Trade-and-diplomacy official sacked by Stalin over bananas, then returned as a Cold War ambassador under Khrushchev
When rotten bananas appeared on Stalin's holiday table, the blame fell squarely on the Minister of Foreign Trade. The day after receiving a 'severe reprimand with warning,' Menshikov was summarily dismissed for 'failing to cope with his duties.'
Soviet trade official and diplomat. Born the son of a peasant, he volunteered for the Red Army and later studied economics at Moscow's Plekhanov Institute of National Economy. After heading the Soviet trade cooperative ARCOS in London, he became USSR Minister of Foreign Trade in 1949, only to be dismissed in 1951 when Stalin took offense at the quality of bananas imported from Mexico. He transitioned to diplomacy after Stalin's death, serving as Soviet ambassador to India (1953–1957) and to the United States (1958–1962), managing superpower relations in Washington on the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He then served six years as Foreign Minister of the Russian Republic (RSFSR), one of the few officials to work Soviet diplomacy at both the all-union and republican levels.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1918–1920Served in the Red Army
- 1921Took part in suppressing the Tambov peasant uprising
- 1930–1936Director of ARCOS cooperative, London
- 1943–1946Deputy Director of UNRRA, USA
- 1946–1949Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade of the USSR
- 1949–1951Minister of Foreign Trade of the USSR
- 1953–1957Soviet Ambassador to India
- 1957Soviet Ambassador to Nepal (concurrent)
- 1958–1962Soviet Ambassador to the United States
- 1962–1968Minister of Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR
Ambassador in Washington and the prospect of a summit
After serving as ambassador to India, Menshikov presented his credentials to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Washington on February 11, 1958, taking up his post as Soviet ambassador. At the credential ceremony, the two discussed easing Soviet-American tensions and the prospect of a summit. Menshikov conveyed his leaders' desire for a meeting, explaining that the Soviet leadership valued a summit after repeated disappointments in lower-level negotiations. He sought more contacts between the two countries and hoped to meet the president from time to time to explain Soviet positions. Eisenhower replied that practical issues needed to be worked out before a summit.
During Deputy Premier Frol Kozlov's visit to the United States in July 1959, Menshikov attended meetings with Vice President Richard Nixon and State Department officials, and joined Kozlov's airport conversation with Livingston Merchant, the State Department's Assistant Secretary for European Affairs. The meeting records show discussion of expanding trade. Kozlov raised Soviet interest in American chemical, automatic, and textile machinery and complained of problems securing export licenses; the American side cited patent protections and differences between the two economic systems. Kozlov presented Soviet technical assistance to India as an example of peaceful coexistence and asserted that the USSR had no territorial or political claim on India. This was Kozlov's account of Soviet policy, not evidence that Menshikov personally determined it. Menshikov remained in Washington until 1962, when Anatoly Dobrynin replaced him as ambassador.