Table of contents:
- What Gromyko liked Stalin
- Gromyko's most successful performances
- How the Soviet minister surprised the Americans
- Conflict in the last "president"
Video: For which Gorbachev disliked USSR Foreign Minister Gromyko, who brought him to the pinnacle of power
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Andrei Gromyko became the head of the Soviet Foreign Ministry in the winter of 1957, having served the Motherland with quality for nearly 30 record years in the midst of the vicissitudes of the Cold War. The predecessor recommended a new minister to Khrushchev, comparing him to a bulldog. Gromyko knew how to harass rivals, not only not yielding to his own, but also snatching off additional benefits. The minister admired the results of the Great Patriotic War, which took two of his brothers, which affected the negotiations with the Germans. By the end of the USSR, Andrei Andreevich personally recommended Gorbachev to the post of general secretary, but very soon he regretted it.
What Gromyko liked Stalin
Andrei Gromyko was born in a Belarusian village, in the family of a simple peasant. After participating in the Russo-Japanese War, the father of the future minister went to work in Canada, having mastered English. He taught foreign language to his son, who decided to get an agricultural education. But later the party considered it a high potential. During the purges of the 30s, many high positions were exposed, and ordinary talented people had career chances. Andrei Gromyko got into this wave. He himself said that his knowledge of the English language and impressive external data helped him to conquer the social lift. The minister was an attractive, sturdy man with a height of 185 centimeters.
Eyewitnesses said that Stalin liked the stately Belarusian at the first meeting. Somehow Gromyko dared to object to the leader on a matter of principle, but behaved logically, convincingly and tactfully. Everyone was waiting for the thunder to break out, but this did not happen. Conquered by diplomacy, the leader took his pipe out of his mouth and said: "He's stubborn." And he ordered him to go to Washington as the Soviet representative to the UN.
Gromyko's most successful performances
It was Gromyko who established contacts with the Americans to organize the legendary meeting of Stalin with Roosevelt and Churchill. And in 1945 he personally took part in the Yalta conference. After both brothers Gromyko died on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, all his subsequent activities were guided by the paramount postulate: to keep the peace by all means, preventing war. Andrei Andreevich made a serious effort in the establishment of the UN and the direct place in this organization of the USSR. It was Gromyko who determined the Soviet position on the right of veto in the Security Council. His name is associated with the signing of the UN Charter, and the Helsinki Agreements, which secured the post-war order in Europe, and dozens of anti-nuclear treaties.
After Stalin's death, the USSR Foreign Ministry was headed by Molotov. Having recalled Gromyko to his homeland, he appointed Andrei Andreevich as his first deputy. When Molotov fell into disgrace, Gromyko became Minister of Foreign Affairs for the next 28 years. For his adamant unemotional defense of his position with many hours of negotiations and the progressive “crushing” of opponents, Gromyko was called a “drill”. The second nickname of the minister - "Mr. no" - was given to him by the Americans. Although Andrei Andreevich has repeatedly noticed that the American "no" sounded much more often in negotiation processes.
How the Soviet minister surprised the Americans
Even today, diplomats believe that the recognition by the Americans of the Soviet Union as a great power is a merit, above all, of Andrei Gromyko. Despite the confrontation, Western colleagues marveled at the minister's methods. In dealing with the most virtuoso specialists in international affairs, experienced foreign diplomats recognized the superiority of the style of the Soviet minister.
Back in 1946, American correspondents called the USSR representative to the UN a skillful dialectician, unusually polite and devoid of human weakness. And even 35 years later, "The Times" wrote about 72-year-old Gromyko as a person with an amazing memory, a keen mind and unprecedented endurance. For his masterly orientation in the affairs of the whole world, Gromyko was deservedly known as the most informed foreign minister on the planet. He did not weave intrigues, did not use cunning tricks. Gromyko wiped out anyone with an honest and competent fight.
In 1963, he succeeded in the almost impossible - the signing of the Treaty Banning Nuclear Testing. Contrary to Khrushchev's bravado, the Soviet nuclear potential was significantly inferior to the American one, and the United States knew this very well. But Gromyko, using some hard-to-reach methods, managed to push through the treaty that deprived the Americans of their freedom to test and improve nuclear weapons. Moscow gained time by leveling the warhead score 10 years later. And then it became risky to talk with the USSR from a position of strength.
Conflict in the last "president"
Andropov, who came to power in 1982, was distinguished by the promotion of young cadres into power. Gradually, only the chairman of the Council of Ministers Tikhonov and the head of defense Ustinov remained in the Politburo from the “old men” except Gromyko. When in 1985 the question of a new general secretary arose once again, Gromyko could well become a real candidate. But even if such thoughts crept into the head of an experienced diplomat, he was well aware of the lack of domestic economic experience in a difficult time for the country. But they listened to his opinion, and Andrei Andreevich pointed to Gorbachev.
Taking the floor at a meeting of the Politburo, Gromyko gave the future first and last president a dry but generally positive characterization. The rest unanimously supported the influential opinion on the candidate for the first allied seat. But very soon Gromyko regretted his decision, watching what was happening in the country. At first he was irritated in silence, but soon began to cautiously criticize Gorbachev at meetings, hinting at the latter's destructive role in the decline of the party's authority.
The General Secretary's position, of course, did not please Gromyko. The situation escalated, and on the eve of Gromyko's planned trip to North Korea, Gorbachev emotionally ordered the visit be canceled. For Andrei Andreevich, that trip remained almost the last stronghold of dying socialism, so he reacted sensitively. On October 1, 1988, Gromyko submitted his voluntary resignation, desperate to save the country. After a while, in private conversations, he repeatedly criticized perestroika and regretted that he had contributed to the promotion of Mikhail Sergeyevich to such a high post.
Especially for those who want to take an excursion into the Soviet past, <a href = "https://kulturologia.ru/blogs/241218/41640/"/> famous personalities and ordinary Soviet people in the photographs of the Izvestia newspaper photojournalist.
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