard their “No” much more often than they heard my “No.”

As Yuliy Kvitsinsky noted, the years of work as minister under Khrushchev were very difficult for Gromyko (for example, “there were many rumors about the “inflexibility” of A. A. Gromyko and his unsuitability for implementing Khrushchev’s “dynamic” policies”), his difficult position persisted for some time even after Khrushchev’s removal from power. However, then it “changed as his position in the party hierarchy strengthened. He enjoyed increasing confidence from L.I. Brezhnev, soon switched to first-name terms in conversations with him, and established close contact with the Ministry of Defense and the KGB.” As Kvitsinsky writes, “That was the heyday of A. A. Gromyko’s influence on party and state affairs of the Soviet Union. He enjoyed enormous authority not only among members of the Politburo, but throughout the country... Gromyko was, as it were, the generally recognized embodiment of Soviet foreign policy - solid, thorough, consistent."

Gromyko and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962

The political, diplomatic and military confrontation between the USSR and the USA in the fall of 1962, known in history as the Cuban Missile Crisis, is largely associated with Gromyko’s very inflexible position in negotiations with American President John Kennedy. Negotiations to resolve the Cuban missile crisis at its most critical stage were carried out outside the official diplomatic channel. An unofficial connection between the leaders of the great powers, John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, was established through the so-called “Scali-Fomin channel,” which involved: on the American side, the president’s younger brother, Justice Secretary Robert Kennedy and his friend, ABC television journalist John Scali, and on the American side, Soviet - personnel intelligence officers of the KGB apparatus Alexander Feklisov (operational pseudonym in 1962 - “Fomin”), KGB resident in Washington, and his immediate superior in Moscow, Lieutenant General Alexander Sakharovsky.

To a large extent, the energetic and smart actions of A. Feklisov and A. Sakharovsky prevented the crisis from escalating into a global nuclear war. During the tense days of the confrontation between the USSR and the USA, Gromyko actually found himself in isolation, and his department was inactive, having lost any trust of the American side. Gromyko himself did not show any initiative on his part during the crisis, maintaining complete loyalty to Khrushchev. It was the biggest fiasco of professional diplomacy in world history and nearly led to global catastrophe.

The reasons why Gromyko never provided John Kennedy with reliable information about the deployment of Soviet ballistic and tactical missiles with nuclear warheads on the island of Cuba are unclear to this day.

Last years

Since March 1983, Andrei Gromyko was simultaneously the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. After the death of K. U. Chernenko, at the March Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee on March 11, 1985, he proposed the candidacy of M. S. Gorbachev for the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. In 1985-1988 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (after the election of M. S. Gorbachev as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, E. A. Shevardnadze was appointed to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, and A. A. Gromyko was offered the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR ). Thus, the tradition established in 1977-1985 of combining the positions of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was broken. Gromyko remained as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR until the fall of 1988, when, at his request, he was released.

In 1946-1950 and 1958-1989 - deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Since October 1988 - retired.

In 1958-1987, editor-in-chief of the International Life magazine.

Gromyko was fond of hunting and collected guns.

He died from complications associated with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm on July 2, 1989, despite emergency surgery to repair the abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Wife - Lydia Dmitrievna Grinevich (1911-2004).
Son - Gromyko, Anatoly Andreevich, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor.
Daughter - Emilia Gromyko-Piradova, candidate of historical sciences.
Sister - Maria Andreevna Gromyko (Petrenko)

HISTORY SCIENCE CULTURE MAGAZINES TESTS HISTORICAL TESTS

HISTORY18/07/13

7 main “no” of Andrei Gromyko
Today marks the 104th anniversary of the birth of USSR Foreign Minister Andrei Andreevich Gromyko. For his policies he was called “Mr. No.” On the minister’s birthday, we remember the 7 “no’s” of his activities.

