Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Gromyko | |
---|---|
Андрей Громыко | |
Permanent Representative of the Soviet Union to the United Nations | |
In office April 1946 – May 1948 | |
Premier | Joseph Stalin |
Preceded by | Post created |
Succeeded by | Yakov Malik |
Personal details | |
Born | Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko 18 July [ Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
Resting place | Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow |
Nationality | Soviet |
Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1931–1989) |
Spouse |
civil servant |
Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (Russian: Андрей Андреевич Громыко; Belarusian: Андрэй Андрэевіч Грамыка; 18 July [O.S. 5 July] 1909 – 2 July 1989)[2] was a Soviet politician and diplomat during the Cold War. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1957–1985) and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1985–1988). Gromyko was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy until he retired in 1988. In the 1940s Western pundits called him Mr Nyet ("Mr No") or "Grim Grom", because of his frequent use of the Soviet veto in the United Nations Security Council.[3]
Gromyko's political career started in 1939 in the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (renamed
As Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, Gromyko was directly involved in deliberations with the Americans during the
Following Gorbachev's election as General Secretary, Gromyko lost his office as foreign minister and was appointed to the largely ceremonial post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Subsequently, he retired from political life in 1988, and died the following year in Moscow.
Early life
Background and youth
Gromyko was born to a poor "semi-peasant, semi-worker" Belarusian family[4] in the Belarusian village of Staryye Gromyki, near Gomel, on 18 July 1909. Gromyko's father, Andrei Matveyevich, worked as a seasonal worker in a local factory. Andrei Matveyevich was not a very educated man, having only attended four years of school, but knew how to read and write. He had fought in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905.[5] Gromyko's mother, Olga Yevgenyevna, came from a poor peasant family in the neighbouring city of Zhelezniki. She attended school only for a short period of time as, when her father died, she left to help her mother with the harvest.[6]
Gromyko grew up near the district town of
The news that Germany had attacked the Russian Empire in August 1914 came without warning to the local population. This was the first time, as Gromyko notes, that he felt "love for his country". His father, Andrei Matveyevich, was again conscripted into the Imperial Russian Army and served for three years on the southwestern front, under the leadership of General Aleksei Brusilov. Andrei Matveyevich returned home on the eve of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia.[11]
Gromyko was elected First Secretary of the local Komsomol chapter at the beginning of 1923.[12] Following Vladimir Lenin's death in 1924, the villagers asked Gromyko what would happen in the leader's absence. Gromyko remembered a communist slogan from the heyday of the October Revolution: "The revolution was carried through by Lenin and his helpers." He then told the villagers that Lenin was dead but "his aides, the Party, still lived on."[13]
Education and party membership
When he was young, Gromyko's mother Olga told him that he should leave his home town to become an educated man.
After studying in Borisov for two years Gromyko was appointed
We were amazed to find ourselves treated as equals and placed at their table to enjoy what for us was a sumptuous feast. We realised then that not for nothing did the Soviet state treat its scientists well: evidently science and those who worked in it were highly regarded by the state.[19]
After that day of pleasantry, Gromyko for the first time in his life wanted to enter
Ambassador and World War II
In early 1939, Gromyko started working for the
Gromyko had never been abroad before and, to get to the United States, he had to travel via
Gromyko was a Soviet delegate to the Tehran,
At the helm of Soviet foreign policy
United Nations
Gromyko was appointed
Gromyko often used the Soviet
Soviet ambassador to the United Kingdom
Gromyko was appointed Soviet ambassador to the United Kingdom at a June 1952 meeting with
Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union
During his initial days as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Gromyko devoted most of his time battling the International Department (ID) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union under Boris Ponomarev. Ponomarev advocated an expanded role for the ID in Soviet foreign relations but Gromyko flatly refused. A top Soviet official, Valentin Falin, said the ID "interfered in the activities" of Gromyko and his ministry countless times. Gromyko disliked both Ponomarev and the power sharing between the ID and the foreign ministry.[43] However, even in the midst of such political infighting, Gromyko presided over many key junctures in the Soviet Union's diplomacy throughout his tenure as Foreign Minister.
One of his first tests as his country's chief diplomat came in 1958 when he addressed
Years later during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Gromyko met U.S. President John F. Kennedy while acting under instructions from the current Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev. In his Memoirs, Gromyko wrote that Kennedy seemed "out of touch" when he first met him, and was more "ideologically driven" than "practical". In a 1988 interview, he further described Kennedy as nervous and prone to making contradictory statements involving American intentions towards Cuba.
Gromyko, in addition to John F. Kennedy, held important political discussions with
Later, under the leadership of
Throughout his career, Gromyko explicitly promoted the idea that no important international agreement could be reached without the Soviet Union's involvement.
