Background

Andrei Gromyko was born on July 18, 1909, in the village of Staryya Hramyki, in the Vetka district of the Gomel Region, Belarus into a poor peasant family. His father, Andrei Gromyko, was a worker in a local factory. His mother, Olga Bekarevich, was a worker in the collective farm. It was a poor family and in such villages, they appreciated only physical labor. But Andrei had a great desire for knowledge, always read books and did Komsomol lecturing to his friends about the nonexistence of God. He liked his Motherland, its nature and admired his parents very much.

Education

In 1926, the future minister entered Gomel vocational school in Gomel, Belarus. From 1929 to 1932 Andrei Andreevich studied at the Borisov Agricultural Engineering School in Borisov, Belarus, on his mother’s advice. After studying in Borisov for three years, he was appointed principal of a secondary school in Dzerzhinsk, where he taught, supervised the school, and continued his studies.

In 1932, Andrei became a graduate student of the Belarusian State Economic University in Minsk, Belarus, where he had studied before leaving for Moscow, Russia in 1934. He had to continue his studies at the institute by correspondence, and passed exams as an external student.

In 1936, Andrei Gromyko defended his Ph.D. thesis on the United States agriculture and economy. Also, he published several books on the subject.

Career

In 1936, Andrei was sent to work at the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (nowadays Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Science) as a senior researcher. During this period, Andrei Andreevich Gromyko studied English thoroughly. In 1938 he became the scientific secretary of the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Science). A young and promising scientist was planned to be sent to the Far Eastern Branch of the Academy.

Andrei began a new career in 1939 in the Soviet Diplomatic Service. Many older diplomats had disappeared during the late 1930s in Stalin's police terror. The new recruits who took their place received a quick promotion to important diplomatic positions. Gromyko had the necessary qualifications for advancement. Son of working peasants, well educated, and a member of the party since the beginning of the Stalin take-over, he belonged to the new generation of Stalinists. He had no experience or previous training in international relations. He learned his leadership skills on the job. Until 1985 his entire career was devoted to Soviet foreign affairs.

In 1943 at age 34 Gromyko was made Soviet ambassador to the United States. While serving in Washington he learned to speak fluent English. In World War II the Soviet Union and the United States were allies against Nazi Germany and Japan. Gromyko attended the major Allied conferences at Yalta and Potsdam in 1945, assisting Stalin in his negotiations with US leaders. The Soviet Union that year joined in the founding of the United Nations. Gromyko participated in the writing of the U.N. Charter, which made the Soviet Union a member of the Security Council with the right to veto any U.N. policy.

In 1946 he became the permanent representative from the USSR to the Security Council. In the two years that followed, the beginning of the Cold War produced serious diplomatic conflicts in the United Nations between the Soviet Union and the West. Gromyko faithfully carried out the new Soviet policy, casting 26 vetoes to prevent the United Nations from adopting resolutions of which Stalin disapproved. His unsmiling public appearances earned him the title among Western diplomats of "Old Stone Face." His work satisfied Stalin and Molotov, minister of foreign affairs, and in 1949 he was promoted to the first deputy minister, becoming Molotov's direct assistant. In ten years he had risen from the position of research scholar in agriculture to one of the most important posts in Soviet foreign relations.

After Stalin's death in 1953 Gromyko continued to serve the new leaders competently and loyally. When Khrushchev came to power in 1955 he introduced a policy of "peaceful coexistence" to improve relations with the West. New conferences were held between East and West. Gromyko collaborated in these meetings. His influence grew when in 1956 he was appointed a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. His career advanced again in 1957 when the minister of foreign affairs joined a group of other leading Communists opposing Khrushchev's policies in an attempt to remove him from power. They failed and were themselves removed from their leadership positions (Molotov left Moscow to become Soviet ambassador to the Mongolian People's Republic). Gromyko's reward for loyal service and for taking no part in the plot to depose Khrushchev was promotion to minister of foreign affairs.

In 1962 Khrushchev secretly ordered the installation of Soviet intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Cuba. Gromyko went to Washington at that time to talk with President Kennedy, who warned him of the danger of a US-Soviet war if the Soviet missiles were actually placed in Cuba. Gromyko never admitted that his country was involved in this dangerous action; later he claimed that he had not concealed the move since the US president had never put the question of the missiles directly to him.