1
"No" to US economic success
Soon after graduating from college, Andrei Gromyko entered the Minsk Economic Institute. Already in 1936, the future Minister of Foreign Affairs received a scientific degree, having defended his PhD thesis on US agriculture, and was sent to work at the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences as a senior researcher. The specter of interest in the economics of the West accompanied Andrei Andreevich all his life. In 1957, his book “Export of American Capital” was published; in 1981, Gromyko will publish another book, “The Expansion of the Dollar.” What made Gromyko say no to economic science? He attributed his career to “a coincidence.”

2
"No" to glitz and grace
Everyone and everyone was talking about the style of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Gromyko's face was distinguished by a dissatisfied and gloomy expression, and his suit had a preference for gray shades. However, even the simplicity of the style evoked only respect from the surrounding Minister of Peace. It was this preference in style and mood that became the reason for Andrei Andreevich Gromyko’s next nickname - “dark thunder.”

3
"No" to Comrade Stalin
Gromyko's career began with the light hand of Stalin and Molotov. In 1939, it was Molotov who invited the young Gromyko to the NKID. And later, thanks to an audience with Comrade Stalin, Gromyko was appointed Ambassador of the USSR in Washington, participated in the preparation and holding of the Big Three conferences. Since 1947, the USSR Ambassador represented the interests of the Soviet state in the UN Security Council. However, in 1953, Stalin broke up with Gromyko. Stalin’s parting with Gromyko was final, but the return of “dark thunder” to the fold of foreign policy took place a year later. In 1953, after Stalin's death, the returning Molotov also brought back his assistant Gromyko.

4
"No" to freethinking
Gromyko was really able to get along with many political figures - during the period of his ministry there were 4 or even 5. It is interesting that when asked: “Did you have any enemies?” in his interview, the ex-minister replied: “I have always had two opponents - time and the ignorance of people whom
circumstances raised to the top of power." Apparently, this is the ability of the Soviet nomenklatura - not to be distracted by sentimentality towards those in power. Gromyko's loyalty to power became his calling card for as long as 27 years; the ability to "not unclench his jaw when told" allowed him to become a minister in 1957 year.

5
"No" to John Kennedy
Gromyko valued the American President solely as a journalist and often recalled his meeting with the Kennedy correspondent in 1945. But it was impossible to talk about politics. Gromyko’s inflexible position led to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Khrushchev himself came to the fore, Gromyko was isolated at that time. It is still not known why the Minister of Foreign Affairs did not answer the American President - what was going on with Cuba and the USSR missiles.

6
"No" to "perestroika"
In March 1985, at a meeting of the Politburo, Gromyko fought for M.S. Gorbachev, thanks to the efforts of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, received the Secretary General along with a new political course, but there was no place for Gromyko himself in the new state. Later, “Mr. No” admitted that the time of “perestroika” became a losing one for the state, and remembering Gorbach
He said to Eva: “The sovereign’s hat turned out not to suit Senka, not to Senka!”

7 “No” to despondency From an interview: “You should never be despondent. People die physically, but never spiritually. You have to believe.” This is the life principle.

Andrei Gromyko - "Mr. No" of Soviet diplomacy

USSR Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko was considered the number one diplomat in the West. He introduced the principles of peaceful existence of two systems into world practice. They largely remain the norm of behavior for modern international relations. On the eve of Diplomat's Day (February 10), "Voice of Russia" talks about the most outstanding diplomats of the 19th-20th centuries.

Andrei Gromyko was at the helm of Soviet diplomacy for twenty-eight years. For his tough and uncompromising manner of negotiating in Western countries, the USSR Foreign Minister was called “Mr. No.” To this he calmly replied that he “had heard refusals from the United States and Europe more often than they had from him.” Gromyko’s colleagues said that the minister did not raise his voice at all. He could corner any interlocutor just like that, politely, without emotion.

Andrei Gromyko's diplomatic career began in 1939; a few years later he was appointed advisor to the embassy in the United States. Sending him to Washington, Stalin gives original advice on how to improve English: “Go to American churches there, listen to the preachers, they have excellent pronunciation. That’s what the old Bolsheviks did.”

