Anastas Mikoyan

Anastas Mikoyan

Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (Armenian: Անաստաս Հովհաննեսի Միկոյան, Anastas Hovhannesi Mikoyan; Russian: Анаста́с Ива́нович Микоя́н; 25 November 1895 – 21 October 1978) was an Old Bolshevik and Soviet statesman during the rules of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, and Leonid Brezhnev. Dubbed the Vicar of Bray of politics, he was the only Soviet politician who managed to remain at the highest levels of power within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, as that power oscillated between the Central Committee and the Politburo, from the latter days of the Lenin's rule, throughout the eras of Stalin and Khrushchev, until peaceful (albeit forced) retirement after the first months of Brezhnev, a period of over 40 years.

Mikoyan became an early convert to the Bolshevik cause. Mikoyan was a strong supporter of Stalin during the immediate post-Lenin years. During Stalin's rule, Mikoyan held several high governmental posts, including that of Minister of Foreign Trade. By the end of Stalin's rule Mikoyan was starting to lose favour with him, and in 1949, Mikoyan lost his long-standing post of foreign trade minister. At the 19th Party Congress Stalin even attacked Mikoyan viciously. When Stalin died in 1953, Mikoyan again took a leading role in policy-making. He backed Khrushchev and his de-Stalinization policy, and became First Deputy Premier under Khrushchev. Mikoyan's position under Khrushchev made him the second most powerful figure in the Soviet Union at the time.

Mikoyan made several key trips to communist Cuba and to the United States, acquiring an important stature on the international diplomatic scene, especially with his skill in exercising soft power to further Soviet interests. In 1964 Khrushchev was forced to step down in a coup that brought Leonid Brezhnev to power. Mikoyan served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the nominal Head of State, from 1964 until his forced retirement in 1965.