Yury Vladimirovich Andropov

An activist of the Young Communist League (Komsomol), Yury Andropov joined the Communist Party in 1939. He headed the Yaroslavl regional Komsomol organization in 1938-1940 and was made head of the Komsomol in the newly created Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic in 1940. After the World War II Andropov worked as the second secretary (1947-1951) of the Karelo-Finnish Communist Party. In 1951 he was moved to Moscow, where he was assigned to the party's Central Committee staff. In 1953 he entered the Soviet diplomatic service and served as ambassador to Hungary (July 1954 - March 1957) coordinating the Soviet invasion of that country. On accomplishment of his mission, Andropov returned to Moscow to become the head of a Central Committee department. The 21st congress of the Communist Party (1961) elected Andropov a member (1961-1984) of the Central Committee. He served as secretary of the party Central Committee (23 Nov 1962 - 21 Jun 1967), but quit this job to assume the post of Chairman of the Committee for State Security [KGB] (18 May 1967 - 26 May 1982) and joined the Politburo as a candidate member (21 Jun 1967 - 27 Apr 1973).

As KGB head and full member of the Politburo (27 Apr 1973 - 9 Feb 1984), Andropov supervised suppression of political dissidents in 1970s. In May 1982 he was elected again secretary of the Central committee (24 May 1982 - 12 Nov 1982) and resigned his post of the KGB chairman. When Leonid Brezhnev died in November 1982, Andropov mastered sufficient support to overcome the resistance of Brezhnev's aides and was elected general secretary of the Central Committee (12 Nov 1982 - 9 Feb 1984). He consolidated his power by becoming chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet on 16 Jun 1983. His 15-month rule was marked by attempts to reform the country by imposing strict discipline on state officials and employees, but it turned out to be short-lived as Andropov died on 9 Feb 1984, and was succeeded by conservative Konstantin Chernenko. Biography source: [3, p. 200]