However, Gromyko did not need this - he already vaguely resembled a missionary - he came to negotiations in a strict suit, with a pointedly straight back, and an impenetrable, impassive gaze. And he adamantly and consistently defended the interests of his country.

A very young diplomat, Gromyko, at a conference in San Francisco in 1945, negotiated on behalf of the USSR with the United States on the creation of the UN. His main goal was to achieve the right of veto. Washington was categorically not happy with this point. Feeling that the negotiations are reaching a dead end, Gromyko declares: “Either you accept our conditions, or the Soviet delegation will leave the hall.” It was a big risk. But Gromyko’s inflexibility prevailed. The UN Charter was adopted taking into account all the requirements of the Soviet side, says diplomat Sergei Tikhvinsky.

"He also served on the Dumbarton Oaks conference that preceded the creation of the UN Charter. In this regard, he can be said to be one of the godfathers of the United Nations. His signature is on the founding documents of the creation of the UN."

Since then, Mr. No has been talked about all over the world. His name does not leave the pages of newspapers. And throughout Gromyko’s entire career, American journalists tried to dig up at least some dirt on the Soviet diplomat. Failed.

Gromyko was truly only interested in work. During the 1960s and 1970s, he took important steps to maintain the delicate balance of the Cold War era. In his speech in New York at the UN General Assembly, Gromyko emphasizes that the most important task facing countries is to maintain peace.

“In the policy of the Soviet Union, concern for peace is paramount. We are convinced that no contradictions between states or groups of states, no differences in the social system, way of life or ideology, no momentary interests can obscure the fundamental need common to all peoples to preserve peace , to prevent a nuclear disaster."
Andrei Gromyko's diplomatic career lasted fifty years.
"Mr. No" developed and signed the major agreements with the Americans to prevent nuclear war that form the basis of modern international relations - the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the 1979 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.

Gromyko Andrey Andreevich (July 5, 1909, village of Starye Gromyki, Gomel district, Mogilev province - July 2, 1989, Moscow)

Position: Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR

Chronology: July 2, 1985, elected by the 3rd session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 11th convocation (USSR Air Force, 1985, N 27, Art. 470)

October 1, 1988, relieved of his position by decree adopted by the 10th session of the Supreme Council of the 11th convocation (USSR Air Force, 1988, No. 40, Art. 625)

Andrei Andreevich Gromyko joined the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) while studying at the Economic Institute in Minsk in 1931. After graduation, he worked at the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences in Moscow, but after many Soviet diplomatic services lost their personnel during political repressions in 1937 -1939, Gromyko was appointed (1939) head of the American countries department of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. In 1943-1946. served as USSR Ambassador to the United States and the Republic of Cuba. In 1946, he was appointed Soviet representative in the UN Security Council and, at the same time, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (1946-1949), but was soon recalled to Moscow (1948), and was soon appointed First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR (1949-1952) . Gromyko left this post after being appointed USSR Ambassador to Great Britain (June 1952 - April 1953). At the 19th Party Congress he was elected a candidate member of the Central Committee (1952-1956). In 1953 he returned to Moscow and again took up the post of First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR (April 1953 - February 1957). In 1956, Gromyko was transferred to the membership of the CPSU Central Committee (1956-1989).

In 1957, Gromyko began a long period of tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR (February 15, 1957 - July 2, 1985). Gromyko became widely known for his good knowledge of international politics and his ability to negotiate, as well as his frequent meetings with heads of foreign states and governments when he accompanied Soviet leaders - N.S. Khrushchev and L.I. Brezhnev. Gromyko was confirmed as a member of the Politburo (April 27, 1973 - September 30, 1988) and appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (March 24, 1983 - July 2, 1985).

