Gromyko, Andrei Andreyevich 1909-89
Soviet politician and diplomat

Born near Minsk into a peasant family, he studied agriculture and economics and became a research scientist at the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In 1939 he joined the staff of the Soviet embassy in Washington DC, becoming ambassador in 1943 and attending the famous 'big three' conferences at Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam. In 1946 he was elected a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet, and in the same year became Deputy Foreign Minister and was made permanent delegate to the UN Security Council, achieving an unenviable reputation through his use of the power of veto no fewer than 25 times. For a few months (1952-53) he was ambassador to the United Kingdom. He succeeded Dmitri Shepilov (1905- ) as Foreign Minister in 1957, holding this post until 1985, and being responsible for conducting Soviet relations with the West during the Cold War, showing no relaxation of the austere and humourless demeanour for which he had become notorious in diplomatic circles. During the 1970s, however, he adapted to the new policy of d�tente. Mikhail Gorbachev promoted him to the largely ceremonial and mainly domestic post of President in 1985, but he retired from office in 1988, when he was replaced in a much stronger presidency by Gorbachev himself.

Bibliography: Memories (1989)