In 1973, Gromyko was promoted to a full voting member of the Politburo, the Soviet Union's highest decision-making body.[50] According to Christian Schmidt-Häuer, upon Gromyko reaching the peak of his power and influence, his approach to diplomacy began to suffer from the same qualities that underpinned his early career -his "exceptional memory and confidence in his experience" now made him inflexible, unimaginative and "devoid of a long-term vision" for the USSR.[51] By the time Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko rose to the Soviet leadership, Gromyko frequently found himself advocating a harder line than his superiors.[51]
When Brezhnev's ability to govern was impaired following a stroke in 1975, Gromyko effectively dominated Soviet policymaking alongside KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov, Defense Minister Andrei Grechko, and Grechko's successor, Marshal Dmitry Ustinov, for the rest of Brezhnev's rule.[52] After Brezhnev's death in 1982, Andropov was voted in as General Secretary by the Politburo. Immediately after his appointment, Andropov asked Gromyko if he wanted to take over Brezhnev's old office of the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. However, Gromyko turned down Andropov's offer, believing Andropov would eventually take the office for himself.[53]
Ever since being appointed Foreign Minister in February 1957, Gromyko never challenged the authority of those chosen to lead the Soviet Union by the Central Committee. However, this changed when the ailing Konstantin Chernenko rose to become the country's de jure ruler. Unimpressed by the new leader's feeble grasp of foreign relations and weak standing in the Politburo, Gromyko aggressively asserted control over Soviet diplomacy to the point of regularly interrupting and contradicting Chernenko in front of other world leaders.[54] Thus, despite Chernenko's interest in reviving détente, the longtime Foreign Minister's distrust of "the West" meant there was no attempt to return to such a policy.
After Chernenko's death in 1985, Gromyko nominated Mikhail Gorbachev for the General Secretary on 11 March 1985. In supporting Gorbachev, Gromyko knew that the influence he carried would be strong.[55] Upon being elected, Gorbachev relieved Gromyko as foreign minister and replaced him with Eduard Shevardnadze. Subsequently, he was appointed to the largely honorary position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.[56]
Head of state, retirement and death
Gromyko held the office of the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, literally head of state, which was largely ceremonial, and his influence in ruling circles diminished. A number of First World journalists believed Gromyko was uncomfortable with many of Gorbachev's reforms,[57] however, in his Memoirs Gromyko wrote fondly of Gorbachev and the policy of perestroika. Gromyko believed that perestroika was about working for the construction of a socialist society[58] and saw glasnost and perestroika as an attempt at making the USSR more democratic.[59]
During a party conference in July 1988, Vladimir Melnikov called for Gromyko's resignation. Melnikov blamed Brezhnev for the
Such moments in life are just as memorable as when one is appointed to prominent positions. When my comrades took farewell to me, I was equally moved as I had ever been when I was given an important office. What I thought most about was that I had finished my duties towards the people, the Party and the state. This memory is very precious to me.
Gorbachev succeeded Gromyko in office as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.[63] After his resignation Gorbachev praised Gromyko for his half-century of service to USSR. Critics, such as Alexander Belonogov, the Permanent Representative of the Soviet Union to the United Nations, claimed Gromyko's foreign policy was permeated with "a spirit of intolerance and confrontation".[64]
After retiring from active politics in 1989 Gromyko started working on his memoirs.[65] Gromyko died on 2 July 1989, just 16 days before what would have been his 80th birthday, after being hospitalised for a vascular problem that was not further identified.[66] His death was followed by a minute of silence at the Congress of People's Deputies to commemorate him. The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS), the central news organ in the USSR, called him one of the country's most "prominent leaders". President of the United States George H. W. Bush sent his condolences to Gromyko's son, Anatoly.[67] Gromyko was offered a grave in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, but at the request of his family he was not buried near the Moscow Kremlin Wall but instead at the Novodevichy Cemetery.[65][68][66]
Personal life
Gromyko met his wife, Lydia (1911–2004) in Minsk where they were both studying agriculture at the Minsk Institute of Agricultural Science.[1][69][70] They married in 1931.[71] They had two children: a son, Anatoly, and a daughter, Emilia.[72][69] Anatoly (1932–2017) served as a diplomat and was an academic.[73]
Legacy
Having been a person of considerable stature during his life, Gromyko held an unusual combination of personal characteristics. Some were impressed by his diplomatic skills, while others called Gromyko mundane and boring.