After serving as Foreign Minister for 28 years, Gromyko handed over the leadership of the ministry to E.A. Shevardnadze and was elected (July 2, 1985) Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Occupying the post of nominal head of the Soviet state, Gromyko took virtually no part in the unfolding process of perestroika. Changes in the party leadership initiated by M.S. Gorbachev, and his advanced age predetermined Gromyko’s resignation, presented to the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee on September 30, 1988. The plenum approved Gromyko’s resignation from the Politburo and the Central Committee, and the tenth session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the eleventh convocation accepted his resignation from the post of Chairman of the Presidium on October 1, 1988.

Best of the day

Visited:52

Business in Japanese: The oldest hotel

THE USSR. Thanks to his instincts and personal qualities, he was able to hold on as head of the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 28 years. No one else has been able to repeat this. It was not for nothing that he was considered diplomat No. 1. Although he also had mistakes in his career. This person will be discussed in the article.

Basic biography facts

Andrei Gromyko was born on July 5, 1909 in the village of Starye Gromyki (the territory of modern Belarus). He came from a poor family, and at the age of 13 he began to earn a living by helping his father. Education of a future diplomat:

seven-year school;
vocational school (Gomel);
Staroborisovsky Agricultural College;
Economic Institute (Minsk);
postgraduate studies at the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR;
received an academic degree from the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

To work in the department of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Gromyko, whose biography is being considered, met two main requirements. Namely, he was of peasant-proletarian origin and spoke a foreign language.

Thus began his career in diplomacy. Already in 1939, Andrei Andreevich was appointed adviser to the USSR mission in the USA from 1939 to 1943. From 1943 to 1946 he was appointed Soviet ambassador to the United States. In addition, he took an active part in diplomatic relations with Cuba, preparations for the three world wars (Potsdam and Yalta). The diplomat had a direct relationship with

Participation in the UN

The Soviet politician Andrei Andreevich Gromyko was one of those who stood at the origins of the UN in the post-war period. It is his flourish that stands under the Charter of the international organization. He was a participant and later the head of the USSR delegation at sessions of the UN General Assembly.

In the Security Council, the diplomat had which he used to defend the foreign policy interests of the USSR.

Work at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Andrei Gromyko was the head of the USSR Foreign Ministry from 1957 to 1985. During this time, he contributed to the negotiation process on, among other things, the reduction of nuclear tests.

Due to his tough style in conducting diplomatic negotiations, the diplomat began to be called “Mr. No” in the foreign press. Although he himself noted that in negotiations he had to hear negative answers from his opponents much more often.

The diplomat experienced the greatest difficulties in working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Khrushchev, who was not satisfied with the lack of flexibility in Andrei Andreevich’s negotiations. The situation changed under Brezhnev's leadership of the country. They developed a trusting relationship. This period is considered the heyday of the influence of diplomat No. 1 on state and party affairs of the USSR.

Until the end of his life, Gromyko was involved in government affairs. He retired in 1988 and died less than a year later.

Involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis

By 1962, the confrontation between the USSR and the USA had reached its climax. This period was called To a certain extent, what happened was related to the position of the diplomat. Andrei Gromyko held negotiations on this issue with John Kennedy, but, not having reliable information, the Soviet statesman could not conduct them at the proper level.

The essence of the conflict between the two superpowers of that time was the USSR's deployment of its nuclear-powered missiles on Cuban territory. The weapons were placed off the coast of the United States and classified as “top secret.” Therefore, Andrei Andreevich, whose biography is being reviewed, knew nothing about Gromyko’s operation.

After the United States provided images confirming that the Soviet Union was indeed using Cuban territory to create a military threat against the United States, a decision was made to implement a “quarantine.” This meant that all ships within a certain distance from Cuba were subject to inspection.

The Soviet Union decided to remove the missiles, and the threat of nuclear war was removed. The world lived in anticipation of war for 38 days. The resolution of the Cuban missile crisis led to detente in relations between East and West. A new period has begun in international relations.

