Anastas Mikoyan

Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan (Անաստաս Հովհաննեսի Միկոյան in Armenian; Анаста́с Ива́нович Микоя́н in Russian) (November 25, 1895 – October 21, 1978) was an Old Bolshevik and Soviet statesman during the Stalin and Khrushchev years.

Mikoyan was born in the Armenian village Sanahin (now part of Alaverdi) and educated in a seminary. At the age of twenty, he joined the Bolshevik Party and became a leader of the revolutionary movement in the Caucasus. In 1918, he was arrested by interventionist British troops in Baku. After his release, he continued his Party work, rising in the ranks.

He supported Stalin in the power struggle that followed Lenin's death and was appointed to the Central Committee in 1923. He went on to become People's Commissar for external and internal trade in 1926 and imported ideas from the West, such as the manufacture of canned goods. In 1935, he was elected to the Politburo and was responsible for organizing the transport of supplies during World War II. In 1942 he became a member of the State Defense Committee, and in 1946, vice chairman of the Council of Ministers.

He remained in the government after Stalin's death, in the post of minister of trade under Malenkov. He supported Khrushchev in the power struggle to succeed Stalin and was made Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union in recognition of his services,but lost his influence after Khrushchev had blamed him for failing to solve the Hungarian crisis in 1956. However, he continued to hold numerous other posts in the field of trade, and made a number of state visits to the U.S., Japan, and Mexico.By 1963 he became convinced that Khrushchev had turned into a liability for the Party and masterminded the coup that brought Leonid Breshnev to power. He attended the funeral of U.S. President Kennedy in 1963, representing the Soviet Union.

His influence re-established under Breshnev, Mikoyan served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1964 until 1965 and then retired. He wrote his memoirs in 1970.

He was the brother of Artem Ivanovich Mikoyan, one of the designers of the MiG military aircraft.