The former government of Georgy Malenkov was dissolved on February 8, 1955, and Bulganin succeeded Malenkov as premier of the Soviet Union that day.[1][2] He was generally seen as a supporter of Khrushchev's reforms and destalinisation. In July 1955, he attended the Geneva Summit, with U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, French Prime Minister Edgar Faure, and British Prime Minister Anthony Eden. He and Khrushchev travelled together to India, Yugoslavia and in April 1956 to Britain, where they were known in the press as "the B and K show"[3] or "Bulge and Crush". In his memoirs, however, Khrushchev recounted that he believed that he "couldn't rely on [Bulganin] fully."[4]
Bulganin's government | |
|---|---|
 16th Government of the Soviet Union | |
 | |
| Date formed | 8 February 1955 |
| Date dissolved | 27 March 1958 |
| People and organisations | |
| Head of state | Kliment Voroshilov |
| Head of government | Nikolai Bulganin |
| Deputy head of government | Vyacheslav Molotov |
| No. of ministers | 74 |
| History | |
| Election | 1954 legislative election |
| Predecessor | Malenkov II |
| Successor | Khrushchev I |
During the Suez Crisis of October–November 1956, Bulganin sent letters to the governments of the United Kingdom, France, and Israel threatening rocket attacks on London, Paris, and Tel Aviv if they did not withdraw their forces from Egypt. In a letter to Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion, Bulganin wrote, "Israel is playing with the fate of peace, with the fate of its own people, in a criminal and irresponsible manner; ... which will place a question [mark] upon the very existence of Israel as a State."[5] Khrushchev, in his memoirs, admitted the threat was designed simply to divide Western opinion, especially since at the time he did not have enough ICBMs to launch the rockets, and in any case he had no intention of going to war in 1956.
But by 1957 Bulganin had come to share the doubts held about Khrushchev's policies by the opposition group (which Khrushchev and his supporters labelled the "Anti-Party Group") led by Vyacheslav Molotov. In June, when the dissenters tried to remove Khrushchev from power at a meeting of the Politburo, Bulganin vacillated between the two camps. When the dissenters were defeated and removed from power, Bulganin held on to his position for a while, but in March 1958, at a session of the Supreme Soviet, Khrushchev forced his resignation.[2] The government of Nikolai Bulganin was dissolved following the Soviet legislative election of 1958. Nikita Khrushchev was elected as the next Premier by the Politburo and the Central Committee following the election.
Ministries
edit| Ministry | Minister | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chairman of the Council of Ministers | Nikolai Bulganin | 8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
| First Deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers | Vyacheslav Molotov | 8 February 1955 | 4 July 1957 |
| Lazar Kaganovich | 8 February 1955 | 4 July 1957 | |
| Anastas Mikoyan | 28 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 | |
| Maksim Saburov | 28 February 1955 | 5 July 1958 | |
| Mikhail Pervukhin | 28 February 1955 | 5 July 1958 | |
| Joseph Kuzmin | 3 May 1957 | 27 March 1958 | |
| Deputy chairman of the Council of Peoples' Commissars | Vjatsheslav Malyshev | 8 February 1955 | 26 December 1956 |
| Aleksei Kosygin | 8 February 1955 | 26 December 1956 | |
| Aleksei Kosygin | 5 July 1957 | 27 March 1958 | |
| Georgi Malenkov | 9 February 1955 | 4 July 1957 | |
| Ivan Tervosyan | 8 February 1955 | 30 December 1956 | |
| Avraam Zavenyagin | 28 February 1955 | 1 January 1957 | |
| Vladimir Kucherenko | 28 February 1955 | 25 December 1956 | |
| Pavel Lobanov | 28 February 1955 | 9 April 1956 | |
| Mikhail Khrunichev | 28 February 1955 | 25 December 1956 | |
| Vladimir Matskevich | 9 April 1956 | 25 December 1956 | |
| Dmitri Ustinov | 14 December 1956 | 28 March 1957 | |
| Minister of Agriculture | Ivan Benediktov | 8 February 1955 | 18 October 1955 |
| Vladimir Matskevich | 19 October 1955 | 27 March 1958 | |
| Minister of Automotive Industry | Stepan Akopov | 8 February 1955 | 23 July 1955 |
| G. Strokin | 23 July 1955 | 10 May 1957 | |
| Minister of Aviation Industry | Pjotr Dementev | 8 February 1955 | 14 December 1957 |
| Minister of Chemical Industry | Sergei Tikhomirov | 8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
| Minister of Coal Industry | Aleksandr Zasyadko | 8 February 1955 | 2 March 1955 |