A street and a school in the city of Vetka (Belarus) are named in honor of such a political figure as Andrei Andreevich Gromyko. And in Gomel, a bronze bust was erected to him. By 2009, compatriots issued a postage stamp dedicated to the diplomat.

There are a number of unconfirmed facts about the diplomat’s activities:

in 1985, at a meeting of the Politburo, it was Andrei Andreevich who proposed the candidacy of Mikhail Gorbachev for the highest post in the country, but after 1988 he began to regret his decision;
he expressed his motto in diplomacy in one phrase: “Better ten years of negotiations than one day of war”;
despite the strong Belarusian accent in pronunciation, the statesman knew English perfectly, as evidenced by the memoirs of translator Viktor Sukhodrev;
from 1958 to 1987 he was the editor-in-chief of the monthly International Affairs.

Andrei Andreevich Gromyko is a Soviet statesman and world-famous diplomat. For 28 years he headed the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. July 19, 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Andrei Gromyko.

From April 1953 to February 1957 he was First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. During the same period, he was chairman of the Information Committee at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, created to analyze and develop recommendations and operational proposals on various aspects of the world situation.

In February 1957, Andrei Gromyko was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. He worked in this post until July 1985.
During Gromyko's work as Minister of Foreign Affairs, critical international situations arose that could lead to armed conflicts between the USA and the USSR, such as tensions around West Berlin in 1961-1962, the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, military conflicts in the Middle East in 1967 and 1973 years, the Vietnam War, events in Angola, Ethiopia, etc. Andrei Gromyko’s role in preventing the “cold war” from developing into a “hot war” as a result of these conflicts was great.

Andrei Gromyko also contributed to the process of negotiations to control the arms race, both conventional and nuclear. In 1946, on behalf of the USSR, Gromyko made a proposal for a general reduction and regulation of weapons and a ban on the military use of atomic energy. Under him, many agreements and treaties on these issues were prepared and signed - the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Tests in Three Environments, the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the 1972 ABM Treaties, SALT I, and the 1973 Treaty on the Prevention of nuclear war.

Since March 1983, Andrei Gromyko was simultaneously the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In July 1985, he was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and remained in this post until the fall of 1988, when, at his request, he was released.

While on diplomatic work in the USA and England, Gromyko collected scientific materials and, upon returning to Moscow, published the results of his research. Under the pseudonym G. Andreev, in 1957, his book “Export of American Capital. From the History of US Capital Export as a Tool of Economic and Political Expansion” was published, for which its author was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Economic Sciences, and in 1981 - the book “The Expansion of the Dollar ". In 1983, Andrei Gromyko’s monograph “External Expansion of Capital: History and Modernity” was published, which summarized the many years of research activity of the scientist and diplomat on one of the most pressing problems of political economy. For his scientific research - Andrey Gromyko

In 1944, he headed the Soviet delegation at the conference at the Dumbarton Oaks estate (Washington, USA) on the creation of the UN. Participated in the preparation and holding of the Yalta Conference (1945), the Potsdam Conference (1945). In the same year, he led the delegation that signed the UN Charter on behalf of the USSR at a conference in San Francisco. In 1985, he nominated M. S. Gorbachev to the post of head of the CPSU.

Biography

Early biography

Andrei Gromyko was born on July 5, 1909 in the Gomel region, in the village of Starye Gromyki. The entire population bore the same surname, so each family, as is often the case in Belarusian villages, had a family nickname. Andrei Andreevich's family was called the Burmakovs. The Burmakovs came from a poor Belarusian noble family, most of which during the Russian Empire were transferred to the tax-paying classes of peasants and townspeople. Official biographies indicated peasant origins and that his father was a peasant who worked in a factory. Belarusian by origin, although in the official certificate of a member of the CPSU Central Committee he was listed as Russian. From the age of 13 I went with my father to earn money. After graduating from a 7-year school, he studied at a vocational school in Gomel, then at the Staroborisov Agricultural College (the village of Staroborisov, Borisov district, Minsk region). In 1931 he became a member of the CPSU(b) and was immediately elected secretary of the party cell. All subsequent years, Gromyko remained an active communist, never doubting his loyalty to Marxist ideology.