In the mid-1960s the Soviet Union began major industrial projects with the aid of Western corporations, including the Fiat automobile company in Italy. In 1966 Gromyko led the Soviet delegation to Rome to conclude the Fiat agreement. There he asked for and received an audience with the Pope. He was the first Soviet statesman publicly to recognize the importance of the Papacy. He appeared to have felt deep satisfaction at the growing power and influence of his country in world affairs, asserting in 1971 that "today there is no question of any significance (in international relations) which can be resolved without the Soviet Union or in opposition to her."

In the early 1970s, the Soviet Union concluded with the United States an important treaty for the limitation of nuclear armaments, the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). Gromyko helped to negotiate the final agreement. He acquired extensive knowledge of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. When negotiating, noted one observer, Gromyko "never took a note, never looked at a folder or turned to his assistants for advice." His service in these negotiations and support for the Soviet leader, Brezhnev, earned him in 1973 a position in the Communist Party's ruling committee, the Politburo.

Relations with the United States gradually worsened during the 1970s. Gromyko sought in international meetings to strengthen the global influence of the Soviet Union. He promoted close ties with African states regardless of their type of government or economic system, declaring that "we do not consider ideological differences in social systems."

When in the early 1980s Brezhnev became ill and could not make major foreign policy statements, Gromyko took his place. In the campaign to prevent the United States from placing new nuclear missiles in Europe, he declared in 1982 in the United Nations that the Soviet Union, "the world's foremost peace-loving nation," promised never to be the first state in any international conflict to use nuclear weapons. This "no first use" pledge did not represent a new policy, for the Soviet Union had built its nuclear weapons arsenal to match that of the United States and to prevent a nuclear attack. In making the speech Gromyko established that he had begun to play a major part in decisions on Soviet foreign policy.

After Brezhnev's death in late 1982 Gromyko became one of the small circle of Soviet Communists in the Politburo to choose the new Soviet leader. Two successors died soon after their appointments. His decades of experience in international relations had by then earned him a new title "Dean of World Diplomacy." In 1983 Andrei became the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers. He held this position for two years.

In 1985 the Politburo picked their youngest member, Mikhail Gorbachev, to be general secretary. Gromyko made the formal announcement of this choice. He occupied by then the informal position among his colleagues as a senior member of the Politburo. Gorbachev elevated Gromyko's position to that of President, (the official title is Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet), thus replacing Chernenko, who had died on March 1985. This position, though prestigious, lacked an effective degree of power, and essentially brought Gromyko's political career to an end after 28 years. Gromyko was replaced as Minister of Foreign Affairs by Eduard Shevardnadze, former party boss of the Soviet Republic of Georgia.

After retiring from active politics in 1989 Gromyko started working on his memoirs. Gromyko died on 2 July 1989, days before what would have been his 80th birthday, after being hospitalized for a vascular problem that was not further identified. 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. Gromyko was offered a grave in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, but at the request of his family, he was not buried near the Kremlin wall but instead at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Achievements

• In his years as a minister, Andrei distinguished himself by his ability to implement effectively the policies of the Soviet leadership. He was adept at accommodating every Soviet leader from Stalin to Gorbachev, and in dealing with nine US presidents during his career. He participated actively in all international meetings and negotiated with leaders of important countries.
  
  During his twenty-eight years as minister of foreign affairs, Gromyko became the "number-one" on international diplomacy at home, renowned by his peers to be consumed by his work. Gromyko played a direct role in the Cuban Missile Crisis in his role as the Soviet Foreign Minister. Gromyko helped negotiate arms limitations treaties, such as the ABM Treaty, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, SALT I and SALT II, among others.
  
  In 1948, Andrei was honored with the ‘Order of the Red Banner’, the highest award of the Soviet Union until 1930. He has conferred the honor of being the ‘Hero of Socialist Labour’ twice in his career, first in 1969 and the second time in 1979. In 1982, he received the ‘Lenin Prize’, one of the most prestigious awards of the Soviet Union.
  
  Andrei also received the Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary since the Birth of Vladimir Il'ich Lenin". He was honored with ‘The Order of the Sun of Peru’, the highest award bestowed by Peru to commend notable civil and military merit.
  
