Anastas Mikoyan

Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (US: ; Russian: Анастас Иванович Микоян, IPA: [ɐnɐsˈtas ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ mʲɪkɐˈjan]; Armenian: Անաստաս Հովհաննեսի Միկոյան, romanized: Anastas Hovhannesi Mikoyan; 25 November [O.S. 13 November] 1895 – 21 October 1978) was a Soviet statesman, diplomat, and Bolshevik revolutionary. An ethnic Armenian, he served as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the head of state of the Soviet Union. As a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee from 1923 to 1976, Mikoyan was the only Soviet politician who remained in power from Lenin, through the eras of Stalin and Khrushchev, to his retirement under Brezhnev. His longevity inspired the popular Russian saying "from Ilyich [Lenin] to Ilyich [Brezhnev] without heart attack and paralysis".

A native of Armenia's northern Lori region, Mikoyan joined the Bolsheviks in 1915, and following the October Revolution of 1917 participated in the Baku Commune. In the 1920s, he was the party's boss in the North Caucasus. Mikoyan was elected to the Politburo in 1935, served as foreign trade minister from 1926 to 1930 and again from 1938, and during World War II became a member of the State Defense Committee. After the war, Mikoyan began to lose favour, losing his position as minister in 1949 and being criticized by Stalin at the 19th Party Congress in 1952. Following Stalin's death in 1953, Mikoyan sided with Khrushchev, supported him against a failed coup in 1957, and played a leading role in crafting his de-Stalinization policy.

Under Khrushchev, Mikoyan played an important role in Soviet foreign policy, making several key trips to the United States and communist Cuba. He acquired 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 Brezhnev to power. Mikoyan briefly served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the official head of state, from 1964 until his resignation in 1965.