In 1931, he entered the Economics Institute in Minsk, where he met his future wife Lidia Dmitrievna Grinevich, also a student. In 1932, their son Anatoly was born.

After completing two courses, Gromyko was appointed director of a rural school near Minsk. He had to continue his studies at the institute in absentia.

At this time, the first turn in Gromyko’s fate took place: on the recommendation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus, he, along with several comrades, was accepted into graduate school at the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, which was being created in Minsk. After defending his dissertation in 1936, Gromyko was sent to the All-Union Research Institute of Agricultural Economics in Moscow as a senior researcher. Then Andrei Andreevich became the scientific secretary of the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In 1939 - head of the Department of American Countries of the NKID. In the fall of 1939, a new stage began in the career of the young diplomat. The Soviet leadership needed a fresh look at the US position in the emerging European conflict. Gromyko was summoned to Stalin. The Secretary General announced his intention to appoint Andrei Andreevich as an adviser at the USSR Embassy in the USA. From 1939 to 1943 - Advisor to the USSR Embassy in the USA. Gromyko did not have friendly relations with the Soviet ambassador to the United States Maxim Litvinov. By the beginning of 1943, Litvinov ceased to suit Stalin, and Gromyko took his position. From 1943 to 1946, Gromyko was the USSR Ambassador to the USA and at the same time the USSR Envoy to Cuba.

In 1945 Gromyko participated in the Yalta and Potsdam conferences. He also took an active part in the creation of the United Nations (UN).

From 1946 to 1948 - permanent representative of the USSR to the UN (UN Security Council). In this capacity, Andrei Andreevich developed the UN Charter, and then, on behalf of the Soviet government, put his signature on this document.

From 1946 to 1949 - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Already in those days, Time magazine noted the “mind-blowing competence” of Andrei Andreevich. From 1949 to June 1952 - 1st Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR.

After Stalin's death, Vyacheslav Molotov again became head of the Foreign Ministry, who recalled Gromyko from London. From March 1953 to February 1957 - again 1st Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR.

From 1952 to 1956 - candidate, from 1956 to 1989 - member of the CPSU Central Committee; from April 27, 1973 to September 30, 1988 - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.

Doctor of Economic Sciences (1956).

Headed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Molotov's harsh style of diplomatic negotiations greatly influenced Gromyko's corresponding style. For his uncompromising manner of conducting diplomatic negotiations, A. A. Gromyko received the nickname “Mr. No” from his Western colleagues (previously Molotov had such a nickname). Gromyko himself stated in this regard that “I heard their “No” much more often than they heard my “No”.

Last years

Since March 1983, Andrei Gromyko was simultaneously the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In 1985-1988 - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (after the election of M. S. Gorbachev as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, E. A. Shevardnadze was appointed to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, and A. A. Gromyko was offered the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR ). Thus, the tradition established in 1977-1985 of combining the positions of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was broken. Gromyko remained as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR until the fall of 1988, when, at his request, he was released.

In 1946-1950 and 1958-1989 - deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Since October 1988 - retired.

In 1958-1987, editor-in-chief of the International Life magazine.

Gromyko was fond of hunting and collected guns.

Family

Wife - Lydia Dmitrievna Grinevich (1911 - 2004).
Son - Gromyko, Anatoly Andreevich, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor.
Daughter - Emilia Gromyko-Piradova, candidate of historical sciences.

Awards

Twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1969, 1979)
7 Orders of Lenin
Order of the Red Banner of Labor
Order of the Badge of Honor
Lenin Prize (1982)
USSR State Prize (1984)
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru

Memory

A bronze bust of A. Gromyko was erected in Gomel, and a square was named after him.