  On 18 July 2009, Belarus 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. Several exhibitions were opened and dedicated to his honor and a school and a street in Gomel were renamed in honor of him.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • Better that ten days of negotiations than one day of war

    (Memoir of Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko.)

  • Japanese peace treaty 1951

• Other Work

  • Memoirs by Andrei Gromyko 1989

Religion

From the age of nine, after the Bolshevik revolution, Gromyko started reading atheist propaganda in flyers and pamphlets. He held anti-religious speeches with his friends.

Politics

At the age of thirteen Gromyko became a member of the Komsomol and held anti-religious speeches in the village with his friends as well as promoting Communist values. Despite the hardships which the collectivization of agriculture imposed on the peasant population, he became a loyal supporter of Stalin's regime. He joined the Communist Party in 1931.

Views

Quotations: "My personality doesn't interest me."

"Every night, whisper 'peace' in your husband's ear."

"The world may end up under a Sword of Damocles on a tightrope over the abyss."

"Comrades, this man has a nice smile, but he's got iron teeth."

“An exchange of ideas occurs when you take an idea to your boss and you come back with his idea.”

Personality

The Western press called Andrei Gromyko "Mr. No" for intransigence in the negotiations. Earlier Vyacheslav Molotov had the same nickname (Gromyko was his protege), famous for his rigidity. At the same time, Andrei Andreevich said: “They heard my "No" much less often than I did "No". And colleagues recalled that thanks to his broad outlook and phenomenal memory, Gromyko easily, while politely and dryly, cornered any interlocutors. The simple reception that Gromyko enjoyed all his life, in most cases, worked flawlessly: at the end of the conversation, he preferred to summarize and, with complex wording, reduced all agreements to the direction our country needed. Throughout his political career, Andrei Gromyko allowed himself to express his own opinions, different from the point of view of the country's leadership. The press has always celebrated his independence, stressed a keen mind and called him "a skilled dialectician and negotiator with great ability."

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. An article written in 1981 in The Times said, "He is one of the most active and efficient members of the Soviet leadership. A man with an excellent memory, a keen intellect, and extraordinary endurance. Maybe Andrei is the most informed Minister for Foreign affairs in the world". Gromyko's dour demeanor was shown clearly during his first term in Washington and echoed throughout his tenure as Soviet foreign minister. Ambassador Charles W. Yost, who worked with Gromyko at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, the UN founding conference, and at the United Nations, recalled that the "humorless" Soviet ambassador "looked as though he was sucking a lemon." There is a story that Gromyko was leaving a Washington hotel one morning and was asked by a reporter; "Minister Gromyko, did you enjoy your breakfast today?" His response was "Perhaps."

Physical Characteristics: Andrei Gromyko was 6.07 feet.

Interests

• Historical literature

• Politicians

  Lenin

• Writers

  Leo Tolstoy

• Artists

  Aivazovsky, Semiradsky, Corin

• Sport & Clubs

  Hunting, swimming

Connections

Andrei and Lydia met in 1931 when they were students of the Belarusian State Economy University. In this year they got married. Lydia was the daughter of Belarusian peasants. Spouses were blessed with two children: Anatoly and Emilia. The couple waited for their grandchildren Alexei and Igor.

Father:

Andrei Matveyevich Gromyko

Andrei Matveyevich wasn't 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.

Mother:

Olga Jevgenyevna Gromyko

Olga attended school only for a short period of time as, when her father died, she left to help her mother with the harvest. She was a worker in the collective farm.

Spouse:

Lydia Dmitrievna Gromyko (Grinevich)

Nee Grinevich (1911-2004) was the daughter of a Belarusian peasant family and came from Kamenki, a small village to the west of Minsk.

granddaughter :

Anna Gromyko

Son:

Anatoly Gromyko

Anatolij (April 15, 1932) was a Russian scientist, an expert in matters of American studies, African studies and international relations. He was a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Daughter:

Emilia Gromyko

Emilia Gromyko-Piradova was born in 1937. She was a Doctor of Philosophy in history.

Grandson:

Igor Gromyko

Igor was born on June 25, 1954.

Grandson:

Alexey Gromyko

Alexey was a Deputy Director of the Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences, director of the Center for British Studies.

Sister:

Maria Andreevna Gromyko (Petrenko)

References

• Oshibka Mistera Net
  2009