Word: gromyko
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...whether I enjoy that style or not. You cannot work otherwise." If such remarks came from a Western politician, they would seem routine, but it is difficult to imagine any other Soviet leader discussing personal style as a tool of governing. Most have taken the stony approach of Andrei Gromyko, longtime Foreign Minister and now President of the U.S.S.R., who once told a Western interviewer, "My personality does not interest...
...also became too ill to function, Gorbachev conducted the weekly Politburo meetings and headed the government in all but name. The final step occurred on March 10, 1985, when Chernenko died and the Secretariat elected Gorbachev General Secretary less than five hours later. Nominating Gorbachev for that post, Gromyko gave what has since become the standard one- line description of the new boss. Said Gromyko: "This man has a nice smile, but he has got iron teeth...
...four new voting members of the Politburo, bringing its membership to 13, and nine new government ministers. Grigory Romanov, 62, the Leningrad party boss who was widely considered to be Gorbachev's chief rival, was unceremoniously dumped from the Politburo and Secretariat; officially he resigned for reasons of health. Gromyko, 76, was artfully nudged upstairs to the prestigious but largely % ceremonial post of President and head of state, and replaced as Foreign Minister by Eduard Shevardnadze, 67, a white-haired Georgian with an engaging personality but no experience in foreign policy. The general interpretation placed on that move is that...
...have employed a kind of Orwellian Newspeak in their pronouncements. Western leaders were invariably "certain imperialist circles," their followers "faithful lackeys." But the current Kremlin spokesmen slip easily into Western argot and affect a more relaxed, laid-back style. Ebullient Eduard Shevardnadze, the new Foreign Minister who replaced Andrei Gromyko (known as Grim Grom by Western newsmen), disarmed U.S. officials during a technical discussion of arms control at Helsinki last month with a rare display of Soviet humility. "Well, of course, I'm not a real expert!" he reportedly exclaimed and then turned to informally solicit the views...
...Gromyko felt about the change remained, as usual, something of a mystery. After the 1,500-member Supreme Soviet gave unanimous approval to his nomination, the dour, stoop-shouldered diplomat, variously known as Grim Grom and Dr. Nyet, accepted Gorbachev's praise and his new title in typically expressionless style. "It is not for me to judge whether I deserve such words or not," he said. "I shall make every effort to discharge with honor my duty to the party, to the country, to the people...