Who served as the Soviet foreign minister for most of the Cold War, from 1957 to 1985?

• A. Andrei Gromyko
• B. Vyacheslav Molotov
• C. Nikita Khrushchev
• D. Leonid Brezhnev

Answer: (A)

Andrei Gromyko’s long tenure as Soviet foreign minister is the key idea. He held the post from 1957 to 1985, guiding USSR diplomacy through the leaderships of Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and the early Gorbachev era. That nearly three-decade span gave him a central role in shaping Cold War diplomacy, negotiating and shaping major arms-control and detente efforts with the United States. He participated in landmark agreements and negotiations such as the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963), the Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968), and the SALT I/ABM framework in the early 1970s. This continuity helped maintain a steady approach to Soviet foreign policy across different leaders, making him the person most associated with that extended period.