During his twenty-eight years as minister of foreign affairs Gromyko became renowned by his peers for being consumed by his work. Henry Kissinger once said "If you can face Gromyko for one hour and survive, then you can begin to call yourself a diplomat". Gromyko's work influenced Soviet and Russian ambassadors such as Anatoly Dobrynin. Historians Gregory Elliot and Moshe Lewin described Gromyko's main characteristic as his "complete identification with the interest of the state and his faithful service to it", helping to explain his so-called "boring" personality and the mastery of his own ego.[77] West German politician Egon Bahr, when commenting on Gromyko's memoirs, said;[77]
He has concealed a veritable treasure-trove from future generations and taken to the grave with him an inestimable knowledge of international connection between the historical events and major figures of his time, which only he could offer. What a pity that this very man proved incapable to the very end of evoking his experience. As a faithful servant of the state, he believed that he should restrict himself to a sober, concise presentation of the bare essentials.[78]
On 18 July 2009, the Republic Belarus ruled by Alexander Lukashenko marked the 100th anniversary of Gromyko's birth with nationwide celebrations. In the city of his birth many people laid flowers in front of his bust. A ceremony was held attended by his son and daughter, Anatoly and Emiliya. Several exhibitions were opened and dedicated to his honour and a school and a street in Gomel were renamed in honour of him.[79][80]
Decorations and awards
- Soviet Union:
- Hero of Socialist Labor, twice (1969, 1979)
- Order of Lenin, seven times (1944, 1945, 1959, 1966, 1969, 1979, 1984)
- Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class (1985)
- Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1948)
- Order of the Badge of Honour (1954)
- Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1969)
- Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1975)
- Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1985)
- Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1945)
- Medal "Veteran of Labour" (1974)
- Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (1988)
- Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow" (1947)
- Lenin Prize (1982)
- USSR State Prize (1984)
- Other countries:
- Order of the Sun of Freedom (Afghanistan)
- Order of Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
- Order of José Martí (Cuba)
- Order of Klement Gottwald (Czechoslovakia)
- Order of the Flag of the Republic of Hungary (Hungary)
- Order of Peace and Friendship (Hungary)
- Grand Cross of Order of the Sun of Peru (Peru)
- Order of Merit of the Polish People's Republic, 1st class (Poland)
References
- ^ a b Соседи по парте (in Russian). RPP. Archived from the original on 10 March 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
- ^ Profile of Andrei Gromyko
- ^ Schmemann, Serge (4 October 1982). "Russians Come and Go, but Not Gromyko". The New York Times.
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- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 13.
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- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 17.
- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 18.
- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 19.
- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 21.
- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 24.
- ^ a b Gromyko 1989, p. 25.
- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 15.
- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 26.
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- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 29.
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- ^ Gromyko 1989, pp. 36–7.
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- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 141.
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- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 143.
- ^ Karfala, Tarik (17 September 2003). "The veto and how to use it". BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
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- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 162.
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- ^ "Wilson Center Digital Archive". digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
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- ^ Tikhonov, Dmitry. Андрей Андреевич Громыко (in Russian). people.ru. Archived from the original on 11 October 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
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- ^ Elliott & Lewin 2005, p. 238.
- ^ "Gorbachev takes reform plans to party plenum". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 25 June 1987. Retrieved 12 September 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Gromyko 1989, p. 70.
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- ^ "Gromyko resignation urged at conference". Manile Standard. 2 July 1988. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
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- ^ Parks, Michael (3 October 1988). "Soviet official critical of Gromyko in party newspaper". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 September 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c Громыко Андрей Андреевич (in Russian). hrono.ru. Archived from the original on 20 September 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
- ^ a b "Pall-bearers along towards MS Portrait of former Soviet Foreign..." Getty Images. 19 July 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
- ^ Remnick, David (4 July 1989). "Andrei Gromyko Dies, Was Soviet Diplomat for 50 Years". The Washington Post. Retrieved 20 November 2010. (pay-fee)
- ^ "Novodevichy Cemetery". Passport Magazine. April 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- ^ a b Thom Shanker; Vincent J. Schodolski (4 July 1989). "Soviet Statesman Andrei Gromyko, 79". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
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Further reading
- Coleman, Fred (1996). The Decline and Fall of the Soviet Empire: Forty Years That Shook The World. St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-312-16816-0.
- Elliott, Gregory; Lewin, Moshe (2005). The Soviet Century. ISBN 1-84467-016-3.
- Figes, Orlando (2014). Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991: A History. Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-9131-1.
- Hoffmann Jr., Erik P., and Frederic J. Fleron. The Conduct of Soviet Foreign Policy (1980)
- MacKenzie, David. From Messianism to Collapse: Soviet Foreign Policy 1917–1991 (1994)
- Stone, Norman. "Andrei Gromyko as Foreign Minister: The Problems of a Decaying Empire," in Gordon Craig and Francis Loewenheim, eds. The Diplomats 1939– 1979 (Princeton University Press, 1994) online
- Ulam, Adam B. Expansion and Coexistence: Soviet Foreign Policy 1917–73 (1976) online
Primary sources
- Gromyko, Andrei (1989). Memoirs. ISBN 0-385-41288-6.
- Gromyko, Andrei A. "Introduction" in Modern Diplomacy of Capitalist Powers (Pergamon Press, 1983) ISBN 9780080281735
- Gromyko, Andrei A. Only for Peace: Selected Speeches and Writings (1979)
External links
- Interview about the Cold War for the WGBH series, War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
- Annotated bibliography for Andrei Gromyko from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
- The Overseas Expansion of Capital: Past and Present by Gromyko, 1985.
- Lenin and the Soviet Peace Policy: Articles and Speeches, 1944–1980 by Gromyko.
- Newspaper clippings about Andrei Gromyko in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW