Andrei Gromyko

Soviet foreign minister (1957-1985)

• Born: July 18, 1909
• Birthplace: Starye Gromyki, Belorussia, Russian Empire (now Belarus)
• Died: July 2, 1989
• Place of death: Moscow, Soviet Union (now in Russia)

As foreign minister of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Gromyko led the way in forming the image of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a global superpower. He was key in constructing the policy of détente between the superpowers and encouraged nonaggression between East and West.

Early Life

Andrei Gromyko (AHN-dray groh-MEE-koh) was born into a peasant family in Starye Gromyki, Belorussia (now Belarus), whose residents took the town’s name as their own last name. Well educated for a person in the turbulent 1930’s, Gromyko first graduated from the Minsk School of Agricultural Technology and later earned graduate degrees in economics. Gromyko worked at the Institute of Economics in Moscow, focusing his research on the American economy. Because of his knowledge of the United States, he was recruited into the diplomatic service in the late 1930’s after the purges of Joseph Stalin left a void in the number of new cadres. Gromyko’s expertise on the American economy led him to an appointment at the Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C., where he served under Ambassador Maxim Litvinov.

Life’s Work

Gromyko was appointed ambassador to the United States in 1943 at the relatively young age of thirty-four. As ambassador he was present at some of the key Allied negotiations of World War II. After World War II, he served as Soviet ambassador to the newly created United Nations (1946-1949), where he was the spokesperson for the increasingly hostile Soviet position in world affairs. In the United Nations in those early years, the Soviet Union frequently used its veto power in the Security Council, and Gromyko earned the unflattering nicknames of Mr. No and Mr. Nyet because he frequently voted nyet (no) on critical issues.

After his tenure with the United Nations, Gromyko served as first deputy foreign minister (1949-1952). In the last days of Stalin’s administration he was appointed ambassador to the United Kingdom (1952-1953). He returned to Moscow in 1953, after Stalin’s death, for another tenure as first deputy foreign minister (1953-1957).

Although Gromyko often denied that he helped shape Soviet foreign policy, he had considerable influence as one of the few Soviet leaders with ongoing international access at the height of the Cold War. Stalin, and later Nikita S. Khrushchev, consulted with him on key issues, and in 1957, Khrushchev appointed him foreign minister, a job he held until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985. Rarely had any one person served as foreign minister of any country for so long (twenty-eight years). Although Khrushchev joked that Gromyko did whatever he was told to do, he also respected Gromyko’s knowledge.

As foreign minister, Gromyko was a key player in critical international negotiations, including the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962). He also was a part of important talks on arms limitations, such as the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) and the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties (1972 and 1979). Furthermore, Gromyko helped formulate the Soviet policy of détente and helped improve Soviet-West German relations and nonaggression between East and West during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

Gromyko wrote and published his memoirs late in life, but, for the most part, they are not forthcoming on his early ministry. The final chapter, however, was written during the Gorbachev years, and it sheds some light on how Gromyko was influencing foreign policy at the time. Gromyko always argued that he was simply the medium through which Soviet foreign policy was outlined and presented. At one level this was true. The Politburo (known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and not the foreign minister exclusively, was ultimately responsible for formulating policy.

Gromyko’s role therefore was limited. It must be noted, however, that beginning in 1973 the minister of defense, the head of the KGB, and the foreign minister (at the time Gromyko) were all members of the Politburo. These key ministers did indeed share in the making of foreign policy after 1973.

At another level, any leader influences policy by the manner in which he or she executes that policy. Gromyko was considered dour, stoic, and cold, traits that epitomized Soviet relations during the Cold War. Gromyko rarely expressed his personal opinions during his long career, but on occasion he advocated better relations between East and West.

Gromyko was most influential in policymaking during the early 1980’s, when three successive Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko often were too ill to exercise their functions fully. All three leaders had episodes in which they could not endure international travel and could not, therefore, represent the Soviet Union in foreign affairs. In 1984, during Chernenko’s administration, Gromyko met with U.S. president Ronald Reagan at the White House. Those talks were significant in leading the Cold War “thaw” that began in 1985, when Gorbachev came to power as general-secretary of the Communist Party. Indeed, U.S. critics of a softer policy toward the Soviet Union disapproved of Reagan’s meetings with Gromyko, which were not formally planned “summit” meetings. Close scrutiny of Soviet-U.S. relations suggests that the gradual amelioration of Cold War tensions most likely began in late 1984 with these informal discussions.

As general-secretary, Gorbachev began to play a direct role in formulating and expressing Soviet foreign policy. To do so he needed to change the face of Soviet foreign policy, which for decades had been identified with Gromyko. Gorbachev chose as his new foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze, the general-secretary of the Georgian Republic, who was virtually unknown in foreign policy circles but shared Gorbachev’s outlook on many issues. Together, Gorbachev and Shevardnadze formulated and executed a “new thinking” in Soviet foreign policy, essentially dropping the historic Soviet emphasis on peaceful coexistence between socialism and capitalism. The new policy also took a more humanitarian, embracing view of the world.

As a reward for his long service, Gromyko was selected in 1985 as chair of the Politburo of the Supreme Soviet, giving him the title of president of the U.S.S.R., a largely ceremonial position. He was president until 1988, the year Gorbachev himself assumed the revamped and expanded presidency. Gromyko was eased into retirement and died a year later in 1989.

Significance

Gromyko was a product of the Soviet system, educated in the 1930’s, a survivor of the Stalin years, and one of the enduring icons of the Soviet foreign-policy establishment. Some post-Soviet-era Russian analyses of Gromyko have maintained that he was perhaps overly focused on relations with the United States. In the late 1950’s, though, he reported that the only logic in foreign policy was to do what was in the best interest of the Soviet Union.

Despite disclaimers about his own influence, Gromyko is likely to be remembered as a symbol, if not the symbol, of Cold War Soviet foreign policy. Loyal to the regime for his entire career, in the last year of his life Gromyko nevertheless cautiously acknowledged in an additional chapter of his memoirs some errors of the Soviet system.

Bibliography

D’Agostino, Anthony. “Dropping the Pilot: Gorbachev Retires Gromyko.” In Gorbachev’s Revolution. New York: New York University Press, 1998. An analysis of Gorbachev’s decision to end the long tenure of Gromyko as foreign minister. The book also includes a chapter on Soviet foreign policy during the height of the Cold War.

Gromyko, Andrei A. Memoirs. New York: Doubleday, 1990. A brief glimpse of the man behind the enigma, in his own words. The memoirs, written between 1979 and 1988, reveal much about the realities of his life and work.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Peace Now, Peace for the Future: Selected Speeches and Writings. Translated by Y. S. Shirokov. 2d ed. New York: Pergamon Press, 1984. Speeches and some reminiscences by Gromyko about his role in foreign policy. Originally published in 1979.

Piadyshev, Boris. “Andrei Gromyko: A Portrait.” International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy, and International Relations 48, no. 6 (2002): 44-64. This lengthy article presents a view of Gromyko from inside the foreign ministry, with special attention to his role as editor of the journal International Affairs and his role in specific foreign policy events, such as the war in Afghanistan. A fascinating inside view of direct and indirect contacts with Gromyko and his work.

Tucker, Robert C. “The Last Stalinist.” The New Republic, May 14, 1990, 45-50. Analyzes Gromyko’s career and highlights notable events and presents Gromyko as a highly orthodox member of the Soviet regime. Especially notes the last chapter of Gromyko’s memoirs, “More About Stalin,” which, Tucker argues, is almost a “deathbed confession.”