The passing of Andrei A. Gromyko this week marks the end of a Soviet era that spanned the terror-ridden purges of Josef Stalin to the winds of glasnost that are being fanned by Mikhail Gorbachev.
The grim visaged Gromyko was the epitome of both Soviet determination and Soviet power. For many people, his was the face that represented intractable Russian behavior.His was a dominating presence, an influence felt in all major events involving the Soviet Union from the anti-Nazi alliance of World War II to the formation of the United Nations to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. He survived when others fell, his red star ever present in world affairs. He was the last surviving statesman whose signature was on the original U.N. Charter.
Gromyko gained a reputation as "Mr. Nyet" for his tough negotiating style and picked up the moniker "Grim Grom" for his stony countenance. His craggy face beneath horn-rimmed glasses became instantly recognizable to the outside world, a stark illustration of the Cold War that dominated international relations for nearly 30 years.
He was the Soviet standard bearer for some 28 years as Soviet leaders, including Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid I. Brezhnev, Yuri V. Andropov and Kostantin U. Chernenko came and went, some the victims of power struggles, others the victims of time and age. The one constant in Soviet leadership was Gromyko; always, there was Gromyko.
Unlike many of his predecessors who were abruptly stripped of power and written out of official history books, Gromyko ended his career gracefully, moving from his post as foreign minister to the ceremonial post of president. Late last year, he resigned quietly, as was his nature, from the Communist Party's ruling Politburo and later left the policy-making Central Committee.
Gorbachev's efforts to remake the Soviet image did not, and probably could not, include the sober-faced Gromyko.
Erasing the ghost of Gromyko's image that still haunts the minds of many in the West will take time. But even time cannot erase the respect Gromyko earned among his peers - the ambassadors and foreign ministers of other countries. They may not have liked what he stood for, but they acknowledged him as a tough and wily opponent. While his somber image will slowly fade from memory, his place in world history is likely to remain secure.