| Aleksandr Zademidko | 2 March 1955 | 10 May 1957 | |
| Minister of Commerce | Dmitri Pavlov | 8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
| Minister of Communications | Nikolai Psurtshev | 8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
| Minister of Construction | Nikolai Dygai | 8 February 1955 | 10 May 1957 |
| Minister of Culture | Georgi Aleksandrov | 8 February 1955 | 22 March 1955 |
| Nikolai Mikhailov | 23 March 1955 | 27 March 1958 | |
| Minister of Defence | Georgy Zhukov | 8 February 1955 | 26 October 1957 |
| Rodion Malinovsky | 26 October 1957 | 27 March 1958 | |
| Minister of Ferrous Metallurgy | Aleksandr Sherementjev | 8 February 1955 | 10 May 1957 |
| Minister of Finance | Arseni Zverev | 8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
| Minister of Fish Industry | Aleksandr Ishkov | 8 February 1955 | 10 May 1957 |
| Minister of Food Industry | Vasili Zotov | 8 February 1955 | 10 May 1957 |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | Vyacheslav Molotov | 8 February 1955 | 1 June 1956 |
| Dmitri Shepilov | 1 June 1956 | 15 February 1957 | |
| Andrei Gromyko | 15 February 1957 | 27 March 1958 | |
| Minister of Foreign Trade | Ivan Kabanov | 8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
| Minister of Geology | Pyotr Antropov | 8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
| Minister of Health | Maria Kovrigina | 8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
| Minister of Heavy Machine Building | Nikolai Kazakov | 8 February 1955 | 18 July 1955 |
| Konstantin Petukhov | 18 July 1955 | 10 May 1957 | |
| Minister of Education | Vjatsheslav Yeljutin | 8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
| Minister of the Interior | Sergei Kruglov | 8 February 1955 | 1 February 1956 |
| Nikolai Dudorov | 1 February 1956 | 27 March 1958 | |
| Minister of Justice | Konstantin Gorshenin | 8 February 1955 | 31 May 1956 |
| Minister of Machine Building | Pyotr Parshin | 8 February 1955 | 21 January 1956 |
| Nikolai Smelyakov | 21 January 1956 | 10 May 1957 | |
| Minister of Medium Machine Building | Vjatsheslav Malyshev | 8 February 1955 | 28 February 1955 |
| Avraam Zavenyagin | 28 February 1955 | 21 January 1956 | |
| Nikolai Smelyakov | 21 January 1956 | 10 May 1957 | |
| Mikhail Pervukhin | 10 May 1957 | 24 July 1957 | |
| Yefim Slavski | 24 July 1957 | 27 March 1958 | |
| Minister of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy | Pjotr Lomako | 8 February 1955 | 10 May 1957 |
| Minister of Oil Industry | Nikolai Baibakov | 8 February 1955 | 25 May 1955 |
| Mikhail Yevseenko | 25 May 1955 | 10 May 1957 | |
| Minister of Electric Power Stations | Georgi Malenkov | 9 February 1955 | 4 July 1957 |
| Aleksei Pavlenko | 4 July 1957 | 27 March 1958 | |
| Minister of Railways | Boris Beshchev | 8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
| Minister of Radio Industry | Valeri Kalmykov | 8 February 1955 | 11 December 1957 |
| Minister of State Farms | Aleksei Kozlov | 8 February 1955 | 2 March 1955 |
| Ivan Benediktov | 2 March 1955 | 30 May 1957 | |
| Minister of Transport Machines Construction | Sergei Stepanov | 8 February 1955 | 10 May 1957 |
Committees
edit| Committee | Chairman | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chairman of State Commission f.Perspektive Planning | Nikolai Baybakov | 25 May 1955 | 3 May 1957 |
| Josif Kusmin | 3 May 1957 | 10 May 1957 | |
| Chairman of the State Planning Commission | Maksim Saburov | 8 February 1955 | 25 December 1956 |
| Mikhail Pervukhin | 25 December 1956 | 30 April 1957 | |
| Chair of State Committee for State Security (KGB) | Ivan Serov | 8 February 1955 | 27 March 1958 |
Copied content from Nikolai Bulganin; see that page's history for attribution
References
edit- ^ "Governments of the RSFSR and the USSR (1918–1964)". elisa.net. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ a b Powaski, Ronald E. (1997). The Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1917–1991. New York City: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195078500.
- ^ Pratt, Julius William (1965). A History of United States Foreign Policy. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. p. 470. ISBN 978-0-13-392282-0.
- ^ Khrushchev, Nikita (2006). Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, Volume 2: Reformer (1945–1964). University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 238. ISBN 0271028610.
- ^ "7 Exchange of Letters- Bulganin- Ben-Gurion- 5 and 8 November 1956". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel).