Biography of Podgornyj, Nikolaj - Archontology
HomeNationsSoviet UnionHeads of StatePodgornyj, Nikolaj
Nikolaj Podgorny

Николай Викторович Подгорный (Nikolaj Viktorovič Podgornyj)

b. 5/18 Feb 1903, Karlovka, Konstantinograd district, Poltava province, Russian Empire
d. 11 Jan 1983, Moscow, USSR

Title: Председатель Президиума Верховного Совета СССР (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR)
Term: 9 Dec 1965 - 16 Jun 1977
Chronology: 9 Dec 1965, elected, 7th session of the 6th USSR Supreme Soviet [1]
16 Jun 1977, discharged by resolution passed by the 6th session of the 9th USSR Supreme Soviet [2]
Names/titles: Ukrainian: Микола Вікторович Підгорний (Mykola Viktorovyč Pidhornyj)
Biography:
Ukrainian by ethnic origin; served as secretary in his home district's Komsomol committee in 1921-1923; joined the Communist Party in 1930 and started working in engineering jobs in 1931; his first government appointment came in 1939 as deputy people's commissar (1939-1940) of the food-processing industry in the Ukraine; was promoted in 1940 to deputy people's commissar of food-processing industry of the USSR (1940-1942); headed the Moscow Technological Food-processing Industry Institute (1942-1944); returned to Ukraine as deputy people's commissar of the food-processing industry (1944-1946); served as a resident representative of the Ukrainian government in the USSR Council of Ministers (1946-1950); appointed first secretary of the Kharkov provincial party committee (1950-1953); appointed a member of the CPSU Central Revision Commission (14 Oct 1952 - 14 Feb 1956); made second secretary (17 Aug 1953 - 26 Dec 1957) and then first secretary (26 Dec 1957 - 2 Jul 1963) of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party; full member of the CPSU Central Committee (25 Feb 1956 - 23 Feb 1981); elected a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee Presidium (18 Jun 1958 - 4 May 1960); promoted to full membership in the Presidium and later Politburo (4 May 1960 - 24 May 1977); held the office of a secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (21 Jun 1963 - 6 Dec 1965); was involved in a power struggle with Leonid Brežnev, who had become first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1964); was given the less-influential post of Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet (9 Dec 1965 - 16 Jun 1977); enhanced his position of ceremonial head of state and traveled widely, but real power was in the hands of Brežnev; on 24 May 1977, as a result of his resistance to Brežnev's wish to hold both the party secretaryship and the Presidium chairmanship, he was removed from the Politburo and relieved of his duties as Chairman of the Presidium (16 Jun 1977); lived in retirement in Moscow.
Biographical sources: Gosudarstvennaja vlast' SSSR (1999), 474.

[1] VVS SSSR, 1965, № 49, #724.
[2] VVS SSSR, 1977, № 25, #384.