Andrei Gromyko

In 1931, he married Lydia Dmitrievna Grinevich, daughter of Byelorussian peasants, whom he met in Minsk. They were blessed with two children: a son, Anatoly, and a daughter, Emilia.

On July 2, 1989, he died in Moscow, Soviet Union, after he was admitted to the hospital regarding some vascular problem. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

He was born on July 18, 1909 in Staryya Hramyki, Russian Empire, to Andrei Matveyevich, a seasonal worker at a local factory and his wife, Olga Jevgenyevna. They lived in the Belarusian village of Staryya Gramyki, near Gomel.

Both his parents had attended school only for a short period of time. Although his family and most of the village people were religious beings, he questioned the existence of almighty quite early in his life.

He became a member of the Komsomol, youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and held anti-religious speeches in the village with his friends and promoted Communist values when he was thirteen.

He received his primary school education and vocational training in Gomel. Then, he attended technical school in Borisov, on his mother’s advice.

After studying in Borisov for two years, he was appointed principal of a secondary school in Dzerzhinsk, where he taught, supervised the school, and continued his studies.

In 1943, he was appointed as the Soviet ambassador to the United States. During his tenure as ambassador he met prominent personalities such as, Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe and John Maynard Keynes.

In 1946, he was made Permanent Representative of the Soviet Union to the United Nations. Simultaneously, he was also promoted to deputy foreign minister in 1946 and then to the first deputy foreign minister in 1949.

In 1952, he became a candidate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and was appointed ambassador to the United Kingdom. His tenure as ambassador to the United Kingdom was a short one and he came back to Moscow in 1953.

After returning to Moscow, he resumed his post as first deputy foreign minister. In 1956 he attained full membership on the Central Committee.

He became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1957. He was the main Soviet negotiator with the United States government during his long tenure of 28 years.

He became renowned for his extensive knowledge of international affairs and for his negotiating skills. He was entrusted with major diplomatic missions and policy statements. He took part in all the major negotiations of the Second World War and its immediate aftermath which resulted in the creation of the United Nations.

As the Foreign Minister of Soviet Union, his negotiating style was legendary. He would wear down his negotiating partners by arguing for hours over the most trivial of details, before tackling the meat of the issue, teasing out small victories, which he would trade for larger concessions later in